Hoops

The Sixers are better off without Groves

Lilleyton, I agree that it would have been nice to keep Bruce around. At the start of this season I was hoping he'd be retained, but the story quickly emerged on here that Bruce wasn't that interested in staying and was headed back to the States.

It may be that Bruce could have been retained if we'd been willing to pay top dollar, but as much as I liked him for long term potential, he clearly wasn't worth that last season.

If Groves is getting paid as much as Bruce was, I would be surprised, because people on here have been saying he was a 'cheap' option for our second import. But if he is, then we need him to perform better than Bruce did, otherwise we will have to cut him. I'm thinking 14ppg at a good clip, solid D, a few assists and low TOs.

But for now I'm getting right behind Groves and hoping he and Gilchrist can feed off each other and form one of the best backcourts in the league.

I see from the Adelaide Confidential story on Gilchrist that Groves is his mentor.
Anyway - we'll see the first home game and can have a good look at it.
We might see some overtime.

I see from the Adelaide Confidential story on Gilchrist that Groves is his mentor.
Anyway - we'll see the first home game and can have a good look.
We might see some overtime.

Based on his performance, a 50% pay cut was very reasonable.

I think Beantown is right regarding Bruce.

Hopefully Gilchrist and Groves should have a speed and athleticism advantage over CJ and Penney? Would be nice to see Burston continue to dominate on the boards and get good outlets to Gilchrist. Ng and Hill would also benefit from some quick offence I reckon, so I think we have the potential to be a very effective transition team this year. Hopefully will get along to the game on Saturday and find out. Anyone hear if the Sixers are definitely retiring Maher's jersey this weekend yet?

Lilleyton, you need to catch up on current events. Bruce decided he wasn't committed to an NBL career over here. Pretty sure he has gone back to the US to get married and to live. Not sure if he is even seeking to play professional ball over there either. So not much the Sixers could do really.

Breakers Vs Sixers should be a good game. I think the Sixers will play a whole lot better with that first game behind them.

Oooh.. and they'll be here on Saturday.
Worth going there for a look.
Who will guard them?

Neither team played well which makes it hard to be confident about the 36ers performance. The shooting was appalling on both sides. The 36ers just looked like a tame pussycat with no grunt whatsoever. It is only the first game of the season but they allowed themselves to be beaten by a team that did not put up a strong performance themselves. The Cairns crowd aren't even that noisy and intimidating. This is a warning sign regardless of how early in the season it is. New Zealand comes next.

Quite right Isaac about the unworldly threes by Breakers. Throw in top games by Rychart and Mills and steadier effort from Crosswhite and Cairns don't look too bad, so maybe a bit of perspective.
Still like to know more about the defences of both teams???

The TAB and NBL game preview had Cairns to win.
If a player that averages 19 gets 7 - that's the main reason for the loss.
If Burston started and Gilchrist didn't get injured ,
we probably would have won.
I'm expecting to win at home and lose away.
Gilchrist is young outta college making his debut so you need experience at 2 and back up at 1.

was at the game last night however he seemed ok, bit rusty but i guess maybe next week will be different.

generally we missed easy lay ups, but overall was ok.

however some of the reffing was ordinary. I tend to think the refs are different everywhere.

ordinary here with guys like macdonald and co, ray hunt in melbiurne with damien theiss etc. the odd charge called made me stop n think(was i really here seeing some of them for and against).

very disappointed!

PS: it was heralded before the season the all american backcourt would be awesome, i didnt see it working in awesome tandem. Gilchirst yes, but groves....um not really

Little bit hard to comment without seeing the game about individuals but maybe someone can fill me in.
Thanks Paul for comments about Boodnikoff, maybe he has more game than I gave him credit for.
Ballinger's 2 for 13 looks terrible but where did he shoot those shots from. If he was down low and wheeling into paint and just missing jumphooks then that is forgivable, but it doesn't sound like it, otherwise he would have been fouled more.
Also what defense did Cairns go with because athletically and sizewise they cannot be a very good MAN team so I wonder how MUCH zone did they get away with. Thats probably the only way I can imagine they could contain Gilchrist.

I wasn't a big fan of the Grooves signing and feel we would have been better going for a bigger guy since we have guard/forwards easily covered. BUT We have gone with Grooves and give the guy some time, he had some decent pre-season games and from all report still has plenty of skills.

Give Grooves some time, Cairns were favourites for the game as much as we all may like to disagree.

oh for gods sake....

maybe cairns played well? its oing to be a VERY tight season where anyone will win on any night

as for groves...how did ballinger go, should the 6ers piss him off too?

OP = original poster.

And yes, agreed that this season we need a dramatic improvement in road performance. Scraping by on home wins only is not going to cut it.

That didn't take long.

Assuming OP is not just trolling (Which he very well could be).