Hoops

36ers sign Tom Daly as 10th man

Yeah I agree with that. There is always the risk that things degenerate into Lebron and the Cavs circa 2008!

In response to anon above...

You really aren't understanding me. Its got nothing to do with being selfish. Its simply reality that some players have physical gifts that allow them to be a bigger threat to score on the basketball court. It makes sense for any coach to build his offence on those advantages.

Gibson, Petrie, Teys, etc are all nice players, but they're never going to be go-to scorers because they don't have a dominant enough physical advantage over a majority of their opponents at NBL level.

Therefore you need someone else who is a great enough threat to score that the defence is forced out of position, thus creating extra space for other players on the floor.

Everyone points to the current Spurs as a great team that shares the ball around to find the open man, but how do you think that guy got open? Because Parker, Ginobili and to a lesser extent Duncan and Leonard used their superior ability to score to force their opponents to react, thus creating space for other more limited Spurs to score.

I don't care what league you're in, NBA, Europe, or local social league, the most successful teams have one or two players who most opponents struggle to defend.

Tornado, I agree craftiness is important up to a point, but I'm talking about a guy who is a threat to score everytime he touches it and that forces the opposition to adjust (double team, etc). If that player can also read the D and find the open man then you're going to be very hard to stop. I don't think Wilson can do that all the time against all comers in the NBL.

Isaac, re Wortho, I think he has always had more of a scorers mentality than Petrie. Not sure Petrie wants to be the man offensively. Even if Petrie does score as effectively as Wortho, is that saying much? Wortho has never been an efficient scorer and is just as likely to shoot u out of a game as win you one IMO!

Wilson is a great free throw shooter so no worries there. But he is inconsistent in his ability to get the ball in the hole. On any given night he can go for 30 but he can also go for 6. Would be nice if he could get 12-20 consistently, which he might in ADL. He was denied that opportunity in CNS last year via Fearne's poor coaching. Good luck to him but I think he's a fair step down from Ervin.

Jonno, from what I've seen I don't think Wilson can be that go to guy. Like Gibson he just isn't quick enough. To me, if u want to compete for a title, you have to have at least one guy who can find ways to score no matter what the defence throws at them. To be that guy, I think you have to have an athletic trait that gives u a big advantage over anyone who is likely to match up on you. Eg, too quick, too tall or too strong. I think on our current roster there are only really two guys who might have this potential: Montreal and Creek. Montreal seems to have shooting touch out to the three, the question remains, is he athletic enough to score when good defences are focussing on him? Creek has an athletic advantage over many players but thus far has not had the skill set to take advantage. Hopefully he has improved in the off season, but it's unlikely he can go from where he was last season to an offensive focal point this season.

It will be exciting to see the improvement in Mitch Creek ( had a great off season and now second season after major injury) and Teys ( must come into this season with WAY more confidence that last season).

Remember Teys was out 10th man at the start of the season btu ended up replacing an import in the starting 5.

Joey will get the best out of the team or change the team.

From what I've heard about Sam Johns so far I kind of wish he had got the 10th spot. But I don't mind seeing Daly back. Good to get another SA lad in there. Would like to see some more assertiveness from him this time round though. He's no longer a rookie and it's time for him to either make it as an NBL player or not.

I agree with what Tornado is saying about us lacking a closer. All you have to do is look back to Marty Clarke's tenure when we continually snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. The diff between Clarke's last team and last years runners up was basically Ervin.

While I actually think Montreal might be a solid pickup, can he be the go to scorer we will need to close out games? If not him, then who? Gibson and Petrie? Great players, but sorry, nothing about their careers to date suggests to me that they are go-to scorers. Maybe if we're lucky Creek has found a jump shot in the off-season, but it's a stretch to think he can carry us offensively all of a sudden.

Also, re: the Spurs 'team game' analogy, they still have elite go to scorers in Parker and Ginobili that will find a way to score when it matters!

I hope I'm proved wrong but I see us having quite a few frustrating losses this season. More likely mid-table I reckon.

I think its great that Adelaide will have 2 actual Adelaide guys in the team. How else can local fans / kids connect and "own" the team. Townsville have more locals that we do!

I really hope Tom gets some oppotunities, has a break out season and shows he is as good as Cadee. Both great young Aussie point guards playing NBL instead of college.
It is important that locals see the NBL as a realistic goal, especially with expansion on the way.

As far as the overall team we look much more stablt than previous seasons and this group look like they really play for the coach and each other. The Hawks are the only other team that really do that.

Think the Sixers are slightly worse than last year but not way worse. Montreal will be an upgrade on Johnson defensively but no way offensively. Think Wilson and Ervin is a wash with Wilson not having had the minutes he deserved last year. Crawford and Daly instead of Cadee and Carter is a decrease talent wise but the line up is more balanced instead. Crawford needs to play better than his last year in Townsville. Joey is a proven coach having only missed the playoffs once since he's been in the League but this is probably the least talent he's had for a while so it should be interesting to see how it works out.

The 10th man is always a difficult spot to fill.

They are basically training bait and get limited time on game night, but need to be able to hold their own out on court.

The 10th man is either an up and coming talent who is under-rated, or an old head in the basketball waiting room.

I don't mind a Tom Daly signing. Local boy, low points, cheap, knows the Sixers culture. Ticks a lot of boxes.