Melb Utd
Perth
Sydney
NZB
36ers
Bullets
Taipans
Hawks

Melbourne
Sydney
Perth
Brisbane
Adelaide
New Zealand
Illawarra
Cairns

United
Kings
Wildcats
Bullets
Breakers
36ers
Hawks
Taipans

1. Sydney
2. Melbourne
3. Perth
4. New Zealand
5. Adelaide
6. Brisbane
7. Cairns
8. hawks

Melbourne
Perth
New Zealand
Sydney

Hawks
36ers
Bullets
Taipans

Sydney
Melbourne
Perth
New Zealand

Adelaide
Brisbane
Cairns
Illawarra

Sydney
Perth
Melbourne
Illawarra (if they can alter their roster and get in another big man, maybe next star?)

New Zealand
Cairns
Brisbane
Daylight
Adelaide
Huskies (I think Huskies will be only 3 wins off Adelaide at end of the season)

No Hodgson = no 36ers

Sobey will step up hugely this season imo, and Wiley is a good player. They'll be fine. 6th

Most people picking 36ers in the bottom 2/3 again this year. Obviously didn't spend enough money again.

Melbourne
Sydney
Perth
New Zealand

Brisbane
Adelaide
Cairns
Illawarra

Sydney
Melbourne
Perth
NZ
Brisbane
Cairns
36ers
Hawks

I don't like putting a team coached by Bevo in 8th, but someone has to go there.

It's shaping up as a very competitive season- even the wooden spooner should win plenty of games.

Melbourne
Daylight
Sydney
Perth
NZ

Brisbane
36ers
Cairns
Hawks

Huskies

1 - Melbourne
2 - Sydney
3 - Perth
4 - New Zealand
5 - Adelaide
6 - Cairns
7 - Brisbane
8 - Illawarra

Cairns
Sydney
Melbourne
NZ

Brisbane
Perth
Adelaide
Illawarra

Like Manu's sense of humour.

One of the above!

At the start of each season we do this and we should go back at the end for a good old laugh!

There's a could of teams that are stacked and should be up there. However, those teams can also choke due to the pressure. There's no reason why Kings should not be top.....BUT, I think those guys are going to finish about 4.

For me, Melbourne are the ones to beat, Perth right up there. Brisbane should improve in rankings, and if they don't it's time to put a pool ball in a sock and knock some heads.

Cairns is the only team I see struggling with their losses.
I think there is going to be a group (NZ, Illawarra, Adelaide) who will be mid pack and fighting to steal 4th spot, but it'll be an early trip to the showers for them. Illawarra will be hurting without Hoops's favourite son Oscar and Adelaide are going to miss that guy playing NBA. God help me, I've forgotten his name already.....

My tip: (28 game season)

1 - Melbourne United (19/9)
2 - Perth Wildcats (18/10)
3 - Sydney Kings (16/12)
4 - Brisbane Bullets (15/13)

5 - New Zealand Breakers (out by % and split) (15/13)
6 - Wollongong Hawks (a game away) (13/15)
7 - Adelaide 36ers (a game away) (12/16)
8 - Cairns Taipans (4/24)

While last season it was game 1 and I tipped adl v mel grand final , jack .....
..not sure yet this season.... i'm expecting sydney to win it ..

Kings
Perth
United
Breakers.

Eventually a Perth v Kings GF

perhaps i'll go syd v mel gf .....channel 9 will be in a little bit of excitement....

I'm still waiting for some sign that this New-Stars program is not another JL debacle.

Potentially, if you're looking at somebody who is all but guaranteed a spot in next years draft, and wants to get a head start on earning endorsements, this category could land some exceptional young talent.
(Just saying it could. It could also land some boobs who would otherwise be flipping burgers).

Point is, such a player could make a huge difference to some rosters.

I find myself unable to tip Sydney strongly.
There's no doubt they are a superstar team,
There's also no doubt that Gaze can't coach and will be found out.
What happens when the unstoppable force meets a pile of shit?

Ironically, (as I usually prefer to undersell them early) I think the Wildcats have potentially improved the most, especially if White is indeed an improvement on Tokoto.

Wildcats
United
Adelaide
Sydney
Auckland
Illawarra
Brisbane
Cairns

I hope we realise that Perth's defensive juice comes from Damian Martin, a guy who is aging and can no longer give 110 per cent all night every night. This isn't a world-beating offensive roster. I think they struggle (relatively speaking) and will require a third import either at or before the halfway mark of the season

Jack Cairns with only 4 wins? They'll be better than that. They should win their fair at home and steal a couple on the road. Not a 4 win team for me.

"AD you have Adelaide 3rd... no one can take you seriously! Brain dead comes to mind "

Nope, you'd have to be brain dead to write off Joey Wright.
Creek is a big loss, but he's very good at recruiting a competitive team. And if anybody is going to pull a Next-Star wunderkind, it will be Joey.

As I said, I don't normally like to talk up the Wildcats early, but subject to White performing I think they have improved the most.
And yes, they have the option of Retiring Hire and brining in another import.

"Nope, you'd have to be brain dead to write off Joey Wright.
Creek is a big loss, but he's very good at recruiting a competitive team. And if anybody is going to pull a Next-Star wunderkind, it will be Joey."

you mean that guy who "one" time won a title with a super stacked team?
It was quite some time ago as well

Adelaide have lost more than they have gained.
"Super coach Joey" has recruited Ere and Deleon.

Fourth place is best case scenario IMO.

""Nope, you'd have to be brain dead to write off Joey Wright.
Creek is a big loss, but he's very good at recruiting a competitive team. And if anybody is going to pull a Next-Star wunderkind, it will be Joey."

you mean that guy who "one" time won a title with a super stacked team?
It was quite some time ago as well"

mystro he didn't say they will win a title. All he said was that with the coach that they are good enough to make the 4. In the last 5 years they have made the finals 4 times and grand final twice with Wright. Wrights career record would be probably in the top 3 of active coaches at a guess. People can hate him as much as they like but at the end of the day he is a quality coach that continues to deliver not only with wins but also with an entertaining team.

Melbourne play Sydney in the grand final.

Hype level for this season at 5% and falling.

Sorry but Lemanis/Gleeson/Vickerman > Wright

He might just scrape in top 5 in a 8 team League

Joey is achieving more whilst spending less than Lemanis, has rarely missed playoffs and never been bottom 2, I'd take Joey over Lemanis.

Gleeson, has been good across his whole career has rarely missed playoffs, even when coaching more budget teams in Townsville, he has hit the jack pot in Perth with a strong core and a good budget to get top notch imports, but still has a higher strike rate than most in converting those things into Championships. I'd rate him as relatively even to Joey across their careers.

Vickerman, who i rate, has alot less experience than Joey, has more titles, but also got perfect timing in getting New Zealand whilst they were dominating and got an extra Title and GF experience at the end of the Ced Jackson era, and then got the Melbourne job. He has never coached a team like Adelaide or Townsville and had to punch above his weight as the head coach. Not a knock on him, he is a great coach, just sort of hard to compare him to Joey who for the bulk of his career has had to punch above his weight to get teams into playoffs and Grand finals. Could Vickerman have got last years 36ers team into game 5 of a GF series against a stacked Melbourne team coached by Joey for example, whilst missing your highest profiled import? im not sure, but we do know that Joey did.

Well said Captain Jack

Townsville was a big spender while Gleeson was in charge

Way too early and way too specific predictions....

Sydney 20-8
Melbourne 18-10
Perth 17-11
NZ 13-15

Brisbane 12-16
Cairns 11-17
Adelaide 11-17
Wollongong 10-18

Semi finals
Sydney 2-1 vz NZ
Melb 2-1 vs Perth

Champions- Melbourne 3-2 vs Sydney

Sydney will impress everyone and have a brilliant season. But United's coaching advantage will come to the fore over the 5 game finals series, leaving Gaze and Bogut standing next to the scorers table arguing over strategy during the dying stages of Game 5, with Kickert throwing elbows at Randle on the end of the bench, after Randle refused to pass for 4 straight possessions down the stretch.

Just kidding. My championship tip is actually Sydney.... As long as Bogut is healthy, they'll have the most influential big/small combo in the comp (with sincere apologies to Casper and Big Josh Boone). Point guard and Centre remain the two most important positions in basketball even in this day and age. And they've surrounded them with impressive complementary pieces. Gaze will be OK.

But many teams could make it very interesting, United being one.

Well "many" being United and Perth. Others, possibly but I don't expect it.

NZ looks a bit of an enigma. Brisbane can challenge if absolutely everything goes right.

Plus you never know how the season will pan out. Maybe someone will sign a good import late, like the 36ers did with Childress. As long as there's import spots (that are always considered relatively expendable), you can never count anyone out.

Sorry but to me success is a championship not making up the numbers or coming close.
Fearne made two GF's with Cairns on a shoestring budget, I'd rate him higher than Joey if he was still coaching in the NBL.

I think Joey & Bevo are probably the two best coaches in the league.

People do their arguments a disservice by talking about a club's budget only. Please narrow down to specific players rather than say 'Team X spent X dollars so they should be X successful'

"People do their arguments a disservice by talking about a club's budget only. Please narrow down to specific players rather than say 'Team X spent X dollars so they should be X successful'"

This.

I strongly suspect one or more of Bairstow, Jawai and Bogut will fail to finish the season through injury. Bullets to underwhelm because Lemanis. Cairns will live and die by their mystery box imports. Wollongong class of 2012 and adelaide to be a well-coached basketcases.

Melbourne have a great coach and well-drilled team who have played and won together already.

Could this be the year that Perth miss the grand finals? It's my list so yes.

Melbourne
NZ
Sydney
adelaide/cairns/perth
brisbane
wollongong

Watching this Kings v United game, I'm skeptical about Sydney's interior toughness.

Kickert, Wear, Deng doesn't fill you with confidence. United is physical and, even without Boone, are showing them up in the paint.

Well, there's also that Bogut guy. But I agree re: Wear and Kickert (I think Deng makes up for it with his length/athleticism), and I think it's going to be hard to keep Pineau on the bench with how hard he works on D.

If Joey's such a great Coach why didn't he make the call to cut his mate when he turned up well out of shape?
Every other Coach mentioned isn't scared to make mid season changes if required.