Hoops

Jawai finger surgery, will miss NBL pre-season

Always respect a Michigan State player

They see him on the streets they be like "Yo, he nice!"

OT, but on the Taipans. Travis Trice the import pg

While Nate is out I understand the new point guard is not far away

But that player has offers from three NBL clubs at present.

:) well played sir

Lucky he didn't break his toe as well!

Well he is still training, just not doing anything that involves ball work.

Nothing but a freak accident.

And he has dropped about 15kgs, so he'll be ready.

Rumour has it that the the injury occurred when the big fella misjudged his attack on a Big Mac...

Say what you may about Nate. Even though Damo was clearly the MVP of the finals last season, the reason they got over the line was that the refs put their whistles away and let Nate play - the refs calling two abysmal fouls on Pledger in the first 1:18 seconds of game 1 helped also...

The offer they have out to a player is for a solid 5 who would nullify his absence if Nate is out for a prolonged period. But that player has offers from three NBL clubs at present. Either way, I'd take Nate for three years. He's unstoppable when he's on and he's a perfect fit for that club/community. Sometimes it's about more than the game.

One a scale of 1 to DDFan I'll give that a 7.

I meant that it will be more of an excuse from the team side. The media spin from the Taipans IF HE STRUGGLES for fitness will be "an interrupted pre season" when in reality like you said it really shouldn't be with just a finger injury. I wasn't suggesting that Jawaii will himself be looking for excuses. At this stage he is what he is and IMO the fault is on the team for expecting anything other than what he has shown to be the past few years...

I hope I am proven wrong as well Bear!

"But on the flip side"

That might have been his problem in Perth. Jus a guess. he was grill'd a fair bit about his weight here.

I posted here at the time he signed that:
"My big concern now is that this is a 3 year contract. Nate seems like a guy who needs to stay motivated, and I don't know that the comfort of a 3 year deal is good in that regard."

But on the flip side, a finger injury being used as an excuse to be out of shape would be a stretch of the highest order. It might stop him from training, but it should only give him even more time to get the rest of his body better.

"Jawai's close relationship with Fearne"

I never understood this theory. He likes the coach so is going to finally lose weight? Or he didn't like last years coach so won't take his fitness as seriously?

I wouldn't post.....

Good luck to the big guy, hope he recovers quickly, but anon #117 really??

So, you believe Nate uses an excuse for not being fit, whether it is his fault or not, wow that is one hell of a comment right there...

'It's not my fault I got injured, but as it stands that's my excuse for not being fit!'

With a finger injury he can still do cardio work, so if he is unfit it isn't because of the finger as much as it would be that he just hasn't done the work, so if he is unfit come the start of the season it will be on him.

Unless he does a knee or something, hope not of course, I would post that he just makes up excuses until we see in what shape he does start with, I hope you are proven wrong and his fitness is as good as it has to be up there in the humidity of North QLD...

I know some thought Jawai's close relationship with Fearne would see him finally pull his finger out but if anything around his friends and family I suspected it would go the other way he would bask in his Jawai-ness.

I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt but they were mad to give the guy a 3 year deal and this will be yet another excuse why he will be out of shape all season again, "he missed training camp and pre-season".

Do you disagree?

The Taipans initially feared he would only miss two weeks of training

^ Well ok then. LOL.

And so it begins, this will be the 'excuse' when he's out of shape come the beginning of the season due to an 'interrupted preseason'. This dude is just never fully fit and ready to play, whether it's his fault or not.

The first two games of the final 8 elimination round have been played and won...and the two slim favourites in each game have come away with the win, with Serbia escaping Croatia's clutches.

- Serbia defeated Croatia, 73-72
SRB: Krstic 16, Rasic 15, Perovic 10
CRO: Popovic 21, Ukic 11, Banic 10
In a see-sawing game, the Croats led strongly in the 1st27-19, then the Serb's bounced back to take control and were up 7 in the last quarter before Popovic and Banic nearly stole the game away for the Croats. Rasic made a free throw with 1 second left to ensure the Serbians won what turned out to the be a very intense and close finish.

- Spain defeated Greece, 80-72
ESP: Navarro 22, Fernandez 14
GRE: Diamantidis & Zisis 16, Schortsanitis 13, Fotsis & Spanoulis 12
Spain had the better of the first half, but Greece rallied back in the 3rd to make it a 1 point game heding into the final quarter. Behind the play of Navarro and Fernandez who hit 12 of his 14 points in the 2nd half, Spain broke free to maintain their hold over the Greek's in international competition (Greece have lost to Spain in the last four major FIBA tournaments). Diamantidis announced his retirement from international basketball.

Tonight's games:

- Australia vs Slovenia
- France vs Turkey