Hoops

Boti article on Cats-Sixers game

XY that explains how your guys got blown out.
When your court leader loses it and dumps on everyone else, its going to have a major psychological impact on the team.
As Loco says other teams are going to give it to him to put him and subsequently your team off their game.

Perth seem to have the backcourt to do it though. Will be interesting to see how they handle Breakers and Crocs.

Gilchrist's attitude was always the gamble Scotty was taking. He said as much immediately after the signing. Hopefully he can keep maturing into the on court leader the team needs. If not, it won't take other teams long to stick an antogonising defensive tagger on him and get in his head.

Didn't get to watch the Rivus-cast of the game on Saturday (thankfully - that could have been painful), but I think the most concerning thing coming out of the reports is the purported bad attitude of Gilchrist. The Wildcats fans on OzHoops appear to be generally in agreement that not only was he well held, but that he spent the whole game complaining to umpires and teammates about it.

Forget the Groves situation, we need Gilchrist to be the man in control in this team, and to keep his head about him.

If CJ hangs around, he's probably a guy you'd build a franchise around.

I agree that losing good players to Europe more often these days is a problem, but it doesn't change the fact that you need talented guys who you can build around long-term and locals are more likely to provide that than imports. The other benefit is that fans are more likely to keep following a team if there are a few guys that stick around who they become familiar with.

Adam Gibson could also be that type of player...he is just not there yet.

Stephen Weigh.

I agree with you Loco. One of the unfortunate things that happened through the last five or six years is that the Sixers never found the right young player to groom as Maher's replacement.

You've got to find a guy with the talent to be a top player for the club for a decade and then help him to embrace a leadership role. I don't think Maher was in any way a natural leader when he started with the Sixers, but you could see over time that he worked hard at it and was eventually very successful.

There were guys with the level of talent required - Newley and Ingles for eg, but for whatever reason we failed to sign them. Brad Hill could perhaps have become that player too, but unfortunately he had that terrible arm injury and then we lost him to the Dragons for a bit, so his development has been delayed.

Perhaps in time Hill can take on that role, but I think that it is a bit inevitable that the team will lack leadership and the ability to dig in during tough games in the short-term. You need stability in your team with your core guys playing together for a couple of years to build trust and teamwork before you can expect a consistent response to adversity from your team.

So I can see what you mean about Groves being the experienced Copeland type to guide our younger guys in the short term. Hopefully he can do that, but in the long run, imports tend to come and go, so your core team identity needs to revolve around a local.

With the Tigers here on Wed night, I'm not sure Scotty will be able to deal out his 'training reprecussions' today.

The 'on court leadership' bit has me worried to be honest. With the vacuum left by Maher and Davidson (and before that Copeland) providing level heads from a guard spot in the clutch, we seem vulnerable to me.

Gilly plays on emotion and can turn a game, but to be honest, Ng seemed like the guy in control down the stretch against Townsville for mine - setting up Ballinger etc.

Hopefully Cortez evolves into a similar role.