Would think Olbrich is hopefully garnering some NBA interest. Mix of his size, athleticism and shooting is definitely something rare amongst Aussies his age. If he keeps developing the way he has been and keeps getting more opportunities at professional level think he might end up pushing for a boomers spot in a few years.

My phone calendar hasn't updated to include the Blitz fixtures. I'm fairly sure it's done that every year previously.

With so many next stars this looks the strongest NBL season ever- most teams run very deep

40 scouts?

If I'm United I'm resting Hukporti and Travers!

Nah, Vickerman doesn't roll like that. Quite the opposite.

Travers NBA rights are owned by the Cavs so they're the only team that can sign him and Hukporti likely won't be getting NBA interest until he proves himself on the court.

I should add that the rest of the article mentioned Justin Schueller having to have a lot of coffee catch-ups (for Zikarsky), but it also referred to other players such as Sarr, Tyler Cook, Bolden, Klintman and Flowers.

"Travers NBA rights are owned by the Cavs so they're the only team that can sign him"

Rights can change hands, just ask Brad Newley.

Obviously rights can be traded at any time but he can't be signed by anyone other than Cleveland right now. Plus I'm not sure Newley is a good example given his rights got traded 10 years after he was drafted.

That's exactly why I used Newley as an example. I agree with LV, after Travers showed his skillset at summer league, I think he's one that scouts will be looking at.

Dave Andersen would've been a better one.

Nah, Newley was exactly the one I was looking for.

Creek not playing, Cook looks ok as replacement except for 5 turnovers, SEM got 7/8 players at best. JJs looking fantastic and deep.

JJs looking great passing the ball.

JJ's offensive execution is a beautiful thing to watch.
It's hard not to wonder how the boomers would've performed under such a system.

Crawford going to be fantastic, short but got game, didn't shoot well but everything else is great. SEM got tighten their D, while Cook has scored easy and commentary give him major rapp, 6 turnovers, Creek back at the four will help, to many guards that will want time.

JJs finals for certain, SEM probably battling unless they shorten the roster.

These commentators are morons. Talking about how surprised they are United has Ian Clark starting in front of Delly. C'mon man delly is washed...

Delly ain't washed up. Baynes on the other hand...

Rob Loe just had the best block of his career, he's dominating both ends

Brisbane are going to be a lot better than most think.

Baynes 1/10, 2 pts

Loe and Hukporti have combined for 14.

I disagree Dunkman, Brisbane in for a long season regardless what happens here. Sobey and Baynes way past their best and imports look just OK. Not anywhere near all NBL level.

Goulding not making the Olympic team me thinks

Goulding always plays pre season at 60%, been doing it for years

Does look a couple kgs over though, thought same at World Cup

Zikarsky is a seriously exciting prospect

Guys, Brisbane will definitely be solid.
Bannan will start over Mitchell, Shannon Scott is another winner, Smith is their best import since Lamar Patterson first got here. White and Norton are winners, and Zikarsky is contributing big right away.
The team is chock full of defensive players.

McDaniel as well. More D. Good roster, plenty of depth. Baynes will be better and Sobey won't have the ball in his hands as much which is a win.

Ah wait, Vic Law and Franks both came through. Smith isn't at that level, but he will genuinely contribute to winning.

Much depends on Smith

Flynn Cameron is a crafty player.

Zikarsky has a big future.

Goulding is cooked.

Surely Melbourne will find a way to keep Loe hanging around.

Brisbane will be much better this year and competitive, but just don't have the horses to compete with the better teams.

On today's performance, JJs, united, bullets, SEM. Early days and agree Baynes not showing anything but Brisbane will be very competitive.

Cadee bringing Sixers back into it. 17 all. NZ looking very unorganised

Is it just me or is Rucker just about pumping himself up. Call the game and stop making it about you. Bloody ridiculous

Flowers is so deficient 36ers need 3 blokes to help get the ball past halfway. Very unimpressed. Cadee is clearly the man.

Parker-Cartwright is a gun, Flowers not so much.
Yes Can we please do better than Rucker.

Ruckers analysis of the X & O's is good but my god when he strays from the game and tries to be funny it is serious cringe.

On another note Jackson Cartwright is going to be an MVP candidate - gets to his spots at will.

Early days but yes Jackson Cartwright is mvp special.

I'd put our over-under at about 6.5 wins this year and probably take the under

Sixers are in for a long year

First import to go Franklin.
You cannot get away with not playing defence in this league

And I don't even think New Zealand have been crazy good this game... Adelaide just suck tbh

Don't think you can bring Jackson-Cartwright off the bench which is what a lot of analysts have predicted. Find a way to make him and WMW work

Breakers are absolutely stacked (apart from the C position).

Modys going to struggle to get everyone minutes.

If really begs the question how can teams with the same salary cap build rosters like the Breakers of top talent and balance compared to whatever the hell the 36ers are supposed to be.

Breakers are deeper this year just a matter of whether the balance works

Flowers is a W-F. But he will continue to insist that he be a PG to make it to the NBA.

screening nick i mean 8 man rotation isn't to bad

Dech, plus 8, Mccaron, minus 26, tells a story. Sixers so many poor defenders. I'd say it’s early days but can’t see cj lasting, no excuses now it’s his team. It’s a shame as I think he has a very good basketball brain.

36ers down one point, 12 seconds to go.

Who are they going to?

"If really begs the question how can teams with the same salary cap build rosters like the Breakers of top talent and balance compared to whatever the hell the 36ers are supposed to be."

By not paying superstar money for Mitch McCarron

After this game I would hope Flowers understands he is not a point guard and CJ brings him off the bench. No more experimenting with useless ball- handlers. You can see what all these turnovers are doing to team confidence and its also leading to selfish iso ball, as players like Wiley get frustrated with no offence being run.

McCarron is also turnover prone and continues to be a net negative out there. He's not a point guard and doesn’t do anything else well enough to be a starter.

I keep saying it: Cadee should start at point guard. If Kell’s injury isnt too bad, then I’d let him handle the ball too. Franklin needs to start showing something asap or I would cut him and bring in someone like Josh Maggette.

Nah this is bad. Flowers is going to be traumatized after this game.

For a self-proclaimed point guard, Flowers' handles are atrocious. Like, he's completely unplayable, can't even get the ball to halfway
I also still haven't worked out what Franklin is supposed to be good at yet? He doesn't do anything

The Breakers look like a well oiled machine even without WMW but they're playing against a garbage 36ers team. Kell couldn't really help here. Flowers exploited by PJC in the first quarter. Franklin still looks terrible both in work ethic and looks like he can't handle in your face defence either.

Someone's probably going to be a sacrificial lamb early in the season CJ or Franklin and I think Jamaal will probably get the chop before the 7 game mark.

This is a comment I wrote about Flowers on August 15, 2023.

(I've been following him for a long time because I'm also into USA basketball. He transferred to five different high schools to get the hype. When he was overrated in the Class of 2024, he reclassified and committed to Louisville. So he was rated higher than he should have been. He's actually a top 50 or so player in the reclassified Class of 2023.
At his current level, he is by no means a starter in the NBL. Also, he claims to play the PG, but he is a W-F.

He has never been a PG, but he has consistently presented himself as a PG for the sake of his own hype.
He is a W-F.

Of course, he is 18 years old. I don't know if he can develop into a PG in the short term, but if he learns from the coaching staff and veteran players, he could be a good one.

No one knows what the future holds for these young prospects, so it's hard to make assumptions.
But this is the pros, not school, and the team is more important than the individual player.
If a player is ready to be a starter, that's fine.
But if he's not ready to be a starter at all, please play him off the bench.

The Next Star program has really helped the NBL.
We continue to see players make it to the NBA because of it. It's getting a lot of attention, both domestically and internationally.
But there are some things you have to be careful with. If the league becomes addicted to this, there is a risk that the league will simply turn into a showcase venue for prospects. In other words, team performance and championship status could suffer and it could become a place to hype up prospects.
It's natural to aspire to the NBA, which is every player's dream, but we shouldn't make players feel like they're above the team. In the long run, the league shouldn't rely too heavily on the Next Star program because prospects have many alternatives like college, the G-League, and OTE.)

Bit of a red flag for scouts leaving 5 high schools, then leaving Louisville at the last minute? He's lucky he'll be entering one of the worst draft classes in recent history.

Zodiac I have Franklin going by the end of the week

He moves to get hype. Just like at the Combine Academy, his fifth high school, he chose the NBL over Louisville.

He should be gone ASAP but it might depend if a possible replacement is available or not especially with Kell currently injured too.

Not keen on a low-character guy like Rucker in the comm box either banging on about his supposed acting career yet no mention of what he got up to running Gladstone.

Franklin will be gone I think zero d and doesn't look in shape.

Flowers can be okay just isn’t a PG at nbl level

NZ stacked except at the 5.

NZ would have better balance with Loe over Pineau.

Does anyone else have issues with Kayo using crazy amounts of system resources then crashing every 10 mins? Its using 30% of my CPU, 18% of my GPU and 40% of my memory! Doesn't happen when I’m streaming anything else. Using Google Chrome.

Yes- my Kayo has more buffering than other streaming services

With the Kayo streams I watch the games a couple of minutes behind the play so it works perfect no buffering at all and I've got an old PC too. But yeah when I used to try and watch the streams live it would buffer like crazy and sometimes crash my PC too.

Where's the Lithuanian?

Franklin was only minus 10, Dech plus 6, Starling plus 4, he only played ten minutes. Mccaron minus 32, and everyone else massive. It's horrible.

On the game easy win to NZB but Sixers did look a bit better in the second half probably due to the drop in defensive intensity from NZB. Humphries looked really good I haven't seen him move that fluently since the NBL Cup early in the 2020-21 season. Cadee looks like he might be a positive bailing us out offensively. Starling although limited offensively made some good defensive plays.

Flowers really struggled bringing the ball up against PJC. I liked what Joey said forget bringing the ball up and let him run the point in the half court because he's starting to get exposed too much up the floor. Great to hear Joey in the comm box sharing his thoughts.

I still don't rate Wiley does FA but carries on like he thinks he's a superstar. Franklin got a few buckets in the second half but still didn't look great stumbling into his shot.

Good comments, Patty. If we try too hard to be a feeder league for the NBA, then our style of play will need to include (or put up with) a lot more iso ball, because that's what the NBA is looking for. Being a 'good team player’ won’t get you drafted.

Cats went from an old slow team to the most athletic explosive team in the league in one offseason

"Where's the Lithuanian?"

LV - I've been wondering the same. Breakers signed an injury replacement but I don't think they said who for. Although doesn't look like-for-like with rustavicius??

He has a calf injury and will miss the entire blitz as well as WMW. Will be re-assessed in 4-6 weeks apparently.

Armstrong is impressive

Wtf is Usher doing out there. Obviously trying to impress scouts but just embarrassing himself.

Another year that Cotton is the best player in the league .

Hopefully he doesn't bring that into the proper season or he might hear my boo

Death, taxes, dog shit NBL refs and Bryce Cotton dominating. The certainties of life.

Super deep when even without the Lithuanian

Cartwright is fire

Delaney fouled out in 13 minutes, game ref totally different in nbl to German bbl. A lot tougher over there.
Cotton will always be in mvp calculations, be some competition this season, Parker Jackson Cartwright is certainly going to push him who was mvp of German bbl two seasons ago.

Kayo seems to work a bit better on Edge at least. Didn't crash watching the Wildcats game. Bit annoying that its not working well with Chrome though! Everything else works fine!

Agreed that Humphries looks good Zodiac. Imagine if we could actually run an offence that feeds him the ball properly! I don't think I have ever seen an NBL team consistently more inept at advancing the ball than the Sixers teams of the last three years!

Fixing that should be absolute priority one for CJ and that should include changing personnel if necessary. Cadee is the only guy on this roster who I trust to get us into our offence and you can't run him 40 mins a game. Ideally they cut an import and bring in a guy like Maggette who you know can run an offence at a high level.

Sixers gonna have a long season ,Flowers said he was to be next Giddey ,won't happen ,
If our imports are not performing we be bottom at this rate .Win against se melb ,terrible losses to Brisbane and NZ .CJ will be gone at season end and we will need a top line coach to get Sixers back to finals .CJ good assistant coach not a coach .

Tai Webster is not the answer for Perth as a playmaker

Looking forward to season 2024/25 already for the 36ers

Magette signed somewhere in Europe, can't remember where, can’t see him being available, Connor Henry had the right idea, had to put up with Giddey getting his nba stats up and mega criticism but new how to get Humphries going. Even in the nba defence is the key to winning championships.

Agree totally Beantown. Humphries was having to do a bit out of his skill set because we're just so loose offensively. NZB running plays, great ball movement like Joey said no one holds onto the ball more than 2.5-3 seconds.

CJ's such a weak coach though compared to a Mody Maor. I don't think CJ will see out the season. Franklin needs to be cut first not sure I agree with Magette he's too poor offensively, with Cadee and even Flowers and *gulp* McCarron there I think we need a big more, too much reliance on Humphries and if he goes down again we'll be utterly screwed.

Agree regarding Tai Webster.

What exactly does he excel at? I'm not Norton’s biggest fan but he runs a team a better than Tai.

Tai excels at being Corey's brother, think about it.

Cats still don't like passing.

Flowers 22 min 8 pts, 7 to's (-26)

McCarron 24 min 6 pts, 3 ast (-32)

Oh boy

Armstrong looks fantastic, Perth had better not hope that Cotton gets injured, he's still by far their main man. Refs still shit.

Yeah I've been loving Armstrong as well

Tucker is cringeworthy. He is not good.

I'm happy Breakers look deep 1-4, as others have said Jackson-Cartwright and McDowell-White balance/mix will be interesting.

Pineau looked to be in a bit deep which I think most expected.

Was keen to hear what Hoops thinks of Max Darling being signed as a development player under the new-ish eligibility rules. Got given 19 minutes this afternoon.

Usher looks like a work in progress but the rewards are going to be there once he adjusts to his role as an off the ball slasher and stops trying to be cotton z

Pinder is clearly rusty so he will improve

Cotton wis still Cotton. The best player of in the league

Corey Webster is back to the role that suits him the best off the ball shooters. He is great knockdown shooter.

You can't start Wagstaff and Webster. Actually, you can't play Webster period.

Darling looked alright a lot better than he looked at Illawarra. More active.

I don't like ex-rostered players like Darling was at the Hawks being allowed to sign as a DP in future. Pretty sure there used to be a rule against that but it's happening a bit around the league now Bayles at the Hawks, Mudronja at Cairns, Stattmann at SEM etc.

Once you've been on a team's 11 man roster you shouldn't be allowed to go back down to being a DP in future, you've had your time you didn't pan out.

I don't see the issue with ex rostered players going to development as long as being paid development player wage instead of rostered

Looks like our yearly tradition continues of 36ers having obvious issues and those that point it out get the wrath of the happy clapper fans right up until the 36ers miss yet another finals series.

Our big hope here is that Franklin doesn't care about pre-season and miraculously becomes good come season proper.

But otherwise:

They don’t have a point guard to run the show yet again, and they don’t have shooters yet again.

I love Humphries - fingers crossed he stays healthy - but him and Wiley isn’t quite enough if we are being honest. It’s wayyyyy too risky to rely on that situation.

So if Franklin doesn’t get the job done, so we try to get a Brantley instead? Or do they go PG/SG.

Do we think Kell with Brantley, Wiley/IH could make the 36ers a threat?

What can the 36ers do to make themselves remotely a competitive squad this year?

Don't mind McCarron and Cadee as Point Guards. Kell is at least solid so if got rid of Franklin would get a 3/4 Brantley/Franks type that can play inside and outside.

Flowers shot looked okay just is not a point guard at this level.
McCarron/Cadee
Kell/Dech
Flowers/Marshall
Import/Wiley/Starling
Humphries/Galloway/Smith-Milner

I'd start Cadee ahead of Mccaron, Brantley signed for big coin in Japan.

What can the Sixers do KET? Get the damn ball over half-court! Point guard first. Adding a guy like Brantley would be nice, but is a waste of money if we can't run an offence!

For now, start Cadee and bench McCarron. Determine if Kell can return quickly. Tell Franklin that, vet or no, we need to see something in pre-season or we'll have to cut him. Tell Flowers, experiment is over. He's not ready to be a point guard at this level. He can play as a wing, or not at all.

Maggette is just a place marker really Zodiac. You're right, he's not strong offensively himself and if we want to win a title, we probably need someone better. But obviously we aren't doing that this season and I just want a competent point guard for crying out loud, so the rest of the team can actually perform their roles and we can see if they have what it takes!

Tassie has shown us the blueprint for how to compete with lesser talent. The Sixers need to learn from that and hire a point guard who is competent and moves the ball rather than dribbling the life out of it. That is the kind of player who will get the most out of our other players and create a culture of TEAM BALL. We can look at getting a superstar closer in once we have a built a decent team IMO.

Cats went from an old slow team to the most athletic explosive team in the league in one offseason

I think Cadee looks good as a spark plug off the bench so I would go with the status quo but with MM bringing the ball up then handing it off to Flowers to be the PG in the half-court.

If Kell is going to be out a while hold onto Franklin and then cut him before the 7 game mark when a decent big gets cut overseas. If Kell is coming back soon cut Franklin asap and look for best big on the market. Wiley is too mediocre and Humphries is an injury waiting to happen.

@ beantown, all very good points. Team play with a couple good scoring options works every time. Flowers isn't ready and Mccaron been woeful for to long. Cadee isn’t great but he can run an offence. To many players rewarded on name and contract status, play players that work their arse off and don’t worry about stats.

Zodiac, McCarron was awful today. He tried to steady the ship when Flowers got into trouble and failed at it. It keeps happening over and over again. He just turns it over when he tries to make something happen. I don't want him doing any ball-handling or point guard duties. Dech is the same, he can't handle the ball. Flowers has shown he can put the ball on the floor for a dribble drive, so I'm fine with that, but why would you want him initiating offence at all? He has so little experience. I repeat again that Cadee is the only guy on this team who we can trust with the ball in his hands.

Agreed Dunkman - Sixers are building from scratch. Noone should be guaranteed playing time. If you perform, you get minutes, if you don't, you're on the bench. Who's got the talent and skill? Who's hungry for minutes? Who can follow the game plan the coach wants? End of the season, keep the guys who performed best, cut the rest. Rinse. Repeat. Maybe 3 years from now the Sixers will have a decent team culture with guys who have been through the fire and proved they belong.

Today, I saw Franklin with a big smile on his face, cracking jokes with opponents, but seemingly no killer instinct and no desire to prove himself in this league. I can't see someone like Cotton just cruising his first pre-season and letting his team get smoked! I'd like our import to be a guy who takes it personally when his team is down 20 and does something about it. Either he can't or he doesn't care!

Flowers has shown he can put the ball on the floor for a dribble drive, so I'm fine with that, but why would you want him initiating offence at all? He has so little experience.

Today, I saw Franklin with a big smile on his face, cracking jokes with opponents, but seemingly no killer instinct and no desire to prove himself in this league.

@Zodiac - re comment halfway up. Rucker has only ever cared about one person, and that's himself. 'Low character' is an understatement.

Have I told the story about my run in with him when I worked game nights at Brisbane. Classless c***.

Mattic from Ozhoops had one or two from his Townsville days I believe.

A few more I know of but won't make public.

How about the builder up in Townsville.

Zodiac, I would hope the Sixers don't value the success of Flowers or the Next Stars program more than the success of their own team! The supporters of the team deserve better than that. This team has to stop giving guarantees to players about starting or playing time, etc. If that means we don't get a Next Star, I'd rather not have one. We should just play people on their merits and in roles that they have the skill-set for!

Seems like people don't want to give Rucker any credit

Next Stars either haven't or they don't and Flowers doesn't have it. He isn't NBL standard.

I am challenged by the notion that a team exists to promote a kid and hopefully make money selling him to the NBA. It distorts the entire team's approach and purpose.

I may be wrong and happy to be corrected but no one has won the NBL title with a Next Star on the roster.

Owner must be feeling the losses mount up so don't expect any big time moves on the roster.

Seems like people don't want to give Rucker any credit

From memory at least 2 or 3 Next Stars have warmed the bench.

I may be wrong and happy to be corrected but no one has won the NBL title with a Next Star on the roster.

The Breakers were finalists last year with Rayan Rupert.

It all depends on the prospect and what they want to achieve. If they shift Flowers to the 2-3 he will be ok. But playing him at the 1 is stupid. He was traumatised by PCJ that even when they got the ball over half court he wasn't willing to exploit the obvious mismatch. Wait until he meets a full court Tassie press!

The Breakers were finalists last year with Rayan Rupert.

It all depends on the prospect and what they want to achieve. If they shift Flowers to the 2-3 he will be ok. But playing him at the 1 is stupid. He was traumatised by PCJ that even when they got the ball over half court he wasn't willing to exploit the obvious mismatch. Wait until he meets a full court Tassie press!

SEM had one a few seasons back that was supposedly a gun. Did he play five minutes for whole season.

Did we ever find out why Sydney parted ways with Biwali?

Dellys redemption arc is going to be something else. He's going to do everything he can to make it to Paris.

Have the hawks got injuries already, who's not playing, or are the hawks still shit.

Nothing was ever made public re: Bayles but my assumption was he wasn't happy with losing his rotation spot after coming back from his injuries.

He looked promising before the injuries and struggled after returning but there's a good chance he ends up being a good pickup for the Hawks if he stays healthy

At this rate delay will be back in the nba lol

Hawks have no sponsor on their jerseys. Not convinced on Bayles, does love to bounce the ball.

Jackomas can't coach so there's that

Surprised AJ Johnson is seeing such low minutes. Can't imagine that was part of their sales pitch...

i see mojave king is in the blitz ad with Dj mitchell

I'm not watching the game but by the sounds of it Delly has a point to prove this season

Phoenix resigning Gary Browne is borderline workplace malpractice.

Delly is just going for it

First look at Sydney and all the big names are missing. Boring

Oops, had assumed Bolden would be starting. Only Hogg and Adams missing

Creek missing is a loss but Moller and Kenyon are really needed to play some D or it's close to the spoon. Kings just rolling along with Gallaway on fire.

Bolden seems to have lost everything an athlete needs: athleticism, speed, shooting, muscle, etc.
He looks like he needs a lot of time. Will Bolden be able to return to the way he was 3 years ago?

Where did FIBA RTR go?

Jeez the Phoenix on their entire roster literally don't have a single high level shooter except for Rhys Vague who is useless

Phoenix will miss top 6 unfortunately

Thought that even before the Blitz

Yes Vague has been a let down at defensive end. Cummings can shoot it, but it looks bare re the three's. I’d be much more disappointed if I was Kelly in letting in over fifty.
Kings as usual very deep though Bolden does look like hasn’t played in years. Kings play very good D it allows them to run in transition and score easily.

I was quite hoping to see Vague's game mature.

I haven't seen any of that in this game, maybe during the season.

Cooks looks to be very good, hopefully he can stay out of foul trouble.

Well, well,well, play D stop kings run. Kings scored less than 30 in second half. They were still missing Adams and Hogg. Other than first quarter didn't look that good.

Geez Cook was making it look like open gym out there. Too quick and too strong for everyone.

He's legit

Browne
Cummings
Creek
Moller
Cook
+
Ayre/Foxwell
Kenyon/StattmanDP
TeRangi/RosendaleDP
Vague/RappDP
Gak/RisettoDP


Pity no cook + Williams.

Cook is Alan Williams's injury replacement right?

He might have a job in the NBL after Williams returns.

Can Jamal Franklin or Kell III need to leave for family reasons?

Agrew Max, Tyler Cook is going to be a match winner.
His post game is solid, his finish with the left and activity in the glass were magnificent.
What a strange scenario to have an injury replacement player who's (based on this performance) one of the best players in the comp

Sydney's free throw and 3pt shooting was horrid.

SEM won't really be able to keep Cook either as Williams has a guaranteed two year deal starting this season so Cook will be available to other teams here or abroad once Williams returns.

Make it happen Sixers!

Any team that might want him will need to offer him some major dollars because there'll be some big overseas offers coming his way after his stint with SEM

CJ wouldn't be able to make Cook work alongside Humphries/Wiley but I agree, Adelaide should be on the phone

Cut Harrison

Scott* / Norton
Sobey / White / Hadley
Smith* / Mcdaniel
Cook* / Bannan / Mitchell
Baynes / ZikarskyNS

Cook would be better than roberts at cairns.

Valentine not a point guard

SEM will be in no rush to get Williams through his rehab

Cook looking like the most talented big we've had in the league in years.

And yeah, Valentine definitely not a PG. Looked much better catching and shooting, which is what he should be doing when playing next to Hogg and Adams.

Weedy Sobey and Baynes are marquees so Bullets can only have 2 imports

Sobey and Baynes are marquees

koberulz, It mentions that Baynes and Sobey are marquees at the bottom of the Brisbane section of this article

https://nbl.com.au/news/analysis-every-clubs-ins-outs-depth-charts

Gee where has the malpractice suit gone with Gary Browne? That comment did not age well

The presence of marquee duo Nathan Sobey and Aron Baynes means the club can only sign two imports for the season - with those positions now being filled by Smith and Scott.

Browne was excellent. Played good D stroked it, kept competing when they were down

There was a comment in Q1 United vs Brisbane calling Delly washed up. That didn't age well either

JJs are the real deal, nz will be there as well.

Pineau doing better than Mathiang, the five spot is nz bug bear. Crawford and Parker Cartwright are going to be fantastic to watch.

Nz rabble in the second quarter. JJs should be top two, the addition of Lee and Crawford top class. Roth just knows how to stop teams.

Cheetham over dribbles and Mathiang not that great basketball iq compared to their bloke last season. Roth has turned McVeigh into a real player.

Crawford is outstanding, nz fighting back, Cheetham at the five has helped the breakers. Parker Crawford is mvp candidate

Bench mark these two teams, very good preseason game.

Sixers playing like Sixers, Flowers not starting point guard

Decent start by the Cats

Bruton two time outs three and half minutes, turnover after turnover

It's gonna be a loooong season for 36ers fans!

Wow this is embarrassing for Adelaide

How long do we give CJ?

Adelaide's biggest weakness last season was obviously the lack of dynamic playmaker.

So what do they do? Use their import sports on wings, a big and a NS that they promised the PG spot that can’t dribble it past half court.

This is genuine workplace malpractice (yes I was horribly wrong yesterday re: Gary Browne).

Pinder knocking off the rust

A few 36ers players look out of shape, at this point of the pre season that usually shows players lack of preperation and accountability, poor culture.

What a joke. This is humiliating. Don't think Franklin is up to it, Flowers is not a PG in a proper mens league. Wiley is meh. We needed a back up big and an import PG and we got Jack sh?t.
We will have to sack an import but CJ should be packing as well.

If this game is indicative of their season ahead, Adelaide game threads on hoops will be 350 posts at a minimum.

This Perth defense is ferociously unrelenting.
Wow.

Adelaide looking favourites for the wooden spoon

The body language is a concern already which is the biggest worry for me. Look, I honestly just think that as much as players respect CJ, they don't know what they're doing under him. I hope CJ can turn things around, but the same patterns are emerging already.

If only John Rillie cared about defence hey

Two imports for Sixers not playing, sack them both, get a defensive 4-5 man and a point guard, sach the third import and get a shooter, it's a rabble.

Flowers at present will be first round pick in nbl 1 on this trajectory

Sixers better with the local players, still time to get three imports and as much as I like cj, bring in Gleeson.

Still absolutely confounds me that the Sixers signed Flowers and (supposedly) guaranteed him a starting spot, effectively torpedoing any playoff aspirations whatsoever.

At least Adelaide can make Brisbane fans feel a little better about themselves.

Pinder moving well after injury.

Get rid of Franklin keep Wiley, make flowers a slashing wing that's focused on the things he can be good at with his great athleticism and length: rebounding, defence and fast break O. Start cadee and kell with flowers Wiley and humphries. Cadee the only real point guard on this team

Wiley not helping with defending, Humphries needs help.

Henshall is one hell of a talented young man

Not certain flowers as a next star is worth keeping either. Gleeson free. Sixers did beat SEM though so it might be light at end of tunnel.

Do 36ers players often not know what play is being run? Just had consecutive plays where Cadee is telling teammates where to move. And previously, it seems like there was very little strategy at all.

That sums up the problem with Adelaide, everything seems to be a set. The good teams don't run too many plays they just play, spacing and reacting to their teammates decisions and the defenses reactions.

Adelaide have no cohesion or chemistry.

Honest question. If Gleeson was open to coaching Adelaide, how well could he really do with the rabble roster?

Alex Saar's passing both in the half court and in transition has been super impressive.
He has great vision, IQ and a well rounded skill set.
The kid has unlimited potential

Ball movement non existent with Adelaide......direct contrast to both NZ and Tas who play team basketball.

Gleeson would put defensive strategies in place, he'd be able to get an import or two to make the team at least competitive. He brought in Cotton when cats were struggling and won the premiership. He set the ground work for the future.

3 x 25+ point losses!

Should the NBL fine the Sixers for bringing the game into disrepute?

A fourth straight 25+ point loss on Thursday and the coach has to go.

Ben, considerably better. Less talented teams can at least execute basically at the professional level. Adelaide honestly look like a team from one or two divisions lower at times. I don't think CJ knows what to do and it shows.

Sixers give some justification for having promotion / relegation between NBL and NBL1.

If the Sixers wipe that off as 'just a blitz' game, then they are delusional. So many areas to fix, where do you start? It is inconceivable to be that far behind the eightball with 10 days to go before game 1.
Zero chemistry, enthusiasm, effort.
There had better be some locker room soul searching and honest conversations, cos right now that is a rudderless rabble.

This team is historically bad. Totally agree Pablo, it is inconceivable that we look this disorganised so close to the season. Its like the players just met at the arena and formed a team for some pickup ball! Sad to say, but I don't think CJ can continue as coach.

The only bright note was seeing Flowers play his proper role on the team as a wing. The kid has a lot of talent!

Hopefully Kell comes good soon. He has looked like a steady hand. What’s up with Wiley? Is he injured again?

Franklin at least showed he can shoot! Seems like a one trick pony though. Not sure that’s going to work against good defence.

Seems like the owner is saving his money this season, so I doubt we’ll splash out, but I’d love to see Cooks in for Franklin. We have too many guards anyway and not enough size up front.

Sixers a rabble. Culture starts at the top. Until that changes, will remain an embarrassment

Hopefully the owner is saving up for getting Gleeson mid-season - paying CJ to leave won't be cheap

The 36ers are smashing it off court with record members and crowds.

Only the 36ers would use it as an opportunity to en-masse disappoint and potentially permanently turn people off.

It's a badddddddd roster.

paying CJ to leave won't be cheap

Would resigning DJ to increase scoring options be a positive..so many gaps appearing in roster.hopefully very early days of season.

On a bright note, didn't the Sixers win preseason last season, then had a poor season. You never know it could be the reverse. :::))’

It's coming into the light that Flowers has not only been guaranteed a starting spot but also 20 minutes minimum playing time a game. 36ers may as well wrap the season up now.

I'm surprised it's only 20 mins tbh. The way this Next Star has been handled reminds me a lot of the first couple of iterations of this where we saw guys who weren't ready given more time than deserved due to these type of promises.

Having him play 20 mins on the wing though is not the worst of Adelaide's problems right now though, IMO. I'm probably one of DJ's biggest 'haters' over the years, but honestly he would at least give them a competent offensive option inside at this point if that bridge had not been burnt.

Thought flowers looked better as a secondary or even tertiary playmaker, he did a few nice things. Defensively he continued to be unaccountable and lazy. I'm sure his defense will improve with his size and athletic profile he'll be an average defender at the least.

What on earth has happened to McCarron just age? I haven't watched NBL since he was at Melbourne, he seemed to be a solid role player or even low production but dependable starter. On current form he shouldn't be starting, although you could say that about many of their players.

Nice to see Cadee shooting that 3 well. He needs to remain starting at point. Long season for 36ers though, they have one of the worst rosters in terms of quality and in terms of fit.

McCarron is a good role player. He slot perfectly into the Melb United roster as basically the 5th option, and the Sixers threw way too much money at him expecting his contributions to lift in line with his salary IMO. Dech as well - less coin, but similar problem. Neither are PGs although capable ball handlers able to initiate an offense, but they aren't play-makers (most of McCarron's bad turnovers stem from when he tries to be this) and have redundant skills and weaknesses. Stick them on just about any other roster in the league and they play anywhere from 18-28 mins a night and perform admirably.

Flowers strikes me as more of "Hey look at us" vanity type signing to me. Interesting to see other Next Stars like Sarr and Klintman, and can't help but think how useful that type of player would be at Adelaide.

Galloway needs to be given more opportunity? Looks pretty good defensively and has that nice quick release stroke to space the floor.

Not to confuse the evidence so far with typical pre-season rust, but Adelaide have just looked embarrassingly bad so far, and again although I don't think the players disrespect CJ, you can tell by body language they are already getting frustrated with lack of direction. Too much evidence for me that CJ just isn't a head coach at this level right now, and I'd be moving heaven and earth to get Gleeson. If not now, when?

McCarron / Cadee / Dech / Marshall are all good enough to initiate an offence and run PnR with Wiley and Humphries. Defense if good enough from that group to contain other teams guards.

Combo guard in the vein of Cleveland would change the way the squad works. Kell and Franklin aren't that guy. Switch one for that type of player and the other for Pardon and the team at least has some balance.

Flowers to the bench and play a role similar to McVeigh in his rookie year

Galloway goes from playing great one game to having smith Milner play ahead of him the next.

The entire team looks disinterested and lost.

Some bizarre stories out of training coming out.

@masterchief hearing Gleeson is on gardening leave from Toronto so cant coach anywhere until that is complete. Could always test that with how NZ dealt with it I guess and make him Director of Coaching

Unlike recent years perths strength will be depth with Henshall Webster, Saar , Harris amd co coming off the bench providing offence and defense. Size will be an issue but there will be no short of point's

Q Anon, but it doesn't matter what changes they make if the coaching keeps doing the same thing over and over again. And it's not like Adelaide are that depleted of talent at all. It's not a terrible roster. Again, if you didn't know Adelaide were an NBL team, you'd swear you were watching a team from 2 or 3 levels below.

Interesting about the stories coming out of training. Care to elaborate further? That was the major concern for me during these past few games, the body language already.

I agree. CJ was an odd choice from the get go. Had the excuse of these are not my players when he landed , but now it's 100% on him.

There is no offensive structures and the defence is non existent. Sunday Dech has just returned from guarding some of the toughest players on the planet and looks lost on D. His D is what got him into the league. McCarron confidence has been smashed and he plays like it.

Very reminiscent of the MC era. Joey Wright came in and took almost the same squad to a GF by instilling confidence, support and systems.

36ers need a known stable entity coaching the show who is able to stand up to ownership on basketball decisions.

Agree with the above post about Olbrich, absolutely dynamic!!!
Underrated passer and dribbler as well

Wow according to Olgun, Sixers are already planning to release Franklin, and have commenced a search for a new import.

At least they got onto that quickly rather than mucking around for 10 games with their heads in the sand.

Sigh. Better now than later I guess. Not the greatest start to the season.

I still don't know if we would prefer a SG or a PF.

PG or PF**

Three games today, starting at 1pm.

If Kell is back and healthy I'd probably go for a PF with how unimpressive Wiley has looked.

https://www.hoops.com.au/forum/51398-nbl-blitz-2023/#p925810

Called it.

SEM offence is very iso, to many players want the ball. Good game.

I like the Ayre pickup for SEM, I think he's probably found the right roster to establish himself as a rotation guy in the NBL after floating around the fringes for awhile now.

Ayre another ex-36ers DP discovered by Joey Wright.

as is Michael Harris who had 18/6/2 v Adelaide at 50% for Perth

Kyle Adnam was too.

Creek should play the 3 and Moller the 4 spot, it's a better balance. Cairns will be a very tough young side and big.

Cook minus14, Cummings minus 17. Cook 6 turnovers. Cairns to good down stretch. SEM got lot work to do at both ends.

"Hopefully the owner is saving up for getting Gleeson mid-season"

Agreed Hoopie! Gleeson would turn the Sixers around pretty quickly I reckon!

"Very reminiscent of the MC era. Joey Wright came in and took almost the same squad to a GF by instilling confidence, support and systems."

Spot on Q Anon, it was a complete turnaround as soon as Joey Wright took over.

Hawks looking very good after a poor start, bullets not bad but not as deep.

Sydney have not won a game but look strong again. JJs look fantastic. Sixers and SEM look average, defensively soft and all iso ball. United also great. Bullets and taipans will be competitive, Perth should be top four, breakers with WMW also good again. Hawks big improvers. Early days, on form so far.
JJs
United
Cats
Breakers
Kings
Hawks
Taipans
Bullets
Sem
Sixers

Some bizarre stories out of training coming out.

Parker Jackson is such a great watch and player, this is going to be a good game.

Breakers by 13 at the half. They look so good, united win the blitz. There is going to be some great matches this season.

All this talk that Perth need an import big but I disagree. If Tai Webster is in your starting back court you are in trouble. An import PG or at the very least, a creator would be very handy.

Perth don't need another PG, just use Henshaw.

Usher quickly becoming the most underrated signing in a long time

Cats come back from 17 down, Usher was great. Six outstanding teams, Cairns, SEM and Sixers bringing up the rear.

Great game to watch. Hope Cotton is okay.

Usher just gets it done, nothing more to be said. A competitive beast and big time shot maker

Usher has ferocity and focus at both ends of the court and can clearly take over if required, what a solid pickup.

Hawks looking good, Cairns very competitive.

Brisbane leading at the half, Sydney taking time to settle, plenty rotations. Brisbane are a far superior team to last season.

Brisbane looking fantastic or kings just not really switched on. Harrison for bullets looking real good.

After Blitz have Townsville in 4 now along with Melbourne, Perth and NZ.
Kings who I had in top 4 don't appear to have replacements for the Aussie Duo and slip back to the pack with Brisbane, Illawarra, Cairns, SEM. Any and all of them could play spoilers to positioning and placing, but not enough to get into top 4.
Adelaide going to be a long and bumpy season.
With Melbourne and Perth having early double headers, they could get a few cheap wins under their belt before the other clubs start to gel.

Can't say I agree, but sport would be boring if it was easy to predict

Brisbane aren't necessarily super talented but look really solid and defend. Schueller seems to be doing a good job.

I'd only put Townsville in there if Gleeson was coaching and Blanchfield returned.

After seeing the teams in the blitz it seems

Perth( will get even better with another import )
United
Breakers (played without best player in White)

Are the cream of the crop again

Then you have

Tasmania
Kings
Bullets
Hawks

On the bubble

Cairns and Adelaide

Are just making up the numbers

Cook the mvp, lol. Yes he scored well though in the last game he was worked out and no where as efficient, and yes he blocks some shots but that not all that is needed for defence. Delly was clearly the mvp and his team won the tournament.

Nah Cook for me was better

Link to full sized image

You can't see all names there but it clearly looks like delly was far and away the best if I’m reading it right.

You're not.

Basically he was the best offensive player and almost the worst defensive player

PerthWorld and MaxM - you're both reading the defensive rating incorrect.

The lower the defensive rating the better.

Rissetto was the best offensive worst defender looking at the graph

The 36ers players look awful in that graph, ugh

Ah yeah, that would explain all the 36ers players in the bottom left-hand corner and the red/blue dots.

SpatialJam
BASKETBALL METRICS GLOSSARY

dRAT - Defensive Rating
Points allowed per 100 possessions. This rating was developed by Dean Oliver, author of Basketball on Paper. Please see the article Calculating Individual Offensive and Defensive Ratings for more information.

oRAT - Offensive Rating
Points scored per 100 possessions. This rating was developed by Dean Oliver, author of Basketball on Paper. Please see the article Calculating Individual Offensive and Defensive Ratings for more information.

Ah yes thanks for clarifying

What I think is interesting is where cameron sits. Isn't he a DP? He could be a candidate for most improved this year if he's given some minutes

Which Cameron do you mean? Flynn Cameron is the only one I can think of, and he's not a DP and it's his first year so he can't win most improved.

MaxM - you're right about him being a DP and I was also actually meaning that new next generation award they've got now... instead of rookie