Hoops

36ers sign import combo guard Kenyon McNeail

All of the above was pretty common knowledge though. I knew about 90% of those before they were announced, as most would have. Everyone only guessing on sixers 2nd import though. Doin my head in. haha

A, Braswell is an apt, but scary comparison from what I have seen of the videos above! I really hope he is a better two way contributor than that!

Nothing too exciting in this signing, but we have needed more outside shooting for a long time, so if he can do that effectively and defend his position, I'll be happy.

He doesn't strike me as much of a point guard from his stats and the videos, so I think we can expect Gibson to run the offence most of the time.

If McNeail's range is as advertised, then I think we'll have enough shooting in the starting five to spread the floor, so I'd really like to see a wing who can attack the basket and make his free throws. (Newley actually looks like a better fit now.)

The other thing I am worried about is the lack of size and defence, with only Walker and a rookie big to backup DJ and Petrie. So I think the second import needs to be a star, because he's going to need to defend and rebound as well as score effectively. Any Childress clones about the place?

"Apart from Josh Childress, Carlos Powell, Julius Hodge, Cedric Jackson, James Ennis, Donta Smith, early Rashard Tucker and even Jordan McRae if you're talking later years Farley."

My point exactly. You have named a handful of players over the last ten years over all teams that have had the same explosive all-around game and could just go to another level and take the game away from the opposition.

Imports of Farley's calibre are pretty rare and hard to find, and it is even rarer that they hang around the NBL for any period of time to create any real legacy. Many imports with much higher credentials have had less impact. That is all part of the import lottery.

Who is the second import!

I don't quite get the 'we haven't had a star import since Farley' talk. It seems to be a bit of a convenient re-engineering of history.

We had this guy who was kinda ok called Julius Hodge (who unfortunately turned out to be a bit of a head case).

We have also had a series of MVP calibre imports since Farley including Dusty Rychart (averaged 22 ppg and 10 rpg - he was here at the same time as Farley second time around but you were presumably referring to Farley c.2002), Adam Ballinger (2x NBL second team, 2x NBL third team), plus more recently your Ervin's and Wilson's. Some people on here continually want to re-sign Diamon Simpson on the basis he was a god or something.

If you mean 'star' as in a high flying excitement machine since Farley, I would still point out Hodge. But then again, there have not been too many Farley-type players in the league in any club in the last 10 years.

I'd love to have 2 stud imports but I also enjoy having a team... Uuntil the TV deal etc. is worked out I don't think the Sixers would be financially in a position to do it with out putting the future of the club at risk...

The best Louisiana Tech player of all time, ahead of Karl Malone? Did he have a twin with the same name, because I see a roster page for an LTU grad named Kenyon McNeail who scored 11.0 PPG off the bench as a senior to go with 2.4 RPG and 1.0 APG.

Compared to that Karl Malone guy that put up 18.7 PPG and 9.3 RPG over his 3 year college career? Realy?

Reminds me of Derek Rucker

Does anyone have any goss on the 2nd import??

I have no goss or inside knowledge but i keep thinking Ebi Ere when i hear 196cm scoring swingman, as he is those things, has played for Joey before, Joey usually has one proven import on his roster and is now older so more affordable to the NBL than he would have been in his prime.

He averaged 15 ppg in Peutro Rico in 2014/15 (Conklin averaged 11.7 ppg, Ced Jackson averaged 10.5 ppg in the same league as a reference point) So he may still be in fairly decent form, if not MVP level he should still be a better than average import and compliment our other swingmen well, was also clutch and fun to watch and im sure he will have some big games along the way.

Anyone know if Ebi is the man or who they are getting??