Hoops

After-Blitz Thread: the season ahead

Same with Sportsbet - fascinatingly, has put a small piece of daylight between the Wildcats at 3.0, the Breakers at 5.0 and the Hawks/Tigers/36ers at 7/7/7.5

How much of that is what the bookies think will happen and how much of that is delusional fellow Perth fans putting oodles of dough on us I don't quite know.

I think that's part of what he's here to sort out. If his improvement over the course of the three games is anything to go by, will be maturing quickly.

... I hope :X

Waiting for the bookies to put revised odds up - seems everyone has taken them down, I guess to assess the results of the Blitz.

Will be interesting to see how the rules are interpreted/enforced in the season proper for sure.

Should be quite simple really, especially defending in the paint.

If you are set and have the position on D and keep your focus on the ball, not reaching across and you get the ball more than the man (slight contact is okay), then it is no foul.

If you have not got position and come across from the side or from behind and make contact (say you put the other player on the ground or take him off balance), then it should be a clear foul.

Not that hard really....

Well said Paul, Ben "how's my hair" Allen even performed well in last seasons pre-season from memory.

"Brad Hill with 42 vs Cairns wow!"

I thought that but then read a comment about Cairns basically playing matador defense when he barreled into the paint so not to all foul out under the new contact interpretations.
Probably more than a little truth behind it IMO.

Nate Tomlinson seems like a different player and with Goulding going down it could mean far more court time for him.

I'm super excited by the prospects of this season but every time I write a list of who I want in my dream team I get frustrated at it not being available... Be great when its up.

Wollongong losing the first games so convincingly surprised me and the fans they won their bench hardly saw court time... I had them finishing 4th but if they are that shallow and struggle to rebound then they won't make it and maybe Adelaide will join Perth, Melbourne and Cairns.

Good to see less players fouling out as the tournament went on and hopefully players are adapting!

If anything, the Pre-Season Blitz has shown us what an exciting group of Imports we have this season.

Can't wait for the regular season to begin but also hope that the injured players are back in good shape asap and contributing as much as they were to their respective teams pre-injury (R.Martin, Magden, Knight, Harvey, Goulding etc).

This season should be pretty good.

Yeah Gliddon continues to impress. With Madgen out, I think Gliddon is going to be one of the better Aussie SG's along with Goulding.

Cairns will be pretty good I think, with Gliddon, Tragardh, Loughton, Weigh and Wilson as their core. Young looked pretty good against the Sixers too.

I'd be interested to know what Mick thinks about the Crocs too. I thought they looked a lot better than I was expecting. Will need their imports to deliver the goods in season, but with Blanchfield, Crawford, Holmes, Markovic, Vanderjagt and Hinder they have solid, experienced players at every position and some nice young players in Djeric and Kenney as well.

Perth should be very good again and with an import like Ennis, I doubt they'll miss Lisch. They still need Knight to stay healthy to win it all, but they are locks for the playoffs IMO.

Breakers struggled to put it together, but they have themselves a nice playmaker in Johnson to set things up. They will need Pledger, Abercrombie and Webster to all take on more responsibility though if they want to challenge for a fourth straight title.

As for my Sixers, they have a lot of weapons that can attack the basket and get to the line, which should be pretty effective with officials calling a tighter game. I think they should improve a lot, but not yet convinced they will challenge for the title for a few reasons:
- defence was still pretty atrocious;
- drawing lots of fouls isn't as effective if you keep missing free throws;
- they still don't have enough reliable three point shooters to spread the floor effectively.

I can't wait to see Clarke light it up.

He is a volume shooter, but there will be nights when he will be on fire.

He is actually very good at handling the rock too. He isn't like one of those combo guards who uses that label to hide the fact they are 6ft nothing and can't handle the ball.

He is a ball-handler with excellent shooting abilities.