Hoops

NBL Free Agents

Bruce - didn't play any basketball for 18months
then straight back into the NBL .
' Can't be judged on that. '

Sturt - Some things are too hot to touch.

Yea good point re Carter instead of Bruce, i really do think its a 50/50 choice,

i chose Bruce because i think he will by far be the better offensive player, could see him averaging 12-15 pts 5 assists in the NBL if givin the opportunity and can make some exciting plays offensively and will have some big 20+ point 5-10 assist games from time to time and to me is ok defensively, he could playe the maher like pg/sg role imo. Given that Herbert and Gibson are not huge scorers i think Bruce's extra scoring and offensive ability could be handy.

where Carter i couldnt see him offensively going past what he has done this year around 8pts 5assist from memory, so not much difference to Bruce other than scoring, but Carter is the better defensive player, and i cant see him having many/if any real big offensive nights.

I guess it comes down to what style of team, if you want a wildcats type brutal defensive backcourt then Carter is your man, if you want a more free flowing scoring team, which is still ok defensively (which is my preference) then Bruce is your man.

Ill be happy either way aslong as we get someone like Gibson or a Newley/Barlow or stud import to join one of them in the back court and win more, and if we dont get Gibson my preference is to keep Bruce and Carter at PG instead of trying for a import pg.

like your line up isaac, and Galen Young fits the versatile SF that i think we need and would bring some inside toughness and hopefully will come on a cheapish import wage.

The only change i would make is i would keep Bruce over Carter, but it really is a 50/50, i just think that with a aba season and full pre-season under his belt Bruce is going to be the better player and has more star potential and if we have Gibson and Herbert they would make up for losing some of Carters defensive toughness, i dont think Bruce has looked to bad defensively anyway. I would consider keeping both Bruce and Carter as the back up guards if they can have stronger aba/pre-season form than Herbert or Ng.

Id chose Herbert over Ng and Vanderjagt over Dowdell also as i think they are the 2 better players and shouldnt cost any more, and Herberts defensive play may be usefull with keeping Bruce over Carter.

Which would leave us with

Gibson/Bruce
Barlow/Herbert
Dorsey/Creek
Ballinger/Young
Johnson/Vanderjagt

No SA players there but if we can Get Newley and Schenscher (and swap Vanderjagt out for Holmes or Hill) inplace of the imports which would give us the 2 best SA players in the league.

I'd love to get Dorsey, he is exactly the type of import we need. Super athletic, reasonable shooter, a slasher who can finish above the rim. get it done!

Is Barlow looking to come home? I would prefer to go after Newley if possible but if not Barlow would be fantastic.

Why not Barlow at pg?
:P

Make it happen Isaac!

It was pre-season.., .. and Luke Schenscher was playing for the Adelaide 36ers.
' Those of you who wanna be Centres.' I called out to my son's u16s watching the game. 'Watch Big Luke closely.' I advised them.
Adrien Sturt rejected Schenscher's first few jump hooks, outplayed him for most of the game and they began to cheer for Sturt, even though he was playing for the Melbourne Tigers, against us.
Later, Sturt 31/18 outplayed Crosswhite 18/12 , in the Big V , came here for training , but we didn't sign him.
While even Captain Sturt sailed up the river murray to be one of our first settlers.

I was keen on Adrien Sturt but Ninnis went Cooper and didn't play Copper much either.

Two good years in Europe. NBA Euro camps and some interest there as well as British National Team invite . Will play Big V , this season.
Born in ADL with a South Australian name.
I wonder whether he'd come back here.

I noticed that Burston was a keeper here with Ninnis
and that Burston was keen to stay here
but Clarke didn't even speak to him. Not good.
Schenscher and Burston were both keen to play for the Adelaide 36ers this season.
Now we're a little short.

Start with a coach who has a clue Jonno!

U had Sam Harris & didnt play him - he wont be back!!

Good luck bringing good players to Adelaide - he'll get the kids & the 3 year program will go for 12...

If Schenscher doesnt happen and Crosswhite stays in Cairns i want us to go for a Mottram or Vanderjagt type, who could split the minutes with Johnson and as long as Ballinger plays at the pf spot and Johnson and say Vanderjagt split the minutes we should be ok in C/pf rotation, as Johnson has shown glimpses of what he is capable not only Friday night but he did well last year when Anstey was out, so if we cant get Schensch id like to give Johnson the start and good minutes to shine with a Vanderjagt/Mottram backing up.

I dont really like import C's, if we get 2 imports i want it to be a combo guard who can shoot like Lisch or Devries (or Devendorf who may be a cheaper option and looked ok to me), and a athletic versatile sf who can swing to sg and pf when required, can play tough defense and score a bit (Dave Thomas mould) my suggestion of a recent NBLer is Tremell Darden. But am happy to go with one or no imports if we can get a few good aussies instead.

My team i listed earlier is pretty well an ideal sort of team short of bringing someone like Newley home, but if we cant get any top Aussie free agents id like us to go with something like

Johnson/Vanderjagt
Ballinger/Holmes or Hill
IMPORT (Darden)/Creek
IMPORT (Devendorf)/Herbert
Bruce/Carter

That to me would seem to be very acheivable and should be our worse case team, with Darden the hardest one to get from Europe, but surely we could get a half decent fresh face import sf if need be. If we put together a team worse than that i think most would be very dissapointed, and that team should be alot better than this years, having 2 imports for a full season, with Creek and Bruce for a full season after a good nbl pre-season and giving Johnson more of a shot and Ballinger back at pf to me would get us atleasrt 5 more wins.

Its not looking good for the Sixers to get Schenscher back - the Crocs have to be in the box seat there. Can't see us getting Crosswhite either.

Majok isn't a realistic choice, as we don't need two big man projects trying to support Balls and he would also probably ask a pretty penny for a near rookie!

Whats happening with Rick Rickert these days? I liked what he brought in the couple of years I saw him. Did he ever naturalise?

Don't know if he is interested in a return to Oz, but if he is fit and not too old, his aggression and rebounding would be a good complement to Balls and DJ.

To me, it might be working on stamina for Harris.
From what I've seen , he blocks, cuts, dunks pretty good, at first, at training.
Later, Johnson kills him, Creek dunks on him and he turns it over.

Ira Clark ultimately did very well in the NBL.
I think Europe will try to lure him at a price too high for the NBL.

We need a upgrade at starting C, PG, SG, SF

From players on that list who are peoples first couple of choices

mine are

PG - Gibson, D.Martin,retain Bruce and Carter combo (assuiming Clarke wants a Aussie or insert Ervin and Williams into this list with Gibson)
SG - Lisch, Madgen, Dillon, Crawford
SF - Madgen, Crawford, Galen Young
C - Schenscher,Crosswhite, Vanderjagt

Then use our current players such as Bruce, Carter,Hill, Holmes, Dowdell, Herbert, Daly as the backups depending on needs and points/salary available

If we got my 1st choices in each position we could end up with something like

Gibson/Bruce
Lisch/Herbert
Madgen/Creek
Ballinger/Holmes
Schenscher/Johnson

Slightly off topic but has Daniel Joyce played since his old man left the NBL?

It would have been easier to name who is contracted! Thats 90% of the players