Hoops

Joey and the Blaze

I don't think its as simple as 'the Blaze have more talent because they have 2 Boomers to none for the Sixers'.

Sure, Gibson and Harvey is better than Warren and Ng or Herbert, but Crosswell is far better than Cadee. Deleon we haven't seen much of yet, but it would be surprising if he is a star given his background.

But look at the bigs: Wortho is the best big on either team, but after that the Sixers are ahead I reckon. Balls isn't as good as Wortho, but once again, he is better than every other Blaze big. I think Simpson v Hudson is at best a draw for the Blaze and may slightly favour the Sixers. DJ has not yet proved to be a consistent gun, but he clearly has far more ability than any Blaze big man not named Wortho.

With the small forward position, its basically Weigh and Creek v Goulding. Goulding is probably the best shooter of the three, but he is still very inconsistent and I would take Weigh over him at this point because he is not as one dimensional. Give it a couple of years and I suspect Creek will be better than both.

So I would say that the Blaze have more talent than the Sixers in the backcourt, but everywhere else I think the Sixers have a slight talent advantage.

Big Marty, the 36ers have no Boomers. Gibson starts at the 1 or 2 with Mills. Wortho plays good minutes off the for the Boomers.

The Blaze have got a few problems at the moment.

I think they have too many mid-sized bigs and no-one to defend the rim. That weakness is made more glaring by the complete lack of footspeed in the backcourt. Although Gibbo has decent speed, Harvey and Goulding struggle laterally and are going to give up penetration to a lot of opponents.

I actually think Harvey and Goulding get in each others way a bit. Both are good scorers, but they are also volume scorers, who need a lot of touches to really get going.

They need more from Petrie, who may yet take a little while to recapture his old form.

Lastly, Wortho seems to be in a shooting funk right now and that is hurting them too.

Goulding is capable of going to the rack and creating his own shot which NG is unable to do.

I have never really rated Goulding, I know he can shoot, but he is such an inefficient player. I think he is destined for a Darren Ng like career as a bench shooter, which is a shame as he clearly has the talent to be so much more.

Maybe a change in coach will awake the blaze, they definitely have contending talent.

Hoops, I'd have to disagree with you regarding the depth of talent off the bench. The Sixers have some veteran players coming off the bench; and the "Boomers" in question are bench warmers for that team.

I stick by my guns and say that you can have all the talent you want, but if they don't get utilized properly on the court and in rotation, then you won't get the best out of them.

Considering the Blaze have been swapping imports every 4 weeks and half their team has been off due to injury, I'd classify the Blaze as "developing" still.

Big Marty, GB has 2 Boomers their talent run a bit deeper than the 36ers. 36ers are a team being developed, you only need to look at the starters against Perth.GB should be ready to challenge the big boys.

GCB have the same scenario as the Sixers right now. The talent pool says they should be better than they are.. but they aren't.

SRT070, I'd have to agree with you on Goulding; the guy in an absolute gun as a shooter and personally I like the agreesive playstyle, but he's always going to be one of those "Melo" guys where he will be the best scorer in the league provided he takes 20-30 shots per game.

i dropped goulding out of my dream team.

Valid point. i guess his good games are the ones when he isnt hung over?

on a seperate Blaze related matter, can anyone explain to me why goulding is so badly inconsistent. I have always liked the guy and think at the start of every season this will be his break out season, but he just has serious moments of nothing, and then a great game then back to nothing. can anyone elaborate?

You have to choose a 2006/07 NBL player to represent you in a one-on-one competition for high stakes. Who do you pick?

Spotted someone on OzHoops saying that if they had to pick an NBLer to play for their life in a 1-on-1 game, they'd go with Graeme Dann - got me thinking - who else would have the combination of speed, athleticism and shooting ability? Sure, he's a bit of a journeyman and basketcase if you listen to some, but he's an all-rounder with a chip on his shoulder and something to prove.

Carlos Powell would probably lack a pull-up shot. John Rillie might do OK but I'm not sure about his defense. Dave Thomas? Martin Cattalini - though I've heard it said that Pero Vasiljevic could dominate Cat years back at training.

Who's your pick?