Hoops

36ers Half Season Report Card

Mostly agree with Jack and Xztatik's comments earlier. Balls and Gizmo are clearly our two best, but both have their flaws.

Star players:

Gizmo dribbling the ball too often is more a symptom I think - he's a great scorer but hasn't shown me he can run a team offence the way a good PG should. To be fair, some of that is probably a lack of basketball nous from his team-mates and/ or poor offensive instructions from Ninnis et al (I don't really know the source).

As usual Balls has been phenomenal with his shooting, but I've been disappointed with his rebounding and defence at times. I think some of that is down to playing too much centre while Burston has been out. Offensively, has a tendency to go missing at times. Though this is sometimes his team-mates fault, on many other occasions I think it is because Balls decides he doesn't want the ball. I've seen players looking for him but he actively avoids establishing position sometimes. Not sure, but I think it might just be that he is winded at times and needs to conserve some energy on the offensive end. Just to be clear, I'm not slamming Balls for this because I think he generally works hard. Its more an observation and yet more evidence that Burston being out has REALLY hurt this team!

Top contributors:

Burston, Holmes and Herbert have been excellent contributors. If we can keep Burston next year, I would love to see Holmes as first guy off the bench every game. He's really improved his shooting and is a perfect sixth man.

Big potential - frustrating as hell:

Hill - someone mentioned a little while back he is carrying an injury, but I never did find out if that was true and how long it might have been affecting him for. I still think he has the tools to be a top notch scorer in this league - but for whatever reason he has been blowing layups and playing without confidence for most of the season. Your time is now Hilly - step it up or your chance is going to pass you by!

Could do more:

Tez - has been solid defensively when I have watched him and still has the athleticism to succeed in the NBL, which is why his ups and downs on offense drive me crazy! In the end though, his unreliable outside shot makes him a poor fit on this team.

Ng - has good games occasionally and tries hard - but is just too slight and too often gets abused defensively because of it. If this team ever learns how to set screens and run an offence to get him open, he could be a microwave off the bench. But in my view that is his limit in the NBL - he just isn't the starting SG you need to build a team around.

Mostly harmless:

Coops - I've actually seen him have good games this season, but with zero offensive skills he HAS to be top drawer defensively and he just isn't. Sure he blocks shots, but good players just outmuscle him and score anyway. I hope next year we can give his roster spot to a young big man with the potential to be an NBL starter down the track when Balls starts declining.

Molitor - no idea - saw him on court once in garbage time and he missed a shot and racked up a foul.

Overall, this team has the most to be positive about of any Sixers team since about 2004, but the core needs to be kept together (Balls, Gizmo, Burston, Herbert, Holmes, Hill, Ng), complementary pieces need to be added next season and Ninnis needs to show his coaching chops by getting this team to run a REAL offence!

Hope we can still sneak into the top four, but we're making it hard for ourselves at the moment and with Holmes and Herbert out this team is really short of hard-nosed competitors right now.

A+ . Ballinger . A top tier import now naturalised. Third club MVP and very high league MVP
A . Gilchrist . Has his faults but can be a gamebreaker
A- Burston . Missed so many games but called a players meeting after 4 team losses. Lifted the team when starting. Assesed as a brilliant defensive centre. Even the sixers didn't realise how good he is offensively.
B+ Herbert . Plays with heart and as with Burston, was under rated on offensive ability.
B Ng . Catch and shoot - wonderful to watch, but a whole lot more.
B- Holmes . Rebounding, guarding - might even be our best free throw shooter, but the jumper is so flat
C+ Groves . Under-acheived - looked terrible in some games, but shows/is showing some signs of improvement.
C Cooper . Playing better than last season.
C- Hill . Gone backwards from last season ,when he was in our best players in away games
F u23 garlepp = F for ....
Coach. Frustrating to watch lower rated players starting and slow at subs and time outs for 4 losses.But that has been corrected.
Love '300 violins' and dancers not as good as last season

You don't like the new trams Tripod? The air con is meant to be good...

Another add:

Apollo Room: A+: Great pre-game dinners. Good meals, good value, great range for all the family. Well done. Anyone who hasn't dined there yet, make a point by season's end.

Yeah. Hill is a C- or a D+ at best. He's blown far to many sitters for a starting spot and his ability to score is alot worse than last year.

I'd personally look at getting Molitor some more active time in conjunction with Hill at this point because there isn't really much to lose IMO.

sam - I could see how much it all meant to you and the girls on saturday after the game.

you are the best captain we could ask for

your defensive work on jackson was the best

tami too light - lauren was kept out when you played on her - just too many talls at times - that last ditch 2 pointer in the dying seconds was plucked from ????

hope your are coming back next season to make amends -

UNFINISHED BUSINESS