Hoops

Bullets sign former Finals MVP Jermaine Beal

As well as that epic 40pt night, who could forget Beal going berserk in the 4th quarter away to Wollongong to secure the Cats a vital road win (their season was looking shaky at the time). The infamous game where Lisch broke his ankles and then he came right back at him. Superb.

I think the Wildcats will miss him this season, even though Johnson looks a good player in his own right.

^ that YouTube video never gets old.

I hope Bullets fans get to experience that same feeling of :O that we did in Perth Arena that night.

Lets not forget that Lemanis is a bloody good coach, with proven success in the NBL.

Lemanis is on record as saying that he will keep a 3rd import slot for Insurance. Its a smart move if you can get enough local talent. We've all seen competitive teams de-railed by critical injury, much easier to source an import replacement, especially if you have contacts which I imagine Lemanis & Co would.

Beal is a very good player. I was sad to see him leave. He does have off nights, but not all that often. Most times you can count on him.
Even the most highly regarded import is a gamble, and Beal is a know quantity.
It will be interesting to see how Gibson goes...

Just wait and see how Gibson goes running the point compared to constantly playing alongside an American in the combo role.

I'm convinced getting away from Joey will be the best thing he'll ever do.

They've overloaded too much on bigs and Beal & Gibson are both too inconsistent to be paired together.

Beal is basically the same as Adam Gibson - a decent play maker who doesn't have the scorers mentality.

I think Beal is more effective when he's not running the point, he's only good in that role in bursts.

I assumed Kickert and Bairstow might be marquee players, or Lemanis is keeping an import spot for insurance.

I rate Beal and Gibbo as players, but I think they both need to be your PG to be effective. Last season they both disappeared on offense when they weren't handling the ball, which doesn't seem to bode so well to me.

What are you talking about ME? Beal's only mentality is to score.

Don't worry, the only mentality Beal has is a scorer's mentality, and he's going to get plenty of chances to prove it in this Bullets team!

I think Te Rangi and Young were silly pick ups. And why sign Beal? Beal is basically the same as Adam Gibson - a decent play maker who doesn't have the scorers mentality. Actually, they don't appear to have one person who makes buckets.

But then again, they have Andrej Lemanis...

What I mean LV is Gibson and Beal are quality starters and Bruce a quality back-up, so those three are good pieces, but without another solid back-up they seem to lack depth.

They've signed 11, I assume that's their roster for now, but is there any rule saying they can't sign 12? If the do sign an import 2-3 then they look good.

The other x-factor is Te Rangi, if he can produce the form he did for the Tall Blacks two years ago they will look a lot better, but he hasn't done that in the NBL yet.

Unfortunate for Jervis being stuck on the bench again I thought he was going to Brisbane to chase a starting role.
Will finish around 6th

Maybe shelve this conversation until we have confirmation of final roster?

Bris have only signed two imports, and if they sign a solid swingman as a third, then that will change the whole discussion-

is Kenyon a DP? If so, one more roster spot to make 11.

Illawarra's is Martin, Clarke, Norton and White (who was starting last year).
Adelaide's is Randle and whoever is best of Drmic, Sobey, Doyle, Teys, Ferguson

Paul -weak relative to their opponents in the NBL, absolutely. Unless or until they sign another guy who can play guard. Which they might..?

Oh and of course, Randle, Drmic, Teys etc

Randle alone gives them a strong backcourt, haha!

I don't think those three are weak, but they need another piece (Kenyon looks like a project) who can be a contributor.

Backcourts

United: Jackson, Goulding, Moore, Tomlinson.

Perth: Martin, Johnson, Kenny

NZ: Woodside, Webster, Penney, Ili

Sydney: Cadee, Lisch, Bryson....?

Illawarra: Martin, Clarke....?

Cairns: Trice, Gliddon....

Tend to agree- Gibson, Beal and Bruce would have been a solid backcourt in years gone by, but it looks weak this year.

Agree Andy, not a playoff team unless Gibson and Beal have superb seasons. Still, not a bad expansion roster and an import spot they can use on another guard/wing if need be.

For those needing a refresher on the Bullets roster, it's something like this:

Gibson/Bruce
Beal/Te Rangi/Kenyon
Craig/Petrie
Kickert/Young
Bairstow/Jervis

I think Bruce is pretty decent as a backup. If Gibson plays hard all year, they will be OK.

But I do think that Petrie and Young is redundancy they probably didn't need? Young only has the one year though, so it might be a test.

Frontcourt solid, backcourt not so. I think the Bullets will have the weakest backcourt in the comp...I cant see them making finals.

SA got the first up win over the Highveld Lions tonight. Klinger with 78 in a MOTM performance, Fergy with 47 off just 27 balls and Shaun Tait taking three wickets to give the Redbacks an 11 run win.

Next game Tuesday night on One HD (liking their NBL ad) against the Mumbai Indians featuring Tendulkar & former Redback Kieron Pollard.