Hoops

The Race to the NBL Playoffs

As we approach the final half of the season, injuries and team depth is going to become the major factor for me in determining who may make play-offs.

That will also impact team performance and form, so at this stage I tend to agree that the following teams may struggle to displace those above them:

Breakers - just can't win enough games consistently.
Wildcats - don't have the size and depth this year.
Bullets - may not be able to cover critical injuries.

That leaves the same five teams consensus appears to be in agreement with to fight it out for the top four spots.

Hard to make any judgement call on who may drop out, the season is so tight it may come down to the last round, however if any of the three above were to break into the top four at the end of the season it would be a huge surprise to me.

At this stage, anyway...

I can't see Perth,Breakers,Brisbane making the playoffs,so it's melbourne or cairns to fight out for last playoff spot.That makes my playoff teams Illawarra,Adelaide,Sydney and Melbourne/Cairns.I'm thinking the league would want both Sydney and Melbourne in playoffs.They draw big crowds = more money for nbl.

United's current team has the best record of any current group.

That doesn't mean they'll make the top 4, but it does give me some confidence even though they're only 6 games in.

I struggle to see Perth, United & NZ making it.

If Brisbane bring in a quick, scoring guard their fortunes could be turned right around.
They have enough bigs to do a decent job at covering Bairstow.

At this stage I say:
Sydney
Illawarra
Melbourne
Cairns/Adelaide

How great would it be if it came down to the last round with most teams still vying for a spot.

My top 4 pick right now would be Cairns,Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide with Illawarra to just miss out in 5th. NZ, Perth and Bris won't be far off the mark but key injuries and too many roster changes will hurt a bit. Casper Ware has been so good that I reckon he might help United avoid the same fate.

Impossible to call with any authority at this stage, but I like the sound of that! I would expect that anyone other than NZ or Perth fans are probably sick of seeing them in the finals, particularly the Granny. Last year i didn't even watch the GF series.
Long way to go yet though, i'm sure there are more twists in store.

I see that West are sending 2 Boy's teams and one combined U16/U18 Girls team to the US this Christmas New Year.

Iam sure the boy's will be competitive,.

and the Girls just played there first games together and looked suprisingly very competitive in the open womens group at the recent Woodville carnival, infact the results showed they got within 20 points of the SA country Girl's team.

Wow West on the move within the Girls programs..

We will see!