Massive loss for the league and 36ers, but Mitch understandably ought to explore his options at this point in his career. Best of luck to him.

How is South Australia going to handle the drop in traffic fine revenue?

Thanks Mitch for the good memories.

That's a massive loss to the 36ers. They will likely replace him with a Conger / Prather caliber import.

Oh I forgot they were re-signing Teys so they should be good

Conger.

Happy for Mitch. Sad I already bought another year of season tickets. I don't want to go through another rebuild phase.

Boti Nagy paints a damning picture that the 36ers bungled it and Creek could have stayed if they didn't keep him in a holding pattern

Pudd should have played in the NBA, if not picked up one of the may contracts he got offered in his career. Brett Maher might be our home grown product and I put him up their with the league greats that can call himself a 1 club guy. He is also a guy that thinks about how his career could have gone if he took some cash for himself and a new adventure instead of being the 1 club icon he still is.

Mitch Creek has worn this team with pride. He was young and stupid but left everything on the court, we couldn't doubt his basketball gift, but geez some of his off court antics were adventures. In 2017/2018 we watched what happens when you can truly inspire and carry a team to success. To mature in the centre piece that the Sixers needed. If Sobey wasn't stupid enough to get headhunted twice in the same game, we could have won the lot. That would have been a great time to leave.

1 team guys are welcome home. Enjoy your adventure #55. Follow the leaders of yesteryear and make the dream come alive. See you back for 1 last run for a title with the Sixers when your almost done.

Boti's called this the 36ers "biggest bungle in 26 years" - article here.

THEY stuffed it up. It's as simple as that. The Adelaide 36ers’ insipid indolence redressing Mitch Creek’s contract for 2018-19 has resulted in the star Boomers swingman pulling the plug and heading back to Europe.

Sure, the club is flouncing out its version of events - "granting Creek his contractual out clause" – whatever the hell that mumbo-jumbo means.

From the moment he won the club’s 2017-18 Most Valuable Player award, the 36ers should have locked down his contract for next season.

It should have been priority No.1.

Instead, the Sixers pursued the signatures of other players, assuming Creek, who had an option to continue, would exercise that option.

My information is Creek wasn’t asking for the world either. But while the 36ers kept him in a holding pattern, he decided the eight games he played for BG Gottingen post-NBL season in Germany’s Basketball Bundesliga may further have opened the door to his ultimate goal, the NBA.

Even if they'd got Ingles' position and name right, I think the money at the Dragons would've still won him over. They were offering very convincing signing bonuses as well.

In this case, the 36ers are retooling after taking the champs to five games. They were in a serious position to contend with Creek plus some other tweaks. (As much as anyone will be able to contend against this Kings roster.)

I'm not buying Boti's version of events.

From the finish of the GF series it was well documented that Creek wanted to pursue his NBA dream and was highly unlikely to return.

It appears these days Boti has lost his sources and is now looking for click bait...ala the Tom Wilson to AFL blog he wrote.

I'm not buying it either Tornado.

Who knows what really goes on behind the scenes but 12 months ago it was made known after his taste of NBA summer league that Creek would only be coming back to the Sixers for one final season, this season just gone and would then devote himself to trying to get into the NBA.

Most of us knew Creek wasn't coming back next season these rumours don't come out of nowhere so I don't think there was any 'bundled' new contract offer or anything like that. He was under contract for next season anyway and chose to opt out I fail to see what the club has done wrong, this is all going according to the script that was laid out on here 12 months ago.

If instead of playing in the NBA/G-League like he originally intended and decides to play out the season in Europe so what he needs to play somewhere.

Creek despite having no allegiance to Adelaide has given us the first eight years of his pro career he could've gone back home to Victoria numerous times or anywhere else and has signed contract after contract to stay here. He has genuine NBA goals and I don't think anyone could begrudge him trying to attain the goal of playing in the best league in the world.

If it doesn't work out he might come back he might not that's life he doesn't owe us anything but I would love to see him back in a 36ers jersey again one day.

Boti isn't wrong on this one. 36ers assumed he would re-sign and only recently put an offer forward that was well off the pace thinking his loyalty would be enough. He was the most important piece to re-sign yet the club made moves on Moore, DJ, Drmic ahead of locking Creek up.

Creek signed a 3 year contract in 2016, he was under contract.

no he didn't

year 3 was a player option

I'm guessing Boti's source on this is Creek himself. Why wouldn't it be - he'd have his number and would have been talking to him for stories and game quotes for each year he was in Adelaide.

I'd say that a direct NBA contract (two way or not) would've been enough to get Creek confidently, but he might've been happy to settle on the Adelaide side of the knife-edge that is showing his wares here or in Europe. Too much stuffing around and he was convinced that the other option was better.

no he didn't

year 3 was a player option

Moore's signing extends the 36ers roster to nine, with the US import joining Daniel Johnson, Mitch Creek, Nathan Sobey, Majok Deng, Adam Doyle, Anthony Drmic, Harry Froling and Jack McVeigh.

I'm guessing Boti's source on this is Creek himself.

@Zodiac

He didn't pick up the option. The club was asleep.

The article you referenced about Creek signing a 3 year deal has 2 factual errors in the opening paragraph as a guide to how good the clubs record keeping is.

Feel free to believe what you like , I tend to go with the facts though.

Feel free to believe what you like , I tend to go with the facts though.

God I hope Boti is off the mark on this one.

If not, I would want answers from the club why the club did not do more to secure probably the most critical player in the club's recent history.

Meh,
A lot of over-dramatising.
This is professional sport, not "The Bachelorette"

All this screaming about a monumental stuff-up assumes there is something the Club could and should have done to change his mind. What exactly?

On the contract thing, the time for Players to exercise their options is prior to Free Agency.
So either Creek did exercise his option, and has now been released. OR he didn't, and has been looking at his options.

Either way, he has weighed up his options, and made his choice.

You can't claim that he didn't want much, and the team stuffed up. If he "didn't want much" he would have taken his option, and would be still with them. Obviously he wanted something they couldn't give him.
Maybe it was simply European exposure and a crack at the NBA, in which there is literally nothing the 36's could do.

It's also possible he wanted another 3yr deal on good coin, and the team balked. But if that's the case then Boti should lead with that, and not the other palaver.

I don't get my information from Boti

Boti is correct in this instance

The club as has been written about on here thought that he had a 3 year contract when he didn't.

Yeah right lol Are you seriously suggesting the club doesn't even know how many years it signs it's players for?

Occams razor mate.

I am not the one making assumptions here Zodiac. You are the one who says they believe the NBL website which is notoriously incorrect on such things.

I just went to check the Free Agent list on the NBL site and the link is broken. I bet you won't find Dan Dillons contract on there.

The 36ers have had many GM's since Creek has been at the 36ers. Many many errors have been made by the front office including the massive balls up of Ferguson's release that you don't know about.

They thought they had to pay julius hodge in advance and there was a fuss but they didn't and they didn't read the contract 'til he left...

Massive loss, understand for his career this was a possibility. opens up some more playing time for drimic and the chance to recruit a high flying import 3 who will bring in the crowd in the mould of a conger, burford of last season.

If there is any truth to the 36ers bungling Creeks contract I will also be filthy. Given the histeria this could create, i'd hope to hear some clarity from the club. Creek is also pretty open on social media, I'd hope there isnt some form of public slagging match about to commence.

@domerat, you seem to have a good connection within the organisation. The balls up re furg was to do with the club not getting $$$ due to his release to OKC was it not?

Wrong you are the one making assumptions. I have the facts backing me up both the NBL and the club have said he was under contract for next season. You can assert whatever you like. This is a nothing story anyway we all knew he was leaving 12 months ago. Boti's got an axe to grind and you're buying into it.

Perhaps pay attention to what I post and you may work out that I know more than you about such things

Not interested you've already proved you're not as clued in as you think you are.

Stick to the facts not tying yourself into knots to try and justify the beat up of a non story.

Creek on 5AA shortly.

I find it hard to believe the Sixers didn't know he was uncontracted. That would be epic level stupidity. I would hope that they talked to Creek at the end of the season to find out what it would take to resign him? Perhaps the Sixers knew they couldn't afford to pay him what he wanted and started moving in a different direction? It'd be nice to have more information, but I'm not going to hold my breath!

Wilson has literally been seen this week on the field training with Geelong kicking a football. He isn't there for fun. Geelong aren’t that silly.

I will let my record of correct posts detailing information on this board first speak for itself

Moot point with Wilson really. Whether Boti knows more about it, Wilson has declared he's not going anywhere.

Hawky, yes, the story goes that the club stood to get a significant release fee ($x00k where the x is more than 2, possibly 3?) when Ferguson was signed by the Thunder, only a 36ers employee signed the release without realising/remembering that it should be contingent on the payment. Cost the club hundreds of thousands of dollars. That's the story I heard from a few angles anyway.

Zodiac, I don't know if I'd call up Occam's razor where one side of the ledger has "36ers make mistake"!

Does this all stem from a previous run in with Dome Rat where you claimed that the 36ers had played an NBL game at the Entertainment Centre because your babysitter took your brother to see a 36ers-Noarlunga/ABL charity game one time? ;)

Ha No I didn't know I had ever had a conversation with him before. I don't hold grudges against anyone on here. True the 36ers have made some big ones over the years but this one sounds a bit too out there for me.

btw it wasn't my babysitter it was my younger brother's I was living with my father at the time.

Creek is one of the hardest working basketball players in the game today. He has and is working his butt off everyday - and he is getting high level training. he deserves everything he gets. Probably the fittest/most physically sharp player we've ever had in the NBL.

In my opinion, I bet there is a stark difference in the nature/intensity of training between Creek and a guy like Cadee - and that is why the former's career is on an upward swing whereas the latter's is lineal.

Lineal is rather kind.

Creek signed a contract ..a 36ers spokesman said...
' What page is page 15 on ... ' he asked hesitating...