Thanks Corey

Corey don't forget you lost Ben Rennie as well

Thanks for the write up.

Sturt are planning to go with one import AFAIK.

I have three tiers of clubs (no particular order within each tier):

South
North
Norwood
Forestville

West
Woodville
Sturt

Southern
Eastern
Centrals

Will Sturt be in NBL1 Central given their management have decided to not participate this year?

BSA did stated this on social media:

"Basketball South Australia and the clubs have all worked together to collectively reach an agreement that we believe will benefit the entire sport."

This could imply that Sturt eventually came around, or perhaps BSA didn't want the negative PR which inevitably comes with the omission of 1+ clubs from NBL1.

^ yes but I believe Sturt have changed their minds

Thanks for the women's write up, good stuff

Good list

Sturt will be there. Not to be would be club suicide. Whilst they always bang their negative drum on anything progressive, they always come around.

Southern have 3 players and an unproven coach.

They will have more top-end talent than Sturt, but Rigoni will keep Sturt competitive and they should have decent depth.

Woodville and West have more talent.

Hence I have Southern bottom 3.

West losing Thomas is huge, Southern more talent. Central and Eastern bottom then gap to 3rd bottom unless Petty can really stuff it up which isn't out of the question.

Granted, losing Kubank and Thomas are big outs for West.

But they picked up the two Hunter's from Mt Gambier and their imports look the goods: Sheppard will score >25ppg if teams don't tag him.

Again, more depth than Southern IMO.

For South the big question is how will Starling cope playing Football on Saturday afternoon in Gawler and further out then drive to Marion and play basketball

Also Johns playing football but not as onerous as Starling. Huge unknown to me

In the Barossa league, Tanunda maybe?

Forestville
Losing Deng was big but picked up Brine to provide more of an inside presence. Is Rios definitely back, if so would be the favourites to defend title. Depth the only issue.

North
Losing Starling is huge, but gaining Drmic is a coup. Dowdell will need to step up a bit in Starlings absence. Drmic and McVeigh on wings will be deadly but big questions at the point guard. And how will their defence cope losing its lynchpin in Starling to help on perimeter mistakes.

South
On paper it looks impressive, but question marks will be how it meshes under one of the worst coaches out there. Can see it going south (pun intended) real quick if the footy players cant contribute their usual output.

Southern
Totally new team with new coach. Humphries will put up big numbers, Holloway seems sound. If imports can be decent they could sneak into finals.

Woodville
No more excuses for Whitmore. McGriff will be the go to scorer they need, but going from his previous stint at Norwood where there was talent to give him space to suddenly being targeted each week, how will he cope. McGee a very handy pickup and provides athleticism in the paint. Should have gone for an import guard to control things. Will they continue to be the Syracuse of the league, only playing zone because they cant play man?

Sturt
If they get an effective import, my roughy to maybe squeak in. Alex Mudronja and Spear a handy local duo and they get Callegeros back to have some semblance of a post player.

Norwood
Despite a hot start, fell apart at end of season last year. Rumour of losing Legan is huge, single handedly won a few games for them, especially that shoot out away at Mt Gambier. Turnage a big pickup, but what will his chemistry be like with a couple of siblings playing there. Factor in a coach that doesn't know league, another year older and even less depth than before, this year I reckon they finally fall out of the finals race.

West
Their imports had better be damn good!

Eastern
As with West, their imports had better be damn good. However the gap with their local talent and West is a lot worse, especially losing McGee.

Centrals
On paper their imports look terrible and losing a tonne of shooting from last year. Teams will target Dau on the defensive end with no real help around him. Only because of Easterns imports will result in Centrals getting the wooden spoon.

Starling playing at Gawler Central Tigers which extends into the Barossa including Kapunda

Will be interesting if clubs decide to swap the time slots of their home games against South as is their prerogative I believe. Play the men at 630... tough drive for starling straight into a game.

West could surprise. Last year was Corey's first poor season. Expect a bounce back.

Thomas headed to Woodville is a big hole to fill for them, will be interesting to see

Are Woodville now the new favourites if true?

North
"big questions at the point guard"

Why couldn't Drmic play the point?

Woodville
"Should have gone for an import guard to control things."

They did...

The notion of Drmic playing the point is worth pondering but more if things break down. I think that 6 of their top 7 players are all 6' 5" plus. That makes for a tall team.

I would play Drmic and McVeigh for most of their time on court at the 2 and 3 spot. Throw the challenge out to other clubs to find the best match up on 6’ 6” plus wings knowing there is lot of flexibility if it needs to be changed up. This team will be strong defensively too.

But that said a lot of teams have strong line-ups and I don’t think there are any clear favourites

"Drmic is a scoring wing, not a point guard."

Drmic is a basketball player...

He's capable of bringing the ball up the floor and running an offense. How is the fact he can score a downside?

Between him, Aistrope and Harding they'll be fine at the point.

Why couldn't Drmic play the point, same reason as Dowdell wont play the point, they're not point guards!

#496 It has come up from a few sources, I spose will have to wait and see Rd 1.

"Why couldn't Drmic play the point, same reason as Dowdell wont play the point, they're not point guards!"

If that's your rationale, your opinion is invalid. Thanks for trying though.

Randle played the point for 36ers and he is no point guard!!!

So the geniuses on here have decided that Drmic is the new point guard for North. No wonder the 6ers struggled this year, should have had Drmic at the point and Randle at the 2 or 3.
Well I suppose he did have a stellar career at the point in college, wait, hang on......

1. This isn't NBL or college, genius.

2. The assertion was that he play some minutes at point - not that he is a PG by trade.

3. Google "positon-less basketball".

Umm, genius, the assertion was "why couldn't Drmic play minutes at the point", the argument is he's not a point guard, he's a scoring wing. Same as why can't Tom Brady play wide receiver. He could but it's not his job and he wouldn't do very well. He may well bring ball up and initiate offence on occasion but that's not his job, his job is to receive ball in scoring position and score.
And good for you, let's use Google to base our argument on. Some Google results say Donald Trump is greatest American president of all time. Buts let's entertain that for a minute, put Chris Paul and Joel Embiid on the same team and explain because of positionless basketball they have same responsibilities. Are you that thick? Last year DeWitt was best point guard, his job was to get ball to scorers and did it well. Who have North got. Last year was wildly inconsistent BJ, if they had reliable or they probably would have gone further.

Pretty sad League if DeWitt is the best point guard.

Okay 556. Keep living your life, champ.

Ok 560, keep thinking Drmic is a point guard moron.

Anon #556

I can't follow your argument at all but when you said De Witt was best PG last year you just showed your ignorance. Tom Daly by a country mile

BJ and team mates got the Rockets to the finals. Perhaps if he didn’t play the final series with a broken bone in his right hand the story might be different

How did he break his hand?

An unbroken hand wouldn't have helped him shoot any better going by his season before then so no, nothing was changing.

Kane averaged 9 or 10 assists a game. If not first he was the second best. Still not shabby

North just happy to make finals... the point is to win them.

DeWit has flaws in his game that are covered up by having 4 very good starters on the floor with him. Patty Thomas is a much better PG. Tom Daly the best of the bunch no doubt though.

If you say so

#614 - 100% correct

Let me guess, Thomas scores more so he's better?

Any trial games this weeekend?

Mount Gambier to run through South, Woodville and Southern. That's what’s happening this weekend.

Actually thats next weekend

Centrals were at broken Hill yesterday, how much they lose by?

Only a trial game but south smacked a full strength eagles team without Johns and Ellison.

West beat Woodville in a nail-biter... Woodville looked very average in 4th as neither imports are go to guys.

Did Teys play? Did Starling play football before the game?

Yes and I can't answer that

interesting I was at the game and it looked like both woodville imports had high 20s each

Hard for McGriff to be a go to guy in the fourth when he was fouled out for half of it

I'd say Hewitt will take most teams by surprise

No one said they were bad... But Woodville threw a big lead in the 4th and lost

Blokes who shouldn't have got minutes for Forestville did so I wouldn’t say they were full strength or taking the game as seriously as they should have been. Might have underestimated South. South played very well though, almost 20 point win wasn’t down to Andy’s subs.

No, when they got a chance to play they were rubbish. Case in point: last night. Again, please don't make it sound like I'm making excuses. South played well and hit shots.

Rios not playing. Not full strength. Apart from the streetball asian at the end I thought South played a pretty strong team.

South pretty deep this year.. bit of a saving grace that they can go 9-10 deep so the footy guys can rest alot more

South pretty deep this year.. bit of a saving grace that they can go 9-10 deep so the footy guys can rest alot more

Is Rios actually playing this year. Some whispers saying he isn't which given the uproar over Forestville’s approach to get him classified as unrestricted seems pointless

i heard that southern recruited michael jordan. rumours that dean has taken over coaching and thrown his wallet at the nba all star.

Any news on Norwood's replacement for legan? If they find a decent big I'd say they'd be favourites to win

How on earth would Norwood be favourite with just a big?

They also have the best player in the league in Turnage plus their veteran core. If they got a 20 and 10 big that's a championship team.

They need guards.

Veteran cores have an expiry date, just ask West.

And losing Brine and Legan, their 2 best players from last year wouldn't leave a hole. And that veteran core are hanging on by a thread. Yep, definitely favourites!!!

Trial games nobody is going to push it because nobody wants injuries before the season starts...the real issue is getting use to the refing - now that's going to be a challenge.

Can someone name this "deep" South team please.

Norwood don't need guards they have both Webber’s and Lycett. Maybe Wurm coming home too.

ANDREW BARTON AND BRAD JONNEK ARE ELITE BENCH PLAYERS OK

Wurm gone to southern.

How many recruits do southern have? They will bounce back from last years down year.

Nothing like club loyalty!!

Have to admit southern looks like they've bounced back, being bankrupt be damned! Other clubs should try it.

Please don't bring up club loyalty as if thats a thing. No club is loyal to their juniors nowadays so why should you expect them to be

So how many players have played 100+ PL games and all their junior basketball at one club. There must be some loyal players out there

Southern beat Sturt last night apparently by single digits. Any other trial games happening this week?

By the sound of it Southern might have one of the best import combos in the league.

So it looks like

Southern and South

Then Forestville and Norwood

Then West

Then who cares after that?

Are you just naming teams? There's 5 more left.

Other five won't make it!

No North huh, interesting.

South getting Dillon and White?

The guy said elite guards, that rules white and dillon out!

Changing of the order of games must be with the agreement of both teams. If I were South I would challenge that

Home team has the right to choose the time. Or always have in the past.

Incorrect. Minor round games and sequencing of games only with agreement of other team. This was one item discussed at a PL review last year between clubs and BSA. Any changes to times and men first was agreed that only if both parties agree. Hmmm Forestville involved again!!! Is Andy running scared?

More like the Homer Simpson of the league, Jamie, didn't quite catch on that teams were screwing him getting his star recruits to basically play a game of footy, travel, then suit up for a basketball game. Forget the DJ debacle from a few years back, pretty bad taking advantage of the thick kid.
If South's out of top 5 halfway through they really need to sack him.

"Incorrect. Minor round games and sequencing of games only with agreement of other team."

So by that rationale, South agreed to the change and f***** themselves.

Pretty sure you're the one that's incorrect, but if you're not then that says a lot about South.

^^ I'm correct - so South agreed to this or BSA forgot and South didn’t pick it up.

Given the shambles in that organisation still without a head office I'd say BSA just didn't even realise it was a policy that the away team had to agree.

I mean Starling is good but is he "change the game time" good?

The answer is no

Make em play the late game. 2 more hours for the bruising and corkeys to set in

How do those two stack up against Angley, Metcalf, Thornett, Bails.

I think North will improve this year

South and Sturt more stacked

Heard Tigers have knocked off the Pioneers tonight in Millicent. Have probably been overlooked as legitimate title contenders so far but are proving to be among the pre season favourites.

South and southern women stacked more, with whom?

Southern beat Mt Gambier? Is this for real and what were the scores?

Southern up double digits a lot of the game won by around 5. Southern PG went down with knee injury. Gambier missing a few players you'd think

97-94. Mount Gambier missing Jordan Hunter and their G-League import.

Both men's and women’s teams in preseason tourney?

How bad was knee injury?

Any more pre-season results? Heard Eagles just beat Mavs

Is Andy running scared allegedly not allowing anyone to watch the game - even parents weren't allowed into the behind closed door game.

Where is he running to?

I think somewhere in the opposite direction to Marion and Morphett Vale

eagles beat mavs by how much?

So he's running north? Not sure where you're going with this troll, but I'm sure you can salvage it.

Jordan West to Sturt good pickup for them, I wonder in Petty reached out to him as well?

Woodville thumped by Mount Gambier.

South's 23s team beat tigers league team in overtime.

Eagles Mavs wasn't closed door

Is their other import here yet?

What's happening at Norwood with a replacement with Legan

A writeup of some results

we started off the night with a clash of rivals between the South Adelaide Panthers and the Woodville Warriors. South Adelaide come out strong from the start scoring at high speeds and often. At the start of the second quarter, Woodville started to return fire shooting from deep with accuracy, led by star Joey Hewitt the warriors lived up the name fighting hard for every loose ball and creating turnovers with hard defence. The third quarter saw Woodville stay hot as they continued their excellent shooting. As the final quarter started South Adelaide stepped up the intensity another level creating a strong atmosphere, with both teams shooting well from all levels it was up to the team's defence to get them the win. Woodville Warriors def. South Adelaide 117-96

Leading Scorers:
Tanner Giddings - South Adelaide Panthers - 32 points
Bryan McGriff - Woodville Warriors - 25 points
Joey Hewitt - Woodville Warriors- 23 points

In the second game of the night, we had fan favourites Mount Gambier Pioneers take on the first appearances Southern Tigers. the Tigers took no time to show to the full crowd that they mean business as they started out strong with a well-executed offence and staggering defence starting the game off quickly and not stopping as they continued into the second quarter started shooting the ball at an outstanding rate and applying more pressure against the pioneers, who were starting to come into form getting stops on defence and making tough shots. in the third quarter, the intensity was at a night high with both teams fighting for the ball. both teams were pulling as the strings on their offence scoring was fast and quick with both teams using speed and strength to get to the basket. The final quarter was the most intense of them all with the Pioneers battling hard bringing the game to only a few points the Southern Tigers has to work as a team to get past the Pioneers intense defence. the fought hard but it was only a little too late with star Tom Daly hitting a half-court shot on the buzzer the final score was 100-94 for the Southern Tigers.

Leading Scorers:
Dave Humphries - Southern Tigers - 34 points
Viont'e Daniels - Southern Tigers - 24 points
Tom Kubank - Mt Gambier Pioneers - 21 points

Which Southern guard hurt his knee. Is it bad?

Holloway. Looked to be acl

Pre-season trial games are BS games. Teams only want to run and see who works well with whom, and run a few plays. It's not about winning or losing - nobody gives a crap. You just makes sure that your players don't get injured before the season starts.

BSA totally unorganised for the games. Lucky there are a few refs that can pull together.

"BSA totally unorganised for the games"

Like the other week delaying a game at Port Adelaide for over an hour because BSA messed up the referee roster.

BSA is run by refs and "nuf nufs" so surely they can get off their backsides and put a ref roster in place!!!
Where is big Joe at now that his meal ticket coaching mate has committed coaching hari kari.

How were the imports in the Millicent tournament? Looks like Southern's could be the best in the league. Woodville and South look like they are ok but Southern a cut above.

Didn't one of Southern's imports do their knee at Millicent?

No. That was one of their Australian recruits.

No way, Centrals imports the best, pfffft, sorry, can't keep a straight face, they're shocking. Looks like Atkins was the problem at Woodville choosing imports, I wonder if these guys would even get paid?

Best in the league lol

Southern's import had 18 points in a loss to South 23s....dont get me wrong he's good don't disrespect CJ like that tho and souths import averaged 32pts in tournament fyi

Has Norwood played any trials?

Southern's pair will have more impact than CJ though. As far as I know he will be their only import.

Will they miss any finals because of a wedding?

Who cares if they have been honest and open with coach up front. Then it is up to the coach to decide if he will live with that

Heard a few teams have played the under 18 state team. Any info on this. Did the state team beat any mens teams?

I think Sturt and Woodville played them but no idea of results

Who is Norwood's second import?

Heard they beat Sturt, lost to Woodville and got thumped by North.

So North PL team thumped North U18s. I would have hoped so!

I might have blinked and missed it but any info on Sturts import, heard they are only going for one again. Strange thing about that is apparently they want to give Sturt juniors the opportunity to play yet they've signed Jordan West and Spear. Is it economics then, but if they had 2 good imports you'd put them in as contenders, up there with best local talent.

Unless you are McVeigh or Drimic

Sturt building up impressive rosters on both teams without spending one dollar - well that is what they would want you to believe

North beat Eastern by 16.

So tell me who is wasting money?

Let me guess,

Wasting money - Eagles, North, Norwood, South, Southern, Woodville, West, Centrals and Eastern.

Not wasting money - Sturt

Is that about right Sabre deniers??

Which one of Southern's imports did they let go in order to bring in Lwal?

Seems southern not broke after all , no budget cuts down at tiger land, make 2 staff redundant and give the savings to senior coaches to spend

Sturt have amongst the highest junior fees, spend nothing on seniors yet their position as premier junior club is slipping. Are they spending this money wisely on juniors or just wasting money!

Can anyone confirm if every NBL 1 Central game will be live streamed? As the NBL 1 South is??

Yes and one round a week on Kayo

^^can someone translate please

So will clubs stream themselves or is this a BSA/NBL 1 obligation?

BSA/NBL thing

With Holloway out for year apparently with knee, is player payments covered by insurance? If so that could be reason why they could afford Lwal. Or is it just bad luck and Holloway doesn't get paid?

North will not be doing themselves!

The Lights Showcourt has built in cameras

Sounds like The Lights will be doing it themselves then.

Huge pick up for Southern right before the season. Lawl did the right thing to go play for Southern and leave Centrals. Him and Dave Humpheires are going to be tough matchups for the league.

Most of clubs stream, think Centrals only one that doesn't.

Let's not kid ourselves , Lwals decision was purely financial , money talks

And Central's being absolutely trash doesn't have anything to do with it?

And is Lawl wrong for that? You make it seem like he made the wrong choice. Money does talk, and he made the right decision and I'm sure any player on Centrals would of done the same thing if they had the same offer on the table.

Same league, better team, way more money? Sounds like a no brainer for the kid

So let me get this straight, Southern just poached one of Centrals best on the eve of the season or did they poach him a while back?

274, like Southern you don't know the full story. Watch this space.

Lwal was looking at playing in Melbourne as he had trained with United at beginning of season, not sure what happened.

Correct. He moved back home and was deciding where to play. Southern gave him more money, nothing wrong with that at all. Smart decision for him.

Kid has a bright future, fun to watch him this season.

Kid went to Melbourne, realised he wasn't up to big minutes so came home and got overpaid by a club that has been doing it for multiple years now.

Southern used to pay to get Drmic or Creek. Not Lwal whoever he is!

Have to look at it now and say the administration are the ones saying they must spend the money and coaches are overpaying for get whoever they can.

At least before they were title contenders.

Shows your ignorance if you don't know who Lwal Diing is moron

#308 - Lol why would administration be telling their NBL1 coaches to spend? Their admin person was let go to save money. "Go spend money we don't have so my hours get cut."

Admin staff are never the people in Bball clubs telling senior coaches to spend on rosters.

Budgets are set by committees, boards etc.

I meant administration as in their board, committee.. whoever sits above the coaches. I just know coaches here tend to be the ones who get slammed for over spending.

Lwal Diing or whoever he is is not the same as a 36er.

Why are you making that comparison though?

One anon is guessing that Southern offered him more money than Centrals - which is not the main reason he left by the way.

Even if it were, that doesn't infer Southern are spending the same amount for him as they did for Drmic etc.

So many ill-informed comments.

Lwal 100% left for more money ,

Southern are paying more than last year by a long way now. 2 imports 2 WA recruits, Lwal. All adds up.

Sure, believe that if you want.

Southern may be paying more for their imports and interstate recruits than they did for similar players last year - from what I've heard that's highly likely. That's not what you implied though.

You implied that Lwal was getting paid the same as a 36er (based on what seems like zero inside knowledge). That's stupid.

Southern were paying a SHITLOAD FOR CJ,Johns and Drmic. They still paying a tonne but not as much as last year.

I think it's great that Southern have a huge debt they are repaying, have downgraded they coaching development position to part time and committee biased appointments and are still trying to buy NBL Central championships.

What a waste of money they don’t really have!!!