Hoops

Melb United early season preview

My preview for United this season:

Are they still Melbourne United?

Yes.

Then they can go to hell.

Yes I'm still bitter.

Go Sixers

Jackson had a horror patch in the middle of last season

Jackson had a horror patch in the middle of last season but his start and finish were at his usual standard. With all the passing targets he has this year it will be hard for him not to be very effective.

And can we give the Wesley anon a ball please Isaac?!

^ have an upvote #597824 :-)

Until Jackson caught fire from 3 in the playoffs, he was really underwhelming for me last season, and real turnover prone at times too. I'm interested to see how he does this year in a different system, and how much of his struggles were related to the larger 'Breakers issues'.

A strong backcourt on paper. I don't know if Andersen is going to be a star, but he's a very skilled guy who is probably going to have to put up decent scoring totals to balance the lineup. He strikes me more as a guy who will do a little bit of everything well rather than dominate any particular category at this stage of his career, but we'll see.

I think the 3/4 spot is potentially the weakness here. Tai is as bad on D as he is good on O, and Blanchfield was Mr. Invisible for most of last season. Barlow is the X-Factor if he can regain form from a few years ago.

Oh, and Jackson's penetration will add another dimension to the team as well.

“Questionable temperament under pressure” may have been a harsh way of putting it, but Kickert did complain to the refs a little bit too regularly. And just seemed to have a lot to say to the refs and his teammates, and from the outside it wasn’t always clear whether it was constructive or not. Looking at others who appear to be on court leaders, like D-Mac back in the day, they seemed to have a presence about them. I’m not sure if Kickert had genuine presence or just liked to talk it up.

I guess my opinion of him is soured by 2014-15 where the team under achieved, and 2015/16 when a minor premiership disappeared before our eyes in a damning semi final loss, and a part of the reason was Kickert not getting his hands dirty in the paint as Vukona ran rampant inside.


Je, I guess we’ll see. Wesley is undersized but is very crafty, so hopefully he can continue to be effective down low in a league that has become taller and longer. Andersen I have no doubt can shake and bake his way to some fall away jumpers down low, but if Majok and Williams camp on the baselines this might force Andersen out to mid range. It would be a concern if the team becomes overly reliant on the jumpshot, but this isn’t *as much* of an issue if we can be competitive enough on the rebounds to ensure we get enough possession – if we can be competitive on the boards and control possession, we won’t necessarily have to rely on a sweet shooting night to get the win.

The roster certainly has more balance and versatility than previous years.

But you're right that their lack of frontcourt length and athleticism (and thus rim protection) appears to be a shortcoming.

And it's not just their ability to defend the paint. Pretty much every other team has, or has signed, a big who has length and shot-blocking ability. How will the likes of Andersen, Majok, Wesley and Williams fare on offense against McKay, Deng, Jacobsen, Egwu, Holyfield, Ogilvy, Khazzouh, Pledger, Jervis?

When I say Andersen is the franchise player, I mean the guy who is the most important within the structure of this team, not necessarily the best individual player (although he probably is that too).

Having read Moore's statlines and seen some highlights, the guy clearly has good handles, and it would appear he can run the point (averaged 4.5 assists in one of his seasons). So if Jackson were to miss some time, we'd be in good shape still with a back court of Moore, Goulding and Tomlinson.

But front court wise- we have two guys who are very limited offensively in Majok and Williams. Andersen is really needed because he brings something else to the table.

Just watched the first quarter.

Barlow looks like the same old Barlow- he'll be dangerous from deep again this season. Defenses will have to respect that and it will spread the floor.

Devin Williams is playing. He seems like he'll be an energy/hustle guy. A bit like Dave Gruber used to be. Those guys can definitely play a role, and he might be a good fit alongside the finesse and jump shooting of Andersen.

Moore and Jackson not playing. Andersen and Goulding likewise.

Any new guys suit in the pre-season game?

I think you underrate Kickert, but they've covered about as well as they could with Andersen and Wesley.

Jackson is the one who will turn the team around. Big coup.

Anyone results for the game Inc . Box scores ?