Hoops

Cattalini Comments on 36ers

Smyth & Breheny ended up looking like the 2 oldies in the muppets in the theatre. They sat there & chatted & showed little emotion. That strategy worked for a while but i think they got out coached towards the end by more defensive coaches (Goorgian) & had no answers. Theres a fine line between being too slack & too strict. I hate being negative but i really dont think Clarke has got it - hope i'm wrong for your lots sake!

Good post KB3. Glad someone sees the positives.

Although this has been probably the worst season the 36ers have had, i still think they are better placed than what they where this time last year, they do need to make some pretty major player changes, but i wouldnt neccesarily get rid of all of our players either.

I think we are better off than last year because:
- we have some good young talent and the best 2 u/24s which will hopefully develop into very good players in the near future.

- Some of our good young players such as Bruce, Carter, Hill, Holmes, Herbert, are still worth considering keeping off the bench and are pretty decent players and all under 30. Better than some of our teams when the bench was full of older guys.

- we have an assistant boomers coach which will hopefully help with recruiting guys like Gibson and he by all reports has a good raport with many top aussie players from his AIS days so that may also help with recruiting, and if he tracks them and brings the top ones back from college successfully ala Gorj used to that could lead to alot of young talent coming through the 36ers, something our previous coaches were bagged for, Clarke hasnt pulled it off yet, but if he can grab a Gibson and say a top young college/europe returnee aswell, it would be grat signs for the next year and future.

- Clarke also has some other similar attributes to Gorj (not that i was a fan of Gorj, many 36ers fans would want Gorj right now with his record) but both are very stubborn, too robotic/slow/structured offensively at times, and have defensive mindsets. Clarke also seems to look at and keep a track of all the young guys and has recruited 2 of the best in the league, another thing Gorj was good at. Hopefully this will eventually lead to some of the success Gorj had, remember Gorj won his titles over 20 odd years, im sure his first couple of years were not so much better either. So given that along with his AIS experience and rep and he seems to be one of the best teachers of the game in the league, so i think all that combined will make Clarke a good nbl coach in the next few years we just have to be a bit patient and let him learn a few lessons.

I would hate us to sack Clarke say he gets a job elsewhere and takes say Creek, Johnson who develop into stars, and brings Gibson and another top young(ish) player into his program and develops one of the strongest programs around, ie the new Gorj, some may say it wont happen, but i think its a reasonable chance it will so i want the club to be patient with Clarke and see what he does over the next 2 years before making a final judgement. I know Cattalini backed Clarke, but many fans dont.

With the management, who else is really proven to be better? as many have said we dont have the budget of the Cattalini championship team, so i dont neccisarily think its poor management as such, we just have to build a more Wollongong/Cairns/townsville style program, of developing a hardworking young team, who build through recruiting and retaining the best young talent they can get, even gamble on a few like Wol did with Trigger, maybe ours is Johnson, as they dont have the NZ/Perth type budget to simply buy all the top talent like we did in the early Smyth days. And hey it can work Wol made last years GF and Cai and Tow are in the playoffs this year, all have ahd tough times just need a bit of patience.

And my guess is Cattalini would have a pretty good idea as to what goes on behind closed doors at the club. With the people he keeps company with he would know quite a few things that the normal public wouldn't and he is in a position to say something without hurting relationships compared to someone like Maher if he was to be outspoken as much as what Cat has.

Just in regards to the SOS group, just because you "sink" money into it doesn't mean you know how to run a basketball club. Yes all of these guys have had some sort of success to a point in running there own business but if I owned and ran a successful basketball club and went and bought a medical centre it wouldn't mean I would know what i'm doing and it doesn't mean instant success!
I can understand from their point of view that if they take on roles they may save some money, but is it perhaps worth their while to look at appointing someone who has had success already in running a sporting club?
Even though these guys sometimes come across as idiots I can't question their passion for the club and that is great but sometimes it gets in the way of reality...

I'd sack Clarke. He should have only had a 1 year deal with an option - i now wouldn't exercise the option. Unfortunately you have to pay him out now which sucks as you have no cash. Coaches with experience would save the day now - Stacker, Tomlinson, Choco, Black or even Molloy are out there & know how to play this situation. Some of you 6er fans will cringe at some of these names but look where an inexpeienced coach got you! Bite the bullet & start again!!!

I love how it's a simple comment that one individual is making and suddenly there's a backlash. Whereas there are several dozen threads about ditching players left, right and centre on this forum and there's at least some sort of "discussion" about the thought.

I do happen to agree that there will be a big review of the club as a whole at seasons end as has been mentioned already; I don't think that there will be as massive "cleanout" as some people think. I think it will be more of a case of finding the right combination with the existing talent and filling in the blanks around that core combo.

>>What has Richard Hill done lately?

Sunk a whole lot of money into buying a team so that you can bitch about it.

Dear Mr Cattalini ; The remarks you made about about our team , the Adelaide 36ers ,are not credible , as you had no reason to know that American Import , Troy Devries was injured pre-season , played for 8 weeks with an injury that wasn't going to get better.
As far as I can figure it, 4 players were brought in without a pre-season and felt you had insulted them.
Nathan Herbert was injured pre-season and re-placed by Mitch Creek who at 18years was injured, which you seem to have ignored altogether.
It would seem to me that you did it unconscionably,
for by so doing you have caused several fans to riposte that they would keep some of the players and get rid of the coaches.

Sounds like Cat is getting his mail from Radford who was an assistant at which club last year? Oh yeah - Perth! Reeks of bollocks...

If the posts correctly represent the statements allegedly made by both former players then I have no doubt Boti will follow up both and put a story in print.

Any chance that the last 2 'comments' came from same "Rocket Scientist"?

Funny that Cat & Brett made 'similar' comments.
Did they mention that you should drop into Muzz Buzz for a coffee?