Hoops

Ken Cole on Mitch Creek: NBA talent

Aussies who will most likely make the Nba:

Deng Adel
Will Mcdowell White
issac Humphries
Matur Maker
Jonah Bolden
Makur Maker
Deng Gak
Mayan Kiir
Giir Ring
Harry Froling
Sam Froling
Gorjok Gak

The problem with many people here, is that they are very familiar with Mitch from a young age. His ball handling in transition, combined with strength is great. He is starting to shoot at a great clip also. It's hard for anyone to make the NBA, and many people, including a lot of people on this forum wrote off Delly early too, but are now on the bandwagon! There are many different roles in the NBA, so there is certainly an option for many Aussies of the next few years to get a look.

Simon Dwight got an NBA offer but REJECTED it like he rejected so much crap that was brought into HIS HOUSE

Talk of a player like Creek in the NBA is as speculative as it is premature, yes he could fit a role player spot but realistically it is far too early in the season.

If he continues the way he has begun, shows even more improvement and consistency, why not?

Opportunity comes, he is as good a chance as anyone, but things would have to go his way, quite a few things...

Ken needs to stay on his drugs to keep him alive.
He's a character from the ol days giving his opinion. That's all.
Next time you do what KH has done in your life, please tell and I may consider your opinion.

I wonder if Mackinnon would've had a year in the NBA had he been in his prime now. Playing a role like Ingles with the Jazz. In his later years, Mackinnon's outside shot was solid (from memory) and he was obviously a strong two-way player.

Creek obviously has huge drive, but I think he'd need to have developed earlier and faster to get a sniff. Definitely getting there as an NBL talent though.

I think there is a big difference between 'could' play in the NBA and 'will'. There are a lot of people who could contribute if given an NBA shot. But the fact is only people with a specific skill of some sort to provide really make it there. Mitch doesn't seem to have that thing that will push him over the line.

If you threw him into an NBA game I am sure he would hold his own. But what scout or team manager would take that punt on him? Very few I'd suspect.

I think Ken is just very optimistic about everything in Australian basketball. That is great, but it's not always grounded in fact.

Most likely NBL MIP , this season.
( Good to hear him on ADL radio no1 rating sport show tonite sponsored by 36ers and they will do well outta that in terms of crowd number here tomorrow...)

Re being an NBA talent, that gets said because he is such a strong athlete, but the NBA has plenty of strong athletes, what they generally want from their international players is the skills to complement athletes, and Mitch isn't elite in many skill categories.

I think he has a real chance to be a contributor in the national program if he keeps developing though, especially if he keeps knocking the three-ball down.

The Sam Mackinnon comparison is a good one, they were at a very similar level coming out of juniors but it has taken Mitch longer to develop.

Having said that, from memory there were about 30 Aussies aged 21 or under when Sammy came into the league compared to 2-3 when Mitch did, so he came into a much tougher environment (including being on a bad team in his early years).

I thought Mitch grew up a bit last year and have loved what I've seen from him so far this season, hopefully that will continue.

Ken does talk a lot... Mitch is good and hopefully will finally put together a full season of excellence not splashes. He is no NBA talent though.

I like Mitch, and I think the Sammy Mack comparison is closer to the mark than LV realises. He truly looks this year as if he can get to the rim with ease whenever he likes.

His shot is not as broken as you would think also. If I asked you to guess what his 3pt percentage was last NBL season, how many of you would pick that he shot the ball from there better than Kickert? It surprised me that he hit 55% from the three, albeit they would all be WIDE open because he would prefer to do anything other than shoot.

That said, while he is still (relatively) young, he has probably a few years behind in his development to have any real chance at the NBA. If he was 21/22 instead of 24, sure.

He'd also need to get better off the dribble to play in a top Euro league. In other words he needs improvements in multiple areas. Possible- but for this season he needs to be winning games for the 36ers.

lol

We Aussie fans have heard this sort of talk so often. Remember Simon Dwight? Remember the talk about Todd Blanchfield before he signed with United?

Sam McKinnon is a good comparison for Creek in terms of play style and athleticism, except Creek is nowhere near where Sammy Mac was in terms of talent.

If Creek improves his jumpshot significantly, and continues to make incremental improvements in his overall game then he could possibly become a star in the NBL who could average 20pts and 8 boards and be All first or second team. But he'll never get to the NBA cos he'll only be an average (or worse) athlete over there.

With more smarts and better passing/shooting he could end up in a decent Euro league 2 or 3 years from now- that's a more realistic aim for him, good luck to him.

So the Wildcats get their first game win after 3 away games against a lackluster Tigers teams.

I think anyone would have beaten the Tigers tonight, the overall turnovers ended at 30 which as Gaze pointed out in the commentry was extremely rare in the 48min game format, but unheard of in the 40min games. 17 turn overs bt half time. With a 25 point difference those 30 turn overs combined with the affect it appeared to have on team moral clearly lose them the game.
Where do the Tigers go from here? They dont seem to have the guards to bring the ball down properly, and their centres are not dominating like everyone thought they would do.
Does anyone expect TJ Cambell to be in the team for much longer, some of his passing was attrocious specially in a game where the entire team is turning the ball over.

Pretty bad game to watch really.