Hoops

Thon Maker won't play in Asia Cup, eyes Tokyo

Probably won't be playing coz we'll be at war with China the way things are going.

Odd questions anon, but okay then:
- Knight is a centre. He is too slow to play anywhere else
- Sobey is a combo guard just like Gliddon. Both could play either position.
- Creek can and does play both SG and SF

Knight at centre, sobey at the point, creek as a sg.

Cmon man...

Yikes! That looks like a pretty weak team anon! I'd prefer to bolster that with a bit of experience with guys like Newley, Martin and Gliddon. If Bairstow is definitely out then I hope we bring Matt Knight. I know he is old, but we need some toughness and smarts if we are taking just an NBL team.

Daniel Johnson would have to be worth a look too. He's far more skilled than Ogilvy and a better rebounder anyway! Hodgson is worth a look for the future as a backup. Unlike Ogilvy he actually has some potential as a rim protector.

I think this looks a bit stronger:

Martin Sobey
Goulding Gliddon Creek
Newley Blanchfield
DJ Kay
Knight Hodgson Majok

Anon is close to what I said. However, Broekhoff has indicated that he'd like to play and in the absence of experienced heads, I think Martin and Newley would also be available. By August there is no way that Bairstow would have rehabbed sufficiently while Ogilvy is blacklisted by Lemanis. I think some of the college talent will be available- but isn't the World University Games running simultaneously. As the standard is probably higher in the latter (NZ, China, Iran and the Philippines the only countries with any world class type players), it may be Lemanis' preference for aforementioned players to be blooded in Taiwan.

With..
No NBA players
(Delly, Mills, Ingles, Exum, Baynes, Bogut, Simmons, Maker)

No Euro players
(Broekhoff, Bolden, Motum)

No college players
(Adel, Landale, Humphries, Cooks, Mathiang)

No elderly players (32+)
(Martin, Newley, Anderson)

Possibly..
Norton/McDowell-white
Lisch/Goulding/Sobey
Blanchfield/Creek
Bairstow/Kay
Ogilvy/Hodgson/Mathiang

Wow what a bold prediction

As I predicted some months ago, most Australian NBA players will probably be not available because they are either out of contract or in need of development (Maker, Exum, Simmons). A further complication is that Australia plays a tournament in China in July (I think it's Continental Cup), which runs parallel to NBA Summer League. After a short break, the team will practice for two days before the FIBA Asia Cup. Seems like the biggest hurdle being facing is getting a group together and getting them cohesive rather than any opponent.

I am pretty sure most would be.

I wonder how many of our NBA players will be interested in playing at the 2019 World Cup in China

Word is Larry Sengstock has made the call and made Madgen eligible for Rookie of the Year. Right decision IMO, whether he wins it or not.

KING MADGEN RULED ELIGIBLE FOR ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

The National Basketball League has ruled that Sydney Kings guard Ben Madgen is eligible to win the Rookie of the Year award following an appeal by the Kings to the NBL Commission.

Madgen was initially ruled as ineligible for the Rookie of the Year award as the definition in the current NBL Rules states that a rookie is a player “who is registered for the first time in the NBL”. Madgen had previously been registered by the Adelaide 36ers for the 2005/06 season as a development player, and he suited up and appeared on the scoresheet 18 times during that season.

Madgen did not however get on court in any of those 18 games and the NBL therefore agreed to allow the Kings to appeal the initial ruling to the NBL Commission.

The Commission announced late on Monday afternoon that its decision on the appeal was that whilst the initial interpretation of the rookie definition was correct, it would however have been patently unfair to Madgen if he was excluded from rookie status given he had not played even a single minute of court time in the NBL previously.

NBL General Manager of Operations Chuck Harmison welcomed the Commission’s ruling.

“The Madgen situation was an extraordinary one, and not one that the league has encountered previously,” said Harmison. “I think the NBL Commission showed tremendous compassion in their ruling in Madgen’s case and the fact that he had never actually played even a minute previously in the NBL was clearly the determining factor. We think it’s the right decision and will work with the NBL CEO’s group in the off-season to come up with some recommendations to the NBL Commission for adjusting the rookie definition to cover this sort of situation in the future.”

The Commission’s ruling means that Madgen will now be eligible to receive votes for the Rookie of the Year award, with voting set to commence today. The Rookie of the Year Award is determined by a 3-2-1 vote of all league head coaches and captains and one assistant coach per club, with voters excluded from voting for members of their own team.

The winner of the 2011 NBL Rookie of the Year award will be announced at The MVP awards ceremony at the esteemed Palladium Room at Crown Casino in Melbourne on Monday April 4.

Previous winners of the rookie honour have included Andrew Gaze, Sam Mackinnon, Andrew Vlahov, Shane Heal, Matt Nielsen, John Rillie, Brad Newley, Joe Ingles and Nathan Jawai.