United is his new club, per Olgon Uluc.

Bring on Jett to Cairns

but the Club was unfortunately unable to match or come close to the offer made by another NBL team.

LB, Minimum chips and a chiko roll per game is what I heard.

LB, Minimum chips and a chiko roll per game is what I heard.

"to find a player of equal or better calibre, that is as determined as we are to represent the Far North, with passion and loyalty".

Bit of shade thrown there?

Very disappointing. However I wouldn't mind Jett at all. Hardworking player.

The next news I'm expecting will be ... drum roll ... Tom Jervis. That would really complete my day NOT!

100% they lost out this free agency. I know for a fact they were offering potential starting players who could become a critical part of their Aussie contingent salaries worthy of 10 minutes off the bench at least 25% off market value minimum. Who in their right mind would take the risk. If you get paid poorly what does that tell you about their intent to play you.

Randle is a better player at this moment anyway, Taipans will have upgraded

Randle is better than Trimble.

I see.

A lot of shuffling of deck chairs but I see the same teams remaining strong and the same teams struggling to stay relevant.

Yeah at least Randle plays defence. I'm happy with how our import PG situation panned out

I think this is the reality for Cairns, regarding their imports. They're always going to need to chase new guys looking for an opportunity.

But what of their local core? Who have they been chasing?
Who's left?

Trimble didn't win them games?

Without Trimble they'd be a one win team.

He scored the same ppg as Cotton in less minutes and at a better percentage.

I don't think anyone is denying Trimble is a great offensive player, it's the other end of the court that puts him behind the likes of Ware and Cotton. If you swap Trimble out last season for another import PG who was the inverse - great defensive player, mediocre/poor scorer - how different would Cairns' record have been? I think Newbill would've shown more, and maybe they win 1 or 2 less, or even win 1 or 2 more.

Yes Trimble is young and can improve etc., but for me defense is 70% effort, especially when a guy has the natural tools like Trimble... It's always worrying when a pro doesn't give effort, because it's not something you can just fix in training. Maybe Vickerman gets him dialled in, but maybe he doesn't and you have a Trimble/Goulding backcourt looking to put more points on the board than they gave up down the other end. Which could still work.

Trimble didn't defend for a large chunk of the season. Point blank. Period. And it did nothing for the confidence and effort for the rest of the group. He was the chief of the team and didn't lead by example.

The Taipans were only ever on fire when Jawai and Hall were prominent. Didn't happen near enough

yes, exactly this. I hope Melbourne can surround him with players who can play D or this will come back to bite them. I'd rather an import PG who can put up 12-15 pts a night, shares the ball around and can show some effort on the defensive end.

it is hard to replace that many PPG .

two imports on 10-12 pts per game at reasonable efficiency + newbill would do it. Hall did fuck all last year, in reality we played with two imports.