The way he let Cotton blow Sydney off the court, looks like Sydney got themselves a true Lemon.

Highest paid import in the league for him to play well against all teams and Super against United.

And that trash he served up in the GF is on a John Starks level.

He kept shooting even though his head was not in it, what was it 1 of 20? Scott Christophersen shot better than that.

He was the real MVP of the Finals for the Wildcats.

Paul Smith and Will Weaver are an embarrassment, to have the highest paid player on the highest paid roster, have HGA by leading the league throughout the year, then lose twice at home to the Wildcats.

Nick Kay getting underestimated on here by to many, yes Cotton was the MVP but Kay's contribution goes underestimated. Defensively and offensively he killed Tate and Cooks who were supposed to be part of the Sydney big guns.

Kay was great, but Sydney were playing a triangle and two leaving him wide open. He did exactly what was expected of him in that scenario, and made them pay for it in game 3.

Kay was great, but Sydney were playing a triangle and two leaving him wide open. He did exactly what was expected of him in that scenario, and made them pay for it in game 3.

Weaver's not the greatest coach when it comes to making in-game adjustments.

That and Casper's disappearing act cost them the title.

I'll just wait for an apology from all you numb nuts who were banging on about this all season, how Casper allegedly was so offended about DJ Kennedy getting paid more, that he went to Sydney for less money than United had been paying him.

Sydney had the highest paid import and probably the highest paid Aussie in Bogut. Is there any doubt they were the highest paid team ever (as I was saying all year).

And they got into the GF through helpful reffing. (And United's game 1 choke).

So much for Weaver being a great coach.

He may well be, but he hasn't proven it in the NBL yet. He had a great start (11-1). But Gaze (7-0) and Demopolous (9-0) had great starts too.

Weaver's not the greatest coach when it comes to making in-game adjustments.

That and Casper's disappearing act cost them the title.

I don't remember anyone saying that.

Yeah I don't remember reading a single post on here saying Ware took a paycut to go to Sydney, the complete opposite actually.

The Melbourne GM said they offered him the largest contract offer in team history (DJ Kennedy was supposedly on $750K) but Ware was miffed that the GM lied to him about him being the highest paid player on the team so bolted for Sydney.

Imports generally aren't in the business of leaving money on the table so if Ware left United despite them offering him $750K+ then he was likely on more than that at Sydney.

I think Weaver was just hoping Ware would self invoke Melbourne United Ware. It could have come at Games 4 and 5 but Ware didn't want to show up to those either.

Weaver a big disappointment? Really? Tied for best overall record. 2nd for best coach of the year. Biggest crowd of the year. And if their highest paid player goes for 2-17 instead of 1-17 in the first GF game they would have won the whole thing. Anybody here think Perth wins if Cotton is a no show in the finals like Ware? In every presser all year long Sydney's coach preached players first. And in the end he cared more for his players being able to get back home than winning a trophy. And Weaver has already showed how he can can take old unwanted players and make them pretty good. Perth fans, without your 3 best guys next year do you really think you will be top 5? Oh and one last thing. Perth didn't win the trophy, they were given the trophy. With an asterisk. See you next season. Without Cotton.

Well the other team was losing and decided to not show up...so who else were they going to give it to?

Ware's 2019 GF was underwhelming by his usually high standards, but it was not remotely comparable to his disappearing act in 2020.

Casper absolutely destroyed Sydney in the 2019 semi final, and he won the finals MVP in France in 2016. Saying there's a "regular season" Ware and a "playoffs Ware" is not accurate in the slighest. He's one of the All time greats of the NBL- despite his poor playoffs this year.

So in some ways, this exonerates Weaver a little- not much you can do if your best player just can't buy a basket. But as people mentioned above- Weaver didn't do enough to mix things up. Like when Trimble was struggling, Vickerman benched him for Shea Ili and it worked wonders. What did Weaver do?

All of those guys are all-time greats, obviously

How many players have made All NBL 1st team 3 years in a row?

How many have made either the 1st or 2nd team 4 years running?

How many players have finished top 4 in the MVP 2 years running?

How many players have been their team's best player in a championship year?

The answer to all questions is "very few". Casper's done all of them. It might get down to definitions and semantics, but for me, there's no doubt whatsoever he's an "all time great".

And when I say semantics, some people refuse to accept that definition unless you have the longevity

(They might make exceptions for Cotton or Jackson who, in their short time, achieved even more than Casper)

But for me, 4 years in the NBL and all the above achievements makes you an all-time great

And Casper's one "failing" compared to other all-time greats is his lack of MVP

But you have to put some historical context into that point

2018-19 was a tight, 3 way race and the award could've gone to any of Cotton, Ware or Bogut.

Hot competition, you could say. There's been plenty of NBL MVPs who weren't anywhere near Casper.

Weaver a big disappointment? Really?

And if their highest paid player goes for 2-17 instead of 1-17 in the first GF game they would have won the whole thing

Anybody here think Perth wins if Cotton is a no show in the finals like Ware?

In every presser all year long Sydney's coach preached players first. And in the end he cared more for his players being able to get back home than winning a trophy.

Losers when losing look for an excuse or an easy way out. Sydney was done, they had no ability to coach themselves out of it.

Terico White has proven in the finals previously he can step up and carry the team if Cotton is not having a great day. It is a pity that anyone who tried to step up for Sydeny got benched.

At least in Casper's case there were a lot fewer people watching than when John Starks did it

Wow, some people have short memories...

There were many, many posts during the season disputing the cost of Sydney's roster and ware in particular.
And yes, there were several claims (albeit probably from the same Kings supporter) that Ware did not leave for money but for some other reason related to him being pissed off.

And yes, the emphasis on highest-paid IMPORT is also telling, and hopefully pits paid to the notion that Bogut was playing for love & free Whoppers.

The problem with Ware is not so much that he disappeared against Perth, it's more that he was very much there... and throwing brick after brick!

Some have it in them and some don't, Casper struggles too much on the biggest stage to be considered an all-time great player.

2018 GF vs Adelaide - 17.4ppg @ 41.4% (24% 3p)

2019 GF vs Perth - 15.3ppg @ 30% (22.2% 3p)

2020 GF vs Perth - 8.0ppg @ 20.5% (4.3% 3p)

Casper Ware career NBL Grand Final stats:

12 games - 14.3ppg @ 32.2% (17.8% 3p)

Well if you want to be specific Ware actually started to go downhill towards the tail end of the 2018-19 regular season.

It's just the GF series stick out as that's when you'd expect a big money player like him to turn it on to justify the spend. Instead it's been consecutive GF series with home court advantage now resulting in failure at two different clubs. Wildcats are good but not that good. We thank you all-time bricklayer.

Lucky for him Paul Smith brute force cash spending came along when it did. Must be nice.

Zodiac- nothing wrong with 17.4ppg at 41.4% in 2018 GF - that's about his usual FG%. The points are probably about average when you consider his reduced minutes in that series (missed the 2nd half of game 1) and that he must’ve had a sore back after Hodgson landed on him, forcing him out of Game 1.

In the 2018 semis vs NZ, he averaged 24ppg, 4.5apg and 4.0rpg. Game 1 being the showpiece, 33 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists.

In 2019 he destroyed Sydney in the semis, shooting 26ppg at 52% over 2 games, including 10 from 19 from 3.

In the 2019 GF, offensively underwhelming and found the going tough against the best defensive team in the league. Although, his defense on Cotton wasn’t bad.

And again, he won the 2016 GF MVP in France.

Casper’s offensive game isn’t quite elite. It’s very good, but not elite. There’s plenty of guards whose pure scoring ability exceeds Casper’s -eg: Trimble, Randle.

What makes Casper elite is the combination of all court game- offense, defense, and lifting his teammates with positive energy. The entire 2020 playoffs was the low point of his illustrious NBL career, so I really hope he returns - I don’t want that to be the last time we see him.

Given he's now 30, possible he's getting past his prime, but he should still have 2 or 3 elite years left in him at NBL level.

LV, did you read what I said? I said he's shit in NBL GF's. Semi-Finals and France are irrelevant in the NBL he routinely disappears on the biggest stage.

And no 17 ppg @ 41% shooting is not good that's poor. The guy has always been a chucker and gets exposed in GF's.

Not just replying to you- replying to those who claimed in this thread that Ware struggles under pressure and doesn't do well on the big stage. Although that is a logical implication of what you're suggesting- even though you conveniently chose to only list a tiny sample size of 3 NBL GF's, rather than considering his wider body of work at the business end of professional seasons, which is far more relevant to the question of how he performs under pressure.

And actually, if you want to get really technical on the 2017-18 NBL GF, I'll point out that Casper's FG% and 3P% were better in that GF than they were for his entire 2017-18 season- where he made All NBL 1st team. His PPG was also slightly better, despite playing less minutes in the GF (due to Hodgson's clumsy fall).

Call him a "chucker" all you want- he's an elite defender, who can do it all at the offensive end- run the break, attack the hoop, rain threes, play at different paces, direct the offense, control the ball. A lower FG% isn’t the be all and end all.