Solid, game on

Trez and Cheatham together is fun

Cheatham is no stretch four, what is going on with this roster construction? He's virtually the same type of player as Trez.

Solid player but not sure about the fit. Not much of an outside threat, doesn't provide spacing on offense.

"He's virtually the same type of player as Trez." How? One is a power forward the other is a small forward

Club look like they couldn't afford Hurt so went with the next best option which is probably the better option

He was a PF with the Breakers with not much of an outside shot either.

Good signing IMO, should be a big upgrade on what Martin contributed last season

Gives us a roster of

Harrell/Humphries/Gristi
Cheatham/(Harrell plays a little PF)
Cameron/Harris
Vasiljevic/White
Cotton/Rassmussen

So they have sorta gone for guards who can shoot and athletic inside imports and a quality inside big in Humphries

Could work quite well, teams focus too much on Cotton and Vasiljevic on the outside you throw it in to Trez and Co on the inside

The defence focus's too much on the inside you have Cotton and DJV on the outside to punish them.

What's his defence like? Can he defend sort of 2-5 spots?

Yea hes a good athletic versatile defender,

I thought he was good for the Breakers before he got injured

KET definitely a formidable defender, versatile, can guard multiple positions, athletic, amazing rebounder.

Definitely not a stretch 4, shot 25 percent from 3 last season in Japan. Not going to be a lot of room in the key again this season.

He can defend and rebound? That'll do me.

I can see Isaac getting squeezed out of the rotation, after the club said they were going to make him more of a focus they have basically recruited him off the court.

Forgot Kenyon on my depth chart

the roster is

Harrell/Humphries/Gristi
Cheatham/(Harrell/Kenyon plays a little PF)
Cameron/Kenyon
Vasiljevic/White/Harris
Cotton/Rassmussen

Jonno

Add Kenyon to that team aswell which strengthens defence a bit more

I think there is 25 mins for Humphries

My guess for the minutes is something like

Harrell 15/Humphries 25
Cheatham 30/Harrell 10
Cameron 20/Kenyon 15/Harris 5
Vasiljevic 25/White 10/Harris 5
Cotton 30/Rassmussen 10

But either way you can play Humphires (and all 3 of the bigs and all 5 of the main players) 25-30 mins quite easily

thats 10 guys playing, if they just want to play 8 its probably Harris and Rassmussen that lose the minutes for more time for Cameron/Kenyon/White

I think this a smarter signing than Hurt. Ideally you want a defensive minded big who can shoot but you also can't have everything perfectly. And it's not like even Harrell can't shoot at all. He hit many timely 3s last season. Again, ideally it would be nice, but I don't think the NBL needs this by default in the same way as the NBA right now. Hard to fault this signing taking everything else into account. He was a pretty gritty defender?

Sounds like Adelaide have wrapped up their off-season? The balance ain't perfect, but it's hard to fault what they've done and how efficently they've done it.

Signing Cheatham covers that 4/5 hole a bit, but Adelaide really only have Cotton as a point guard. White isn't really a proper point guard which presents Rasmussen with a huge opportunity. Also Cameron (Who I keept forgetting about) could pinch in despite likely starting as a 3. This could be a real problem though.

Have said it before but it's also hard to fault the bench pieces of Harris, White and Kenyon. All bring something Adelaide need.

This is probably the biggest off-season from Adelaide ever? Pressure is on.

Bulldog, I think Adelaide have either been deceptive on purpose, or they've had an injection of funds from somewhere else that has drastically changed the narrative.

In reality, starting or not shouldn't matter or mean anything, but it obviously does at the same time. So it really is about how they come together. Any one of those 3 bigs could be effective as a starter or bench player.

I like the signing but I still can't see how Sixers fans can be satisfied with only 2 or 3 stud defenders, given that at least one of them is bound to be off at any time in order to give minutes to the others in the squad.

I think Sixers will be really vulnerable against a team that runs the ball up the court quickly - they may have some guys who can get back quickly, but I’m less confident in their ability to make the right defensive decisions at speed.

SixersFan - if you've watched him play or seen him in the flesh you'll know he isn't a small forward. But that's fine because they don't need a SF and they don't need another three point option. The roster needed an athletic big and he's an upgrade on martin and better fit than hurt i reckon.

He wouldn't have come cheap considering he was priced out of SEM last season so they settled for hurt.

This roster is looking pretty good although I can see cameron moving from SF as the season goes. It's not a natural fit for him and he's better handling the ball more. In fact DJV would be better at SF with cameron sharing guard duties IMO

I don't remember SEM chasing Cheatham but the Sixers chased him hard last year and settled for Martin once he signed in Japan, where he also played as a PF. Only averaged 12 and 7 there too.

Glad others are excited but Cheatham was like a lesser-Trez at the Breakers and IMO not what we need. With Trez and Humphries three bigs that can't stretch the floor with an unusable Griscti as the fourth big too and the spacing starts to become an issue again. It's a bit ironic but a healthy Martin is exactly what this team could've used.

Zylan played briefly with the Jazz in Mike Wells last season there too, so that's another connection you can make too.

Does this mean Hurt to Illawarra is just about a done deal?

Better fit than Hurt as others have said, very good team now if everyone keeps their egos in check and play team. It's a big if, but if they start rolling early they are clearly top four material, maybe higher. Their certainly is a huge wage bracket here, just in the three imports, I’m expecting a fair tax bill at season end.

Get Cotton naturalized quickly and grab another import.

Zodiac - mike kelly was vocal about wanting to sign him. Think I've got my seasons right?! It was at summer league.

When you've got DJV and cotton as well as cameron and Co firing away threes I'm not sure you need bigs that are a threat from the perimeter. If anything having inside threats will help space the floor more

If Perth could not get Cotton naturalised how do you expect Adelaide can get it done "quickly"?

Sebastian - He had I think it was a 4 year ban from applying for his citizenship that went into effect from 2021. So sometime in 2025 he can apply again, meaning he can be on a normal roster spot from next season.

This is like fantasy roster building on 2k but IRL. Elite talent, doesn't really fit together all that well, we'll see how it goes.

Bryce could be a local marquee as soon as naturalised.

This would make a huge difference to salary cap if it happened this season, plus allow him to extend his career and settle in Australia as he would have value as a local for a long time.

I preferred Martin over Cheatham last season before we signed Trez and I still like Martin, but I think Cheatham is a great signing for this season. With Isaac and Trez up front, we don't need Martin’s size anymore. His ability to stretch the floor is nice, but given the upgrade in perimeter shooting this team has seen, it clearly needs athletic defence much more. In a perfect universe, it would be great to have an athletic defensive 4 that can hit lots of threes, but they are very valuable commodities and probably not realistic given how much the team has spent on Cotton, Trez and Cameron already.

I’m pretty happy with the roster, I don’t think we could ask for more from the Sixers front office. Three high quality imports, including the best player in the competition the last 8 years, a highly regarded prospect in Cameron and experienced role players in White, Harris and Kenyon. Impressive haul really and the last two signings have gone a long way to ease my concerns about lack of athleticism, defence and length.

We’ve still got a very undersized backcourt and no true point guard, but you can’t have everything. I like that the team has recognised two fatal flaws that cost the team a spot in the semis last season: lack of playmaking outside of Davis and unreliable outside shooting.

We now have multiple guards who can dribble, shoot and pass in Cotton, Cameron, White, Harris and Rasmussen and that should make it hard for teams to do what SEM did to knock us out last season. Up front, we should be pretty dominant around the basket and should be strong on the boards too.

Only real questions marks are chemistry, teamwork and defence for me. Big question marks given this club’s track record for the last 7 years, but I think the talent and scoring is there to finally challenge for the title!

Article in the paper said both Cheatham and Trez turned down bigger offers in Asia to come to Adelaide. Also broke down the salaries of some of the team

Cotton - $1.3 - $1.4 million
Trez - $500K
DJ/Humphries/Cheatham - $400K

If these salaries are accurate, they must be confident of getting Bryce's citizenship across the line as they have spent in anticipation of it happening early in the season

Can someone post that article of the salary breakdowns?

Interesting signing. Would have ideally had this athletic profile whilst being able to shoot 3s, but I think the defensive side of things (in particular his ability to guard 1 through 4) trump that. Antonius Cleveland would have been absolutely perfect for this role, but I don't think that was ever even a remote possibility.

Whilst Humphries and Cheatham aren't going to stretch the D from deep, Harrell shot 32% from 3 last season, so it's not as if he's hopeless shooting the ball from deep. All of Cotton, DJ, White and Cameron are really good shooters, so it's not as if the spacing will be terrible. And Harrell is (pardon the pun) a monster 1 on 1 offensively within 10 feet of the basket, which should open up space on the outside for shooters anyway.

They have a roster that imo will be as good as any other in the league. It's going to come down to whether or not they can maximise their skillsets as opposed to playing as a bunch of individuals which we've seen all too often with 36ers squads of the last 5 years.

Adelaide 36ers complete NBL26 roster with high-level big man Zylan Cheatham to join Bryce Cotton, Montrezl Harrell

They got Bryce. They got Trez. Now CODE Sports can reveal the Adelaide 36ers have completed their NBL26 roster with another elite import sacrificing what is believed to be as much as $200,000 USD to complete the triumvirate.

MICHAEL RANDALL
June 17, 2025 - 1:54PM

Zylan Cheatham has joined the Adelaide 36ers.

Adelaide has landed the final piece of a staggering off-season roster jigsaw puzzle pulling off another high-level signing, landing the services of former NBA man Zylan Cheatham.

CODE Sports has been told the 36ers have secured a one-year commitment from the ultra-athletic 29-year-old big who has proven NBL experience with New Zealand Breakers.

Cheatham's arrival completes an import triumvirate with returning former NBA Sixth Man of the Year Montrezl Harrell and legendary five-time league MVP Bryce Cotton that could lay claim to be, on paper, as talented as any in NBL history.

A source told CODE Sports the former New Orleans and Utah forward, who spent last season in Japan with Nagoya, rebuffed bigger money Asian deals to sign with the 36ers. It’s believed he made north of US$600,000 - tax free – in his season with the Diamond Dolphins, but has sacrificed as much as US$200,000 to land in Adelaide.

A source said owner Grant Kell3y had always been a willing spender on player salaries but, buoyed by last season’s improved finish, the SA entrepreneur has opened up the chequebook in pursuit of a championship-calibre roster.

"Once Bryce (Cotton) became a thing, we couldn’t say no and then when Trez wanted to return, we set about finding someone who could complement both of them," a source said.

“Grant was happy to spend on the right piece and Zylan wanted to come because he saw what we were building in Adelaide. He has taken significantly less than what he could have made in Asia.”

With Cotton understood to be on between $1.3-1.4 million, the Sixers are set to have one of the richest rosters in NBL history. It’s believed Harrell also knocked back more lucrative overseas contracts but could still command over $500,000. Add in Aussies Dejan Vasiljevic (approximately $400,000) and Isaac Humphries (approximately $350-400,000) and the club is likely spending over $3 million on just five players.

Owing to the NBL’s soft cap – set this season at just over $2.25 million – club owners can spend whatever they want on their players but pay a penalty or 'luxury tax’ on every dollar over that figure.

It’s understood the Sixers’ high profile off-season free agency splurge caught Cheatham’s eye, with the 203cm forward-centre intrigued by the opportunity to play alongside Cotton in a front court with Harrell and premier Aussie big man Isaac Humphries.

Sixers’ coach Mike Wells also played a big role in luring the Arizona State college standout. The pair built a relationship during Cheatham’s 10-day contract with the Jazz in 2022, where Wells was on the coaching staff, and crossed paths on Team USA during minor tournaments.

Despite missing 11 games with a fractured foot, Cheatham was a wanted man following an eye-catching NBL24 campaign with the Breakers that produced 15.2 points and 6.8 rebounds, the Sixers among a number of clubs who chased him hard.

But the riches of the Japanese B.League won out and the Phoenix, Arizona native spent last season with the Diamond Dolphins, where he averaged 12.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists across 60 games.

Cheatham will be one of the best athletes in the NBL this season, his jump-out-of-the-gym ability set to be a devastating weapon for Cotton to utilise his passing ability.

His defensive strengths – rebounding, energy and ability to guard multiple positions – are a God send for a squad that is lean on elite defenders.

His arrival also creates healthy competition in the Sixers’ frontcourt with Humphries and Harrell, the trio set to battle it out for minutes, starting and finishing roles.

Without a true point guard and lacking a pure small forward, the Sixers have compiled a hugely talented, if unbalanced, roster that Wells will now have to find a way fit together into a championship contender, something he’ll have a long runway to achieve as the first team to complete their roster for a season that doesn’t begin until mid-September.

Whilst I get the fit concerns, I think last season the team didnt fail because there was a lack of shooting, it was more a lack of chemistry and a good culture, even though the bigs arent shooters we have plenty of shooters on the roster,

It wasnt that long ago Sydney won the championship with Simon, Cooks, Hunter in the front court and none of them are better shooters than our guys.

We could have made the top 4 last year with Harrell and Humphries starting together if we had better culture and chemistry, the collapse v SEM had nothing to do with a lack of floor spacing.

We have 3 legit proven imports all with NBA and NBL experience, including the current MVP, even if its not all perfect i much prefer this than using import spots on Jamal Franklin, Craig Randall, role players like Withers or saying we dont need 3 imports like the 36ers have done too many times in recent years,

So even if it doesnt work perfectly, I appreciate having 3 quality and healthy imports to start the season for once.

Thanks, Perthworld.

Big pay cut by Cheatham, but half the games and needs to rebuild his stock. A bit surprised by the Trez figure but I suppose he is topping up this off-season with China, Puerto Rico and Big3. No mention of Cameron being on an alleged $400k, surprise surprise.

There was a rumour that Harrell was facing lawsuits or was being investigated in China after he signed with the Zhejiang Golden Bulls and then switched to the Xinjiang Flying Tigers.

Basically the rumour was Zhejiang said he signed with them, and illegally broke his deal to sign with Xinjiang who offered him more $, Harrell said he never officially signed with Zhejiang, so he was free to swap. But I wonder if that swayed his decision to come back to Adelaide and get out of that mess completely if it's true.

DJV would also be on good coin, add Cameron to that list and taxes are coming.

Trez would have made millions from the NBA alone, plus all the side deals. It does seem like he genuinly did care about his time in Adelaide/Australia.

I know he said he appreciated the Sixers taking a chance on him and his time in Adelaide reignited his love for the game but I thought with his name he might be on closer to $1M than $500k, especially after having a very good year last season.

Zodiac, I was surprised too. It does say something about him. It does seem like he wants to be part of something before his career is over. Never won anything in the NBA and doesn't seem likely he'll get back there. It is still over 2 million on imports alone. It's said Cheatham took a pay cut, but if you choose Australia over Japan you're always going to aren't you? 400k is still a reasonable price for NBL teams.

Olgun has been saying the sixers will be the highest spender in history this coming season, around 4 mil

I say good on them, if the nbl ever wants to be 2nd best in the world that figure still needs to be trippled to compete with top euro clubs

Basketball Reference put Harrell's career NBA earnings at almost $39 million. That's of course less taxes, agent fees etc, but he shouldn't be short of a buck.

"Only real questions marks are chemistry, teamwork and defence for me"

Pretty big question marks- 3 of the absolute most important things a basketball team needs to be successful!

LaPark that doesn't include sponsor dollars and also that money is USA dollars so about $60 million Australian dollars. He is doing just fine so I don't think he would require top dollar to play.

You guys seen his shoe collection? Who knows he might not be that flush, Iverson & Antoine Walker style.

Estimated import salaries in newspaper are speculation only but are - Bryce $1.3 - $1.4m / Trez (could command) $500k / Cheatham Japan was $900k and $300k lower in Adelaide = $600k.

These figures are all AUD, which are included in actual spend, but I thought salary cap includes USD amount converted at very favourable exchange rate, therefore amounts included in salary cap will be lower.

It's still a massive spend though, so supporters can't accuse GK of not caring or trying to put a winning team on the floor.

Management have had a massive off-season and there is a real reason to be excited about the season ahead. Bring on the season!

There is 100% no way that GK is footing the bill for this roster. Harrell and now probably Cheatham will be getting some nice brown envelopes full of cash in a ambassador role or something like that by the NBL. As mentioned, it's just another attempt to boost the sales price of the team. Other teams should be pretty dirty about yet another massive gift given to Adelaide, the court action will be pretty lively if proven the league has given advantages to some teams and not others, Adelaide could well be exhibit A.
And Johnno, do you understand how economics work? Most teams lost money, tripling teams budgets is just going to see the league fold, some owners have a bit of cash, but they're not going to flush 10 million down the toilet.
As for the on court fit, is Cameron still the uncontested starter? And how will the mentally fragile Humphries take going to the bench? And how will Cheatham like coming off the bench? Will be interesting how DJ plays with Cotton, will he just bomb away every time he touches it, and what is Camerons role at the 3? How are those 3 going to guard the oppositions best perimeter players? Or is Cheatham going to be the defensive powerhouse off the bench that'll guard the Doyle's, Goulding's of the league. Would think Cameron will be the one getting dragged first, it would make more sense him coming off the bench, but will see how long that promised starting spot lasts.
Will be games where it all clicks and they'll be unbeatable, but just too many big egos out there and a coach that hasn't shown he can control a team.
Spending a hell of a lot of money and yet I wouldn't say they're better than Tasmania on paper.

" "Only real questions marks are chemistry, teamwork and defence for me"

Pretty big question marks- 3 of the absolute most important things a basketball team needs to be successful!"

Agreed LV! But we won't discover how the Sixers are going on that front until the season starts. For now, I can only comment on the quality of the roster and that is looking pretty good to me. That’s an achievement in itself, considering four out of the last seven years it was obvious the team didn’t have the roster to compete before the season even started! Makes a nice change from 'star’ signings like Dusty Hannahs, Tony Crocker, Donald Sloan, Jeremy Kendle, Justin Withers et al!

Turns out Cheatham was contacted by Wells, together at the Jazz, as soon as Wells became the head coach but Zylan took a very good deal in Japan instead. Once that deal finished Zylan personally contacted Wells to see if he would be interested in him for this season, the answer was yes and the signing happened quickly.

https://nbl.com.au/news/an-instagram-scroll-a-text-and-a-match-made-in-heaven

Yet another win for Wells it seems. Cotton, now Cheatham and Trez wanting to come back. Sacking Ninnis might've been the greatest masterstroke in Sixers history.

Now let's hope Wells can coach, certainly the D end and it might be a master stroke.

It already is we've got Cotton on a 3 year deal.

I think the money being offered or the injection of funds would have something to do with it too. As we have said before, money talks either way.

It was reported last season, and at times evident on the court that Wells had "lost" the playing group. That has become a bit of a cliche I don't like but it must have had some basis in it. Although we don't know how much of it all had to do with Davis, and things did seem to improve.

Neither Cotton or Cheatham have played for the head coach side/version of Wells though. Harrell coming back though should tell us something, agreed.

It was a huge mistake not surrounding Wells with more NBL experience last season as it was just he and another foreign coach trying to learn the league. He has Williams and the other assistant to lean on a bit more which should only be a good thing.

Good thing about get the roster sorted early is hopefully bringing them all in early to work on the chemistry and everyone knowing their role.

Master Chief, if he "lost the playing group" why did KD and Trezz want to come back? With KDs outburst he wanted to be back in Adelaide

Too easy for people to make up a story for their own agenda and everyone runs with it.

Magpie, I was actually one of the few who stood up for Wells last season when things looked bad, and made the point that Harrell returning does say something.

Simply saying, the jury is still out on Wells so would be hesistant to call the Ninnis sacking a masterstroke although I get that was mostly to do with how recruting has turned out under him.

I highly doubt the stories were made up. There were clearly issues there. Just saying, the existing relationship is from the days of Wells as an assistant, so hopefully it translates nicely.

I hope he can coach. I really do.

Onwards and upwards.

If nothing else, Adelaide's reputation seems to have improved a lot since being rock bottom a few years ago.

Almost everyone except GK & NB are new.

I personally find Wells very measured and good to listen to in the media. I don't know how he is behind closed doors but players wanting to come to Adelaide again suggests he is popular and has something to offer.

Could Adelaide have signed the locals and imports they have this off season if there were still warning signs?

Yes, it was rumoured Cameron was offered more $ by Adelaide than other teams, but the other locals seem to be coming for other reasons and all new locals seem to be high character guys, which is great.

Cheatham is getting significantly less than he could overseas, as would Trez be. Both probably could earn more in NBL?

Bryce has said many times he is not only about money and thought it was also said that Adelaide's offer was less $ than Perth.

Trez made it known he was keen to return to NBL, but both Bryce and Cheatham seemed to catch other teams unaware, therefore both were happy with Adelaide without their agents starting a bidding war.

Yes they are all getting paid well and Adelaide have spent big this year, but don't think anyone can say it's all about money.

It's hard to fault what they have done in off-season player and coaching recruiting wise, plus the key core pieces from last year are still there

The NBL have today updated their off-season Transaction Tracker and two things, 1) they have Rasmussen listed as under contract and not a DP, others teams DP's are made note of and 2) on our depth chart they've got Harrell as coming off of the bench as Cheatham's back up PF.

https://nbl.com.au/news/nbl26-roster-tracker-every-signing-extension-departure

Whilst I can believe Rasmussen is on the roster, which would complete our roster, I have a real hard time believing Trez has re-signed to come off of the bench.

It will be interesting to see the competition between White, Harris and Rasmussen. Probably only two of the three will get enough minutes to have an impact.

I could see Harrell coming off the bench. His most successful seasons as an NBA player were as a sixth man and I think he would enjoy coming into the game to make an impact. I think it would be more about minutes. He's going to want 30 minutes per game, so as long as he gets that most games, he will be happy.

They should have Harrell on the bench, but will they? Doubt it.

I'm hoping everyone buys in, with each having a reasonably defined role and accepting the role.

Part of that will be making sure the ball whips around rather than being held up. They have to avoid this iso shit.

Cameron actually is mightily important. He’s probably the actual ball handling PG in this team and will need to really actively push it to make sure everyone gets their touches.

I hope we see Humphries get a lot of it early on particularly using his feet rolling towards the basket rather than just catching it low and forcing it up.

Cheatham in theory could work really well with Ice and Trez to draw the defence and keep the ball moving.

Ultimately if the three bigs can force lots of attention, that will hopefully open things up for Cotton and DJV to fire away.

I feel like Humphries will begin starting but it will be inevitable that Harrell will take over purely because they can't afford him not to.

Adelaide created this problem even after admitting it was problematic, but the upside is also huge.

Does Harrell, Humphries and Cheatham look more threatening than Humphries, Cheatham and a role playing import back up big?

If Humphries can put it all together then I think he's the best local big in the league. But now we are in the Bryce window, I think Harrell is more likely to help bring a champiosnhip than solely relying on Humphries and and two imports.

Humphries to the bench is circumstantial, so it just depends on how he embraces whatever role turns out best. That's the interesting thing about Harrell, that I can't see him being upset coming off the bench.

Jason Cadee's role in helping bring Flynn Cameron to the 36ers:

"I've got a great relationship with Jason Cadee, who had been there for some time," Cameron said.

“He reached out to me. We had a couple of conversations, and he just said that Adelaide is a great spot for you - and Jason’s never steered me wrong in the past.”

“He’d give me a lot of advice, and everything he said, I just took it all on board,” Cameron said.

“He’s always somebody I can talk to. He used to play with my dad back in the Gold Coast Blaze days, so I just thought, 'I trust Jason'. I also trust Anthony Petrie, who used to live down there and play with the 36ers, so when people I trust have good things to say about Adelaide, I thought, 'Let’s do it'.”

https://nbl.com.au/news/how-a-400-game-veteran-steered-camerons-big-move

One last gift from Cadee then.

Joey Wright has a relationship with him too back from the Blaze days. He's said Flynn, as a kid, used to be around the team all the time because of Pero and Joey said he loved everything about Flynn.

Listening to Joey Wright on the podcast he does with Boti Nagi, i'm actually surprised at times at how level headed and fair he is when talking about the 36ers.

I know I've respected that about him too. He doesn't seem to hold a grudge against GK but probably part of the reason is he's remained here in Adelaide ever since so probably "had" to get over it to move effectively in basketball circles here. Funny that Conner Henry is back here too now.

Re: Joey, IMO, he's the best NBL expert/commentator there is. Probably unlikely but if we part ways with Wells I'd like to see Joey coaching the Sixers again.

I know Conner is coaching at Saints which would be good coin,
Isn't Joey a 36ers season ticket holder? I have not seen him there myself but I have heard that he is there most games in the same seats.

Re Cadee
A few younger players apparently use him as a bit of mentor. He always has had a rep as a future coach so if you are an emerging player he is an obvious one to stay in contact with.

No one is employing Joey in the NBL anytime soon