Hoops

Sydney Kings add import guard Charles Carmouche

I wonder how many player points God would be...

It's been mentioned before that since he's so big he's being used as a banger inside but we've all seen that he prefers to jack it up from outside, I wonder if that's just his natural game as didn't he play an outside game more at St Mary's? I guess that's where the lack of heart comes into it as a guy that size, you expect him to be attacking the basket and pulling down a bunch of rebounds, etc...

It will be interesting to see if we can get that sort of game out of him (which we need) or whether it will be another frustrating season for him and Kings fans...

Sidenote: It's disappointing that Burston was still available for maybe a large portion of the time that we knew that Crosswhite needed to be replaced and on very similar points to Allen... He could have been a very handy pick up if he could stay healthy... Ah well...

Agree Paul... I'm not overly pleased with how things have gone from a very promising season to a pre-season of doubt, and while we will very much need our bigger names to step up, as I've said before, I think the difference will be how our bench and role players perform, needing them to go above and beyond on a very regular basis. I think they're capable, but other teams have gotten better, so it will be a task both mentally and physically...

Dumovic has had some handy games for the Gunners, either rebounding well or scoring well at the least, if not both... Has he been on International duty since June? Just turning 20, I wonder if he would be ok with a DP position to start with. It would be reassuring to have another big body as back up though, if only to fill in when foul trouble hits... Being able to groom another local boy would be good too... The thing though with quality bigs that you'd want on your team is that they're probably too good for a DP spot but just not quite good enough to warrant a full time spot... There's a few local bigs that would be great to have but wouldn't get the benefit out of a DP spot...

I honestly think he might be able to get something out of Ben Allen too.

This is really the biggest IF of them all and if it works out I think will pay big dividends. It's just a case of whether or not his NBL results in comparison to QBL/SEABL have been a matter of lack of heart, or lack of proper minutes/being used properly...

Either way, looking very much forward to the pre-season!

I think you'll see them struggle like Townsville did with their roster full of guards last season

I think some of Townsvilles trouble was their whinge factor as well, especially PC... It didn't take much for them to look beaten mentally, so when it came to hustling up physically, they just didn't have it. I doubt Hammer will be allowing the same lapses...

3 colleges in 5 years not a great sign.

If you look at WHY he had three colleges (first college was going to re-rate back to Div III and then he wanted to finish career with his dream school growing up) then I think it's a bit more acceptable, even though it's not often seen...

As for all the guards, I know what Boti is saying, but Madgen was played at the 3 a lot last season, so while Sanders, Gleeson and Carmouche are all strictly guards, that SF position is still also fairly well served with both Madgen and Harvey spending time there last season (which I wasn't a fan of, as defensively, they got beat a lot and more pressure on Madge to defend bigger players to take his energy from the offensive end) and also Hill now adding some depth, who then fills out some time at the 4 as well, with Garlepp starting at the 4, maybe needing to fill in at the 5, but with AJ being able to move to the 4 if (God forbid) Allen actually starts to be productive, I think while still thin, it might be ok... But as D4444 says, a lot rests on AJ being tougher than his old reputation would give him credit for...

AJ might have had that reputation early, but a few seasons OS playing against tougher opposition would have hardened him up. His clips show him as a tough worker around the basket with a nice touch, making the most of offensive rebounds and can get up nicely to stuff it down. I think you'll be surprised if you go into a game thinking that he's going to be a soft beat...

Hill and Garlepp will have more opportunity to get more boards with a bit more room as they're good hustlers, at least Hill has been against us in the past. Good to get to the basket, get those extra chances. I think with a starting role, Garlepp will relish and feed off that opportunity and as said above, Sanders is a very good rebounding guard (finished 5th all-time at his college?) and seeing how we've gotten beat on all those long rebounds, hopefully this will be a good hole to fill.

I'm not under the influence of any rose coloured glasses that we're going to blitz it by any means, just trying to point some things out that might be being bandied about... Our bench isn't the deepest, so we're going to rely on certain players stepping up and playing above expectations. If any coach can get Allen to play better, I think it's Hammer, how much better? I have no idea... I'll be more than happy for them to keep chasing Motum though, if his NBA dream doesn't work out. We still have the room under the points cap and looking at the team, should certainly still have the room under the salary cap as well...

As for Carmouche... Looks like he can shoot, but his highlight reel disguises his stats where he was averaging only 1.6-4.4 3PM/A in his final year at LSU. We're going to need him to be better than that and the pressure will really be on him. A good thing is that he's had to shuffle around throughout high school and college, so hopefully he can settle in quicker and adjust to the different way the game is played over here, which is always the deciding factor with new imports...