Good on him. If he goes to Europe it's a tough gig. If I was in Sotto camp he should go to the G-League since it’s more similar to the NBL.

Though I wish the nbl could expand in Asia and bring back the Slingers with a top level Asian team like the Bay Area Dragons. Sotto would be a great fit if Singapore had a team in the nbl. We really need more teams in the nbl for the top-8 finals system.

Probably for the best. Sixers don't have time to wait for Sotto to become an NBL star and if he did, he would be gone to Europe or something before we really got any benefit. After locking Cleveland in, the Sixers number one goal should be an elite defensive big man who can get them back into grand final contention.

Not that it means anything is set in stone given the nature of overseas offers and the like, but in the post-game presser, AC said he's back next year, no contractual opt-outs.

Also said Franks is probably back, although he wasn’t being committal for Franks. I still suspect we see Franks leave for a euro or Asia offer.

DJ and CJs interaction that got caught on audio was a little odd. I get the feeling 36ers won’t go that way next season.

That leaves essentially an entire big man department to fill (even if Galloway may his contracted?)

Galloway is under contract yes and Sotto has a team option for next season that probably was never intended to be picked up. Regardless Sotto could walk out on it anyway it's not like he's ever going to play in the NBL again after this contract.

What Aussie bigs are out of contract that Adelaide could chase?

Soto has potential but you are not winning with him at present, he's a long way off being where he’s required to be, just not strong enough.

Pinder, Humphries, Mathiang, Harrison & Gak form the Bullets...

Not an inspiring list Zodiac! I wonder about Harrison. He looked a good athlete when he came into the league, but hasn't been able to stay healthy and develop the last two seasons. But even if you signed him, its not like he's ready to be that defensive anchor the Sixers need for a couple of years yet.

Pinder has been good this year, but he's not solving our defensive woes. Pass on that, even if he wanted to come back to Adelaide, which I doubt.

Humphries? Feel like he burned bridges with the Sixers after last season's high paid no show. Unlikely he'd return and he didn't exactly do much for Melbourne!

Mathiang was god awful defensively. He makes DJ look like a DPOY candidate! Not in a million years should the Sixers sign him!

Unless Nick Kay is walking through that door, the Sixers will have to scour the globe for a good import really.

Big no to Humphries returning and no way Pinder would return. Not sure on his contract status but he might like his situation in Cairns. If not Perth would offer big bucks and if Cooks leaves then there would be money in Sydney. But for sake of league and also how he's grown there, hope he stays with Taipans.
Don't blame Sotto one little bit in leaving. Could see him being a very good NBL centre in 2-3 years time. Pity he didn't have the support (non crazy Filipino fan support that is) or the coaching to have an affinity to Adelaide.

NBLTigers - his first G League stint didn't go so well, he ain’t going back to that :P

Are any of the college kids worth a look this year?

Not an inspiring list Zodiac!

Sotto will end up in the PBA.

Kai's going to the B League until May/June. Hiroshima Dragonfiles (4th, 27-9).

Geez, they'd be silly to get rid of DJ given there’s really not much starting talent there. Even with an import big you still need a pairing.

I’d love to see stronger big stocks in the NBL, hopefully clubs and the NBL find a way to bring back Kay, Brandt, The Pretzel.

Obviously money plays a part. I wonder if the league can assist with some sort of "ambassador" type roles?

If DJ is gone, I think Sotto should stay and keep building on his promise. I don't know what the deal is with money or anything so obviously not at any ridiculous price.

If it helps with hypotheticals, I think Sotto is actually gone though, not like just an off-season stint kind of thing.

Even if he doesn't make the NBA, I think the rumour is he’s not coming back to the NBL.

Would be a big loss for the Sixers. I mostly just follow the NBL through their socials these days so I'm assuming Sotto is the league MVP the last two seasons right?

If Sotto does come back to the NBL, which I doubt, I'm confident that it won’t be with Sixers. I feel like what improvement he made was in spite of the coaching rather than because of the coaching - his early weaknesses were still obvious by the end of the season.

I think he’s a nice kid with potential and would love to see him again, but Sixers weren’t the right spot for him to really develop.

Hoopie,

What would you have done differently to the Sixers in respect to his development?

(I respect the fact you know a bit about what might be required to develop a big man)

I don't think the CJ/Sixers can be criticised at all for their development of Sotto. He's really only a serviceable back up big at NBL level and we moved him into the starting lineup around halfway of the season and at the expense of club legend DJ who's still sooking about it.

That took a lot of guts by CJ/Sixers to risk getting DJ's happy clapper supporters off side for the betterment of both the team's chances and Sotto's development. It's not like Sotto would've gotten more minutes of any other team in fact he likely would've played less.

And how did that work out ?

Sotto played less than 2 minutes in the last game plus you now have DJ disenfranchised.

It was known Sotto was leaving 2 months ago so why not bring DJ back into the mix?

As I posted elsewhere the 36ers will now have to replace DJ , Sotto and Franks - the entire frontline. That is not going to be easy to do without waiving big bags of cash at Nick Kay or his level of player.

Import bigs usually are expensive and available for a reason. 36ers would have been far better managing DJ and his expectations. Best of luck finding 2 aussie bigs.

Agents are already advising their talent to stay clear of Adelaide.

I mean, I'd hope Adelaide isn’t considered that toxic of a destination.

You’re right though, if there’s no Franks, DJ, Sotto - that leaves one hell of a hole to fill.

If Franks does return, then I guess you’re just looking for someone that can hold their own defensively and be on the court which obviously wasn’t Acouth.

Hiroshima dragon flies, second in the west behind Kay and Buford's team. Sotto length will help in this league. He’s got get his core stronger, got talent though.

Come on, you're not serious with this post surely?

Sotto played less than 2 minutes because he's got a contract lined up overseas and CJ did the right thing by him not risking him getting injured in a meaningless game.

Bring DJ back into the mix? DJ's days as a starter are well and truly done. We've never won anything with him starting in the 13 years he's been here and haven't made the playoffs for five straight seasons, 4.5 seasons of which he was starting.

DJ can threaten to go to Japan again or whatever but I doubt any other NBL team would offer him a contract, they know exactly what they would be getting a 35 year old defensive liability who still thinks he should be starting and getting x amount of shots. He should be grateful even if the Sixers are willing to offer him another contract to come off the bench.

And you know as well as I do from what has transpired over the last five years agents have already likely been steering their players away from Adelaide unless we're willing to seriously overpay (Humphries, McCarron) or give imports coveted multi-year deals (Cleveland, Franks).

Adelaide has had success with DJ in the side - they've been to 2 championship series with him.

I don’t think it’s right to cast that kind of blame to him.

Adelaide have actually had some rosters where his lethality mixed well with another big: DJ & Motum, DJ & Humphries.

Adelaide’s issues in the past has been crap imports and injuries, not Australian content.

@Zodiac

So you think CJ is coaching for his career and he is placing Sotto's life after 36ers above his own? Yeah , I dont agree with that take.

The player management has been a mess all season. Galloway starts then doesnt play. Dech has been in and out. We even had a DP starting at one point. Mixed signals all over the place to the playing group. McCarron has largely been lambasted but as a PG there is no offence for him to actually run

Back to your comment. Adelaide is already viewed poorly after the Creek and Joey situations. last thing you need is a 13 year vet being mishandled as well. The optics are simply bad on this.

DJ has shown he can still contribute. 12/6/5 +21 at 50% in 21:40 v Sydney backed up with 10/2/1 at 57% in 17 minute v Melbourne

DJ off the bench behind an import five like Lee would be fine, obviously he have to realise his pay will match. Move on Franks, keep Cleveland and Clarke. Keep Dech and Drimic as back up two and three spots. There are quality locals out there, find some high iq players.

Who is starting PF if DJ is off the bench and the C is an import?

Q Anon,

In what way was CJ coaching for his life yesterday? A win yesterday would've made no difference to him keeping his job or not. We needed to beat United by 21 points or more something we were never going to do against a Vickerman coached side who were realistically a chance of making the playoffs, unlike us. Plus on top of that I think we needed Perth to beat Sydney by a certain amount too.

It was a meaningless game for us and CJ did the right thing by Sotto, and by extension his agent which benefits the Sixers in the long run.

Player management has been a mess all season? The team was performing poorly from the opening game of the season when we got smacked by Tassie by 25 at home. The team performed poorly all season right off the bat of course a coach is going to shake things up by changing lineups trying to find a combo that works, our starts were bad all season.

No doubt Adelaide is viewed badly because of the Creek situation, I've been saying that on here for the last five years as I'm sure you know but disagree on the Joey firing. I liked Joey but it was clear he stayed on a year too long, his last season you could tell he was miserable and had lost the fire. Plus that text message thing with Kev White and the coaching staff, I don't think too many said the Sixers did the wrong thing by firing Joey then. It was obvious he had to go. Funnily enough I think a Joey type as coach is exactly what this roster could've used this season. There are no bad optics on DJ's benching his time as a starter has been and gone.

I'm not saying DJ can't still contribute but funny how you mention the last two games of the season when DJ was playing to save his career, if that's all he could produce with his career on the line what does that suggest?

Anyway I get what you're trying to do here trying to build pressure on the club to give DJ another contract so I won't be discussing him any more.

You think the 36ers scour social media looking for tips on recruiting ?

If thats the case Sotto will be here for life not being let go.

DJ had to start the season:

10/5/8 at 71% v Illawarra
17/4/8 v Sydney
2/4/4 v NZ followed up with 16/8/1 v SEM
28/7/4 v Illawarra then 4/3/5 v Perth
6/8/2 v MU with 8/5/1 v NZ
17/8/1 v Perth with 21/5/2 v Sydney

First 10 games average 12.9 ppg 6 boards 3.5 assists

Last 10 games 10.1 / 4.3/ 2.2

Minutes played were not that different. I don't disagree he isn't playing like a 25 year old because he isn't. He is still capable of being a positive contributor.

My thoughts on Kai, since I was asked ...

- a lovely kid with a good attitude, very good end-to-end court speed, good hands and great height and reach, unselfish passer, but still plays very raw and skinny and lacking in confidence
- on defence, needs better agility and foot speed to cover the court, especially inside the key, needs more use of arms up in the passing lanes, and core strength to hold out others contending for rebounds
- on offense, needs a reliable outside shot which he takes automatically, including 3-point shots (he often seemed to shoot as a last resort); I'd also like to see him trying more tip-ins as a way to avoid getting pummelled underneath; it was good to see him taking 3-pointers and running hooks and doing step-across moves
- he seemed to be easily intimidated away from chasing rebounds and alley-oops if there was someone in front of him, rather than try to spin round them or jump beside them; similarly, with his height he could shoot over nearly anyone, but seemed reluctant to even when he had a big height advantage
- still shows inexperience in judging when to leave the ground on defence, and in trying to step across in front of a cutter rather than angled slightly backwards to avoid the blocking foul

That’s just my gut feel based on seeing many of his games, rather than deep and detailed analysis. Happy to hear comments from high-level coaches.

I mostly just follow the NBL through their socials these days so I'm assuming Sotto is the league MVP the last two seasons right?

@ Q Anon, while I believe Johnson still has something to offer, it's no point scoring 10/12 points a game if you let in 18 plus by poor defence.


@ hoopie, a very god summary, totally agree. He has talent but needs a lot work, which is ok for a young 7fter. Ball is in his court.

CJ treated him like a red headed step child, no clear set role.

Sotto was a marketing machine for the club bringing enormous exposure to the club via the Filipino contingency of fans. He has potential and let's hope he finds further development in other leagues; and he doesn't forget where it all started and where he got his first break - Adelaide. By the way, the 36er singlet sales will drop next season...lol

Best place for Sotto would be a couple years under Vickerman, a long list of elite bigs have come out of his program.

Won't happen tho