Hoops

Opinions of imports so far?

Ferguson's numbers are fine, for his game time. Joey's love affair with Brendan Teys is holding Ferguson back.

At the moment, it's obvious that Randle and Prather stand out. The difference between the two is that Perth are still a pretty decent team without Prather; Adelaide would be rubbish without Randle.

It's for that reason that I think Handles will win the MVP, especially if Adelaide somehow avoid the wooden spoon.

Torrey Craig has been excellent early in the season with Brisbane. I can't believe (well, I can, I just wish it wasn't true) that the Taipans didn't throw enough money his way to keep him. The only reason not to would have been if they could have locked in Scottie Wilbekin instead.

The import situation in Cairns is dire. I was always concerned about Edwin, and Egwu is probably still better than Matty Burston (not by much). Trice is my pick for Most Disappointing Import. Even given the departures of Johnson (wrong fit) and Bryson (didn't measure up), Trice came in with some pretty big wraps, but he really hasn't even looked like controlling a game, or even being a leader. If Cairns had money behind them, he would be long gone.

What's everyone's thinking on Ferguson (suspension aside?) Here's a guy who's touted as a possible Lottery pick in the NBA next year. He's getting less than 17 minutes per game, coming off the bench. He's averaging 7.4 pts, 1.6 reb, 0.4 ass, 1.4 TO and 1.6 fouls. Is Adelaide happy with that? If so, for how long will they wait to see his numbers improve? Is Ferguson happy with that (or his management/people?) Did he come to Australia to come off the bench?

Yep.
DD surely has to go.
His timeouts are hilarious.

Getting stung for helping Cedric Jackson up the first time was bad enough, but the second time? How clueless can you get?

Mind you, this is the same guy who tried to sub out a player who was already on the bench in a game last season, so you can't be too surprised.

DD to Vince Crevelli:

"I'll Improve... *stares*... Awwwight?!"

It'd be hard to develop any rhythm or confidence playing under DD if you were a young guy in your first pro gig. He runs a sub every 30 seconds!

Triton his body language was terrible, he subbed in and stuffed up came to the bench for timeout didnt high five any team mates, pretty much ignored all of them. Wasn't impressed at all

I feel for the guy as DD has done him no favours, but Devin Williams is gone (8 mins on Sunday - nice cash per minute!). Maybe it was a good idea in theory but just way too much learning left to do. Looks lost, slow and fumbly at this level. Confidence is shot.

I really like Holyfield. Fits the Hawks perfectly.

Whilst I agree its too early to leap to judgements on most, you can still see emerging trends.

Marvelle Harris already looks the goods, like the type who will play one year, then land a bigger gig in Europe.
McKay is struggling, but still doing ok, and shows plenty of upside.
Woodside (in the one game I saw) looked like a fish out of water.

We need to think about the way each team is coached when talking about how well certain players have played individually. Fearne's system cramps the style of so many guys. I think he just needs to pick one offence - shuffle or motion. No Taipan makes great decisions consistently and the players don't cut hard enough either.

Everything that's happened in the off-season at Cairns has been a disaster, inlcuding te imports. It seems that we've bet the farm on Jawai coming good (which increasingly looks like it won't happen anytime soon) and then building a team around him over the next few years.

I wonder if the best thing to do wouldn't be to cut Fearney and let Gordie coach the team, or at least have more of a say in the imports.

These "imports" seriously which ones have really been major contributors in the international leagues, men or women.....their might be one or two exceptions, but most are usually non starters ( some don't even make a draft pick) or they are carrying injuries that make them redundant on the international scene, yet Australia pays to grab them just because they have played overseas.

Why not put it into your homegrown talent, pay them a decent wage, once you start paying good money those better "internationals" will start to want to come here to play.

Very few of these imports in any of the levels they a brought over to play in actually prove their worth, most are pretty useless or no better than what we have here.

If Cairns want to win games this year, they need to make at least 1 import change. All 3 are rubbish.
I'm happy with all 3 of ours. Jacobsen doesn't get big numbers, but he's a solid fit in our squad. Randle is probably the best player in the league. Ferguson will build from what he's achieving so far.
Melbourne will likely move on Williams. He's just not up to it. I like Moore, he's a bit underutilised, but he's one of the better new imports. Jackson is obviously quality.
Beal and Craig are proven to be good imports.
Harris looks quality. Rotnei hasn't fired yet, but we know what he can do. Holyfield is a solid enough 3rd import.
Blake, Powell and Whittington is about as good as you could possibly hope for from your imports.
McKay is a good fit on Perth's roster. Prather is one of the better imports. Hard to assess Ingram at this point.
Haven't seen NZ play yet. So can't assess them. Mitchell and Woodside seem to be fairly mediocre, role player imports on paper.

And before anyone says "uhhh but Webster isn't playing as well as Penney".... Starters always perform better

From what I see Woodside is being used totally the wrong way. He looks for his own offense as a secondary option. Yet in the starting lineup he's playing with 4 second or third options on offense. Apart from maybe Penney. Vukona and Pledger are cleanup hustle type guys, albeit very good no doubt. Abercrombie can score but opportunistically.

NZ are playing their two best scorers (Mitchell and Webster) from the bench with their pass first PG in the starting lineup. I'd like to see Vukona and Penney off the bench as scorer/hustle guys.

Definitely agree that it was a good thing for BrisVegas to get proven imports and quality ones at that... However, there's two different types of cuts made already this season...

Johnson was cut because he wasn't the right player that should have been signed in the first place...

Bryson was cut because he was severely underperforming... Could be that he wasn't the right fit or wasn't utilised properly, but he had a bunch of pre-season games and a handful of regular season games and it was clear that he was out of his depth at both ends of the floor and just wasn't able to contribute...

From memory, Prather had a rocky start to last season, but at least showed glimpses of what he was capable of, so I think in comparison, both reasons this season are pretty valid for making early cuts, especially in a league this well balanced...

Completely agree Bear and Isaac

Bear, very true. And probably why Brisbane aren't crazy for having taken on half-decent imports who know the league. I think a team going with three brand new imports are taking unnecessary risks, unless they need a lottery-win to compete.

I can't imagine Ingram sticking. You need more to your game than just a three point shot and he doesn't appear to have much else.

Williams has the NBA body but has shown little else. I can't imagine him lasting another month unless his production picks up majorly.

Edwin is also having his struggles.

As for imports I like, you can't go past Whittington, Harris, Randle.

Isn't it obvious that the imports who tend to stand out this season are the ones who teams stuck with last season and have had that year in the NBL to adjust and their game is now shining through?

We tend to make a judgement call on some imports too early, however in saying that there appears to be some early stand outs, with the additional number of imports now in the league that will no doubt continue.

Prather has probably been the most consistent so far, many others have had big moments, I tend to think an opinion on them can be better made mid season...

Randle and Prather the standouts so far.



Woodside could turn into Burn-side.....

Prather a strong MVP option?

Woodside...he's just OK for mine, not GREAT not even really good. What i like is his jumper - good QUICK release, good FORM he can shoot the 3 ball.

But too many TURNOVERS in his game, I just don't think his vision is elite. He's not that athletic or long or anything, gets some steals here and there but not really a top defender or anything.

Craig and Prather look to have improved.

I'd like to see more of Moore.

After watching this latest United game, I'm going to be very interested to see if United pull the trigger on him, now that Perth then Sydney have broken the seal, so to speak... Definitely had higher hopes for him this season and I'm not even a Melbourne fan...

Harris and Whittington seem to be the best of the bunch, as a Kings fan especially, I am very grateful that he worked out... both on and off the court...

"Devin Williams for United MUST GO" Great call, come on MU pull the trigger

Henare was quoted as stating that Woodside was a upgrade on Cedrick Jackson. Not even close !!!!

I really like Whittington. From what I have seen of him so far, he is right up there with the best imports this year.

McKay hasn't dominated but he is playing his role nicely, plenty of O-boards, blocked shots and at a decent FG%

Agree on Harris, he is looking mighty fine!!

I don't think we will see anyone from Cairns chopped but aside from Egwu nothing much is going on there.

I'd be surprised to see Williams in a United uniform this weekend.

Devin Williams for United MUST GO

I was just wondering how Brad Newely is going guys. Is there a site online were i can go to.

I am hoping he might be in a sixers uniform very soon, i doubt it but i like to dream.

Cheers