Hoops

Adelaide 36ers v NZ Breakers - Semi Final Game 2

For me i guess its what do you read more into the positive of being able to win 10 straight, or the couple of poor finals games, also taking into account some of our finals losses last year??

I probably read more into the finals issues, but i still wouldnt be tearing this team apart.

Id offer Gibson and Schenscher reduced salary deals, both have a spot on the team but neither can be among the top 2 or 3 highest paid guys on a title team imo, Gibson will never be the star he needs to be to command the money he is rumoured to be on, to me he is a rich mans Rhys Carter, or like a Hinrich for the Bulls in the NBA, he will never be an elite scorer but is a good solid player, hustles most of the time, decent defender, decent distributor, can shoot but isnt really a scorer. Schenscher is a solid player at both ends imo, but not a star and is past his best. To me id offer Schenscher around 80k and Gibson around 110k, take it or leave it, if they leave we will be able to replace atleast one of them with a import, where we could likely get better bang for the buck. But ideally keep both.

I'd let Crawford go, his replacement will depend on points and $$$ remaining after the other spots are filled. Either find another shooter, or a good, athletic, versatile sf, i dont mind Leon Henry for this spot, to back up Creek.

Im in 2 minds about Wilson, he was an important cog in alot of our wins, but also over dribbled and took a few too many stupid shots at times too. Id consider bringing him back , but also on a slightly reduced salary say around $110k and if he is able to get him to explore naturalisation which if possible could make him an even bigger asset. he is also reportedly a good club man which is important too. But he has to be in move the ball distributor mode more than scorefirst mode, otherwise it cant work.Also depends a bit on Gibson, if he leaves id definitely keep Wilson, if Gibson stays id think of replacing Wilson with a Farley 2.0 and use Gibson as our PG, like D Martin at perth.

I liked BJ Anthony, he was hitting form when he got hurt, id offer him a 3 year 50k deal, put him on injury waivers next season if he cant play and have him doing clinics and stuff like that around the club, he could take the Petrie role when Petrie retires, i love his toughness.

Can we have DJ and Brock on the same team??? given they cost alot and neither provide much rim protection which can make it hard to play them together, a bit like the issue we had when we had DJ and Ballinger, both are too good and expensive to not be able to play together for large chunks of the game, so this needs to be sorted out or 1 needs to be let go, id side with keeping DJ but obviously depends on contracts, etc.

The 2 things i think we lack are rim protection and a good perimiter scorer, both are not easy to find especially with a lot of money spent on Aussie talent, which i dont really want to let go. This is where i think we can afford to be tough on Gibson and/or Schenscher salary wise and even replace one of them with an import, as we could pick up an import who could fill one of those needs better, or at worse could put up similar stats for half the price of there current rumoured contracts.

If Angus Brandt isnt locked in at the Kings id try and get him or find someone like him, but for some reason i think he is locked in at the kings, and that style of guy isnt easy to find.

Daly is cheap and ok but if can get someone else at a cheap enough $$$/points wise could look at it too.

Id be aiming for something like

C DJ or Brock/Schenscher (or Angus Brandt style guy, maybe an import Scott Morrison?? if Schensch too expensive)
PF Petrie/BJ Anthony (or injury replacement ??another big tough guy)
SF Creek/??Leon Henry (a good athlete, unselfish, hustles hard and defends is basically what im after, a 3pt shot would be a nice bonus too if we can get the perfect guy)
SG Willie Farley 2.0/Teys
PG Gibson/Daly

Would love to add a really good shooter if we could fit one in, at the back up sf or in Dalys spot, but not sure who is out there that we could fit in under the caps.

If we want to keep Jamar Wilson at the import spot, consider 2 things, using Jamar as the scoring sg, or let Gibson go for a Dave Thomas style import swingman, even Torrey Craig would be a somewhat good fit for this role and cheaper than Gibbo at a guess. I doubt Joey would let Gibbo go unless its Gibbos decision, so i have included him in and replaced Jamar with a scoring 6'6 swingman. Im guessing we would have around $150k-170k for the import.

My targets would be guys like Andre Emmett, Orlando Johnson, Ricky Ledo, Glen Rice Jr, DeAndre Liggins, Patrick Christopher,Terrel Harris, Morris Almond, DJ Kennedy, Ronaldo Major, Andy Rautins, Mychel Thompson, Elijah Milsap, Trey Johnson,

Sixers contested the grand final last year, they were not an inexperienced finals side.

I agree with a comment someone first said last week - the 13/14 game win streak to reach the finals from a seemingly impossible position was, both emotionally and physically, the Sixers' "final". Every game was a knockout grand final - then they hit the real stuff and were spent. They didn't have another gear to go to.

The Sixers are more than most a confidence team. There are a number of players who drop their heads when the going gets tough which is a real concern. It was a concern in the grand final last year (games 1 and 3). It was a concern in the seven game losing skid and the Melbourne disunited home thumping. It unsurprisingly reared its head in this series. Not sure who you blame or how to fix that.

For all that, I would be keeping this team together as much as possible, with only one or two positional upgrades if they present themselves. Save the import spot for to replace any key departing player or if the core is retained for that bit more punch.

My fear is that those leaving for greener pastures might make that strategy impossible. That would be a mistake for those players if they want a championship, as this squad is only a key piece or twos do a full season together away.

expect the bullets to chase after a few ex qld players in teys, petrie etc.

not much to smile at this series however, sometimes best to let it go.

one team wins the championship, it wasn't us and might be NZ. goodluck to them and whoever they play. hopefully they get the 3 bunnies from last nights game who reffed. drag the game out with the stop n start crap. call fouls by all means, but stop start shit really doesn't showcase the sport. 3 tools doing what they do best!

Still Drunk in Tahoe.... Commiserations to the Sixers

Gibson is a good player, but you do have to question his leadership.

Vukona is the guy to turn around and say "lets get on with it..forgot about the refs".

Whereas Gibson doesn't seem to have that leadership and will be the first to complain to the ref about a call.

I feel Gibson's game really goes downhill when he gets frustrated and mad with the refs. I'd expect that from a rookie, but you'd expect him to fight through it.

Not saying the Breakers don't complain to the refs because they do..but the Breakers have personnel who can turn around to the team and tell them to get over it..whereas Gibson and Joey set the tone for the 36ers complaining. (Anyone hear that audio of him in the background?)

> Dunkin Dan, the opponents weren't poor,
> NZ Perth and Cairns in there aswell as a top4 United team at the time.
> Hence the confidence behind that streak from many.

Kobe24, I totally agree with you. That bit at the top of my post with the ">" in front of it was me quoting someone else so that I could disagree with them.

When you beat *every team you play against!!* it's ridiculous to say that the opponents were poor.

> It's clear now that Adelaide were never going to make a show of this.
> Streaks and wins against poor opponents count for nothing in the finals.

Sorry, but that's some classic 20/20 hindsight, and BS to boot, IMO.
Adelaide had genuine form and were a legit threat to win it all going into the playoffs. They were the form team of the comp, and definitely had the talent to do it.

All I got out of that SF series was proof of how much of the game is played in the mind rather than on the stats sheet.

NZ are an awesome side, but Adelaide could have and should have done better. I really think they don't need to change much, personnel-wise, to take the next step.

Yeah, they choked

Well, in the end, they pulled a Richmond.

They have already announced that Conklin is the MVP, fully agree that Cedric Jackson deserved it though. Just like Ennis deserved it last year.

I think a bit of zone would've been worthwhile. Just to give them a different look.

I felt like Joey was trying too hard tonight to find the right combinations of players as well. He seemed a little impatient rather than sticking with a group for a few mins.

Some of that may have been forced on him because of whatever was up with Motum. But I didn't like decisions such as giving Crawford extended minutes when he had to defend Webster at the other end, or taking Creek off the floor for extended minutes though.

Before anyone jumps the gun, I'm not saying sack the coach or anything though! Over the course of the season Joey has been very good for this team, integrating two key players mid-season and getting things back on track when they went very wrong with that losing streak!

I agree that it's in Teys attitude Tornado. He does need to develop self belief and a bit more of a competitive edge to his game if he wants to take that next step. Hopefully he sticks around and then we will see.

Tornado, I reckon Teys is a better athlete than Madgen and he has shown that he can hit the three as well as drive and score in a variety of ways. I agree he still needs to prove he can do that consistently, but the possibility is there. Taking the next step really depends on how much he believes in himself I reckon.

Paul, I agree with you. I don't think we should underestimate the impact NZ's finals experience had on the outcome of this series.

I hope the Sixers are able to bring back most of this team, though I do have this feeling that Gibson may choose to move on. Other than that, maybe Schenscher is the odd man out (as per my comment above).

I think that's not a bad option Tornado, but assuming the Sixers keep DJ, Motum and Petrie, they would also need to find a genuine, tough big who can defend and rebound. That's not Schenscher, so he could end up being the odd man out. BJ is a possibility, but whilst he's strong he sometimes seems overmatched against taller front lines.

Pretty much agree with all of your assessment there Hendo, except that you're a bit harsh on Teys. He seemed to lose confidence in his shot about halfway through the season, but he remained a very good defender throughout. I think he has the size, athleticism and skill to be a starting two guard. He just needs to back himself.

Well played NZ. They well and truly outplayed us and I would be surprised if they don't win the title.

I think Motum's injury must've been worse than they were letting on. There's no way Joey would have played him so sparingly if he was fit.

Was anyone else scratching their head at Joey's decision to keep pressing the Breakers tonight? I reckon we gave up 20 points in easy layups and probably got them to cough it up about twice.

Ultimately, the Sixers lacked two things all year that eventually cost them in this series:
- Defensive toughness/ rebounding around the basket
- More consistent perimeter shooting

Kobe24, not really such a sad shame. It's actually quite funny.

Well done to the Breakers, far and away the better team of the series. The game was just terrible to watch. Whilst we didn't get blown out early, the signs were there. So many lazy turnovers, coupled with just not finishing under the rim. Took so much effort just to get a couple of points, and then NZ just comes down the other end and gets a fairly open layup because of just general poor defensive switching and spacial awareness.

I wanna say NZ are my pick for the GF, and I give them credit for winning, but the Sixers were so bad it's hard to use them as a measuring stick. Honestly don't know where our form over the last 2 months has gone, not that it should have translated perfectly, but to lose by 40+ points combined makes no sense.

Motum injured still? Felt like he wasn't on the court as much as he should have been, or maybe it was his lack of impact, I don't know. Would have been interested to see how BJ would've played this series, in for maybe Schenscher, with his hustle, and of course playing against his home team.

Yep, Sixers were legit until last Thursday. Breakers went to another level and the Sixers didn't know how to match them.

Still could have been worse.

Adelaide are playing terrible basketball.

Hope 36ers fans enjoyed their winning streak

Gotta give 36ers props for their winning streak though, well done.

Yeah, they seem to be choking again.

Well after a day and a bit of no Hoops SA, I was looking around the new site and just noticed that world famous Hoops SA poster and jaeger lover TR is about to hit 3000 posts. First person ever I assume by looking at the leaderboard.

If so well done TR, many unproductive hours at work well used much like many others of us on here have done...

Surely Isaac has a special award?

Do the 36ers always choke in the finals ?

Can someone PLEASE tell Jarrod to s l o w d o w n when he's doing his on-court announcements!!!! Last match, we could only pick out the occasional word here and there and had no idea of what he was trying to say.

However, when Dean grabbed the same microphone that night, he was crystal clear and we got every word. Ditto on previous occasions when Bonz had the same mic.

Thats me 2 posts above.

I think Joey has shown he can make the right adjustments and generally this Sixers team has shown a never say die attitude this season, so I expect them to bounce back. I think the keys to the game for the Sixers are to keep Jackson out of the lane, restrict Webster's scoring and get Motum plenty of shots (only 8 shots in game 1).

Home court, end!

its one of those things in life; u get it right on the night, u win. u don't; u lose.

game 1 wasn't our night, game two????

hope im wrong but I tend to think nz might just be able to beat us at home. insurance again!

Yes the Breakers sucked last season , I put that down to no one was going to lose their jobs after winning 3 in a row and a import pg who wasn't up to scratch, especially when compared to Jackson. Ennis is was that good also, have you watched hm in the NBA? The kid is a freak, kudos to Perth for securing his services.

Adelaide was good by default, everyone else just sucked more than they did.

The Sixers were due a loss and a bad game. They got that out of their system in Game 1.

Game 2 will be a completely different story. This series will go to game 3.

Actually yes Perth were the only legit team last year and the 10 game win steak means nothing now.

I agree with that to an extent, but a 10 game regular season streak means nothing, but a single final game defines a teams entire season? All I'm saying is, wait for the series to be over. If the Sixers lose badly at home, then you can say they weren't legit. But until that point it should be remembered that this is a highly competitive season, and all 4 teams are "legit".

For the record, I'm not sure how we will go on Saturday. We've had the best home record of any team in the last 2 seasons (I believe?) so I can't see us losing at home, but Game 1's performance throws a spanner in the works. I'm thinking Adelaide by 5, but wouldn't be completely shocked if NZ won by 10 or so. I can't see another blowout, don't know if my heart could handle being teased with a big win streak, only to be knocked out in straight sets.

I think Adelaide might lose by 15. Its purely a gut choice but thats what I think will happen.

I think it is highly unfair to say the 36ers aren't legit based off 1 bad performance. We went on a huge streak to finish the regular season, does that not even exist anymore?
We got blown out by 30 in Game 3 of last years GF by Perth, but we were clearly the 2nd best team in the comp. Does that mean that the only legit team last season was Perth? No it doesn't, and despite the blowout, the team with homecourt was pretty much ALWAYS gonna win that series.

If Adelaide was to have a good win on Saturday, would we suddenly become legit again? Whilst I agree it was a very poor performance, wait until after the series to start labeling teams, and even then do so carefully.