Maybe from what he has seen in preseason, but at the end of the season, that top two will have at least one Queensland team in it and either NZ, Perth or Adelaide will miss the playoffs. Probably Adelaide.

By the looks of it, Boti was also ranking his favourite methods of ingesting crack at the same time.

He should have covered the NBL for long enough by now to know about the perils of ranking teams purely on their pre-season performance...

I can see the Hawks getting some wins but not troubling the top4, injuries and form will consign them to also ran status with Sydny and Melbourne I believe. Cairns or Townsville will take fight for the last spot if Adelaide can get it together and keep it together

Mick, as a journo you have to write stuff like this to generate news for the start of the season, even though you know predictions are pretty pointless. As with pretty much every year, at least 2-3 years will surprise one way or the other.

I agree with Boti, except for Wollongong.

New Zealand, Perth, Adelaide and Cairns are my picks for the playoffs.

Swap Taipans and Hawks and I agree

Spursfan, why do you rate the Queensland teams so highly?

If you look at the main players and depth neither Cairns or Townsville have that 3rd A grade (elite) player nor quality depth compared to NZ, Perth or Adelaide.

Here is my quick ranking of the A and B grade players for the 5 teams listed below

Perth
A = (A+) Martin, (A+) Redhage, (A) Lisch
B = (B+) Knight, (B) Robbins, (B) Wagstaff, (B-) Tovey

NZ
A = (A+) Abercrombie, (A+) Jackson, (A-) CJ
B = (B+) Vukona, (B+) Hudson, (B) Butcher, (B) Pledger, (B) Corletto

Adelaide
A = (A+) Gibson, (A+) Schenscher, (A) DJ
B = (B) Weigh, (B) Massingale, (B) Petrie, (B) Cadee

Cairns
A = (A) Tragardh, (A) Wilson
B = (B+) Loughton, (B) Grabau, (B) Rychart, (B) Edwards

Townsville
A = (A+) Ervin, (A) Crawford
B = (B) Abney, (B-) Holmes, (B-) Hinder, (B-) Cedar

I think Blanchfield deserves a mention.

Grantley Bernard (I think) and Andrew Gaze on "It goes off" listed their top 4.

From memory Grantley had in no particular order Adelaide, Perth, New Zealand and Wollongong.

Andrew Gaze had Adelaide, Perth, New Zealand and surprise surprise, Melbourne.

They did mention it will be closely contested and any team could be a basket or two away from either being a playoff contender or battling it out for the wooden spoon.

paul, did you see any of Blanchfield's Blitz games? I think he had two points total in the three games. Wouldn't rush to put him ahead of anyone on KingJames' list besides Cadee (maybe), Cedar or Hinder (both on his own team).

Blanchfield had a horrible Blitz.

His stats and in particular his shooting percentages in the QBL weren't great either this past season. He did rebound the ball well, though.

He needs to watch lots of tape of Sam Mackinnon and Tom Abercrombie, because that's his ceiling.

Still, it's QBL, and it's preseason.

If he can make a small improvement on last year I'll be happy. I'm not hanging out for a breakout season like some people are, but it'd be great if it happened.

I always find myself drawn to the fact that he runs with these nervous, tiny little steps when he could make it up the court in a couple of bounds if he opened up his stride...

Im inclined to judge him on last season ahead of pre-season. He had a pretty good season last year for a young player and would expect he'll make a decent contribution again.

Haha Gazey. Melbourne shot almost 65% I think against an import-less Crocs the other week and only won by 7. Melbourne are almost the definition of shit.

If Traggardh is a A, Vukona must be a AAA+++

Good luck, I hope you find a good one.

Mick agreed Blanchfields 3pt % at 30% was not super impressive, but he did lead the team in scoring at 19.7 a game and 7.4 rebounds. Not horrible numbers by any stretch.