Hoops

Sydney Kings sign Jerome Randle

That got me thinking - will Mrs. Randle be at the Arena next Sat. night?

"Does anyone know what happened in Turkey to result in Randle becoming available? I haven't been following him over there."

Something to do with an upset woman and a flying tray of Turkish Delight I hear!

Wow $600k. Cotton had great timing with that GF performance!

Good to see a MVP return to the league, but sucks for Adelaide.

Was it just the sausage roll that stopped him returning to Adelaide? Or was it money?

I'm not a huge fan of Joey, but he did a great job with Randle. Can Dewey do the same?
ROFL

Matt Logue from NewsCorp reporting that Randle is on $400k, making him the second highest earner behind Bryce Cotton on $600k. Though obviously not an entire season. Dolla Dolla bill ya'all.

"If he doesn't run more PnR with Randle and having Ellis, Tyler, Humphries in his lineup, then I don't think he's suited to coaching."

Expecting Gaze to adjust his strategy for Randle? I think we can all agree that Steve Blake was a total bust last year, but it took about 3-4 games before Blake came off a single screen with the ball in his hands.

The thing is, and it might be an unpopular opinion, but they were getting past Kev before the injury, so I'm not sure that him coming back will be the lock defensively that everyone just assumes... Whether he wasn't 100% after the surgery, or was again the added pressure of running the show, or not, he wasn't at MVP level... So overall, everyone needs to lift their game...

Quite evident that on-the-fly tactic isn't Gaze's strength.

The funny thing is, the offence is the least of the worries, generally it's working except for the absence of offensive rebounding. Will it improve enough now to make up for the lack of D?

ANT MAN

Well you can't sayJVG is just sitting on his laurels oblivious to all around him.

He's had a plan, he's listened and now he has executed.

I wonder though if he willtalk the same way about his squad and the league equalisation scheme as he did for United?

And unless Gaze throws that all out and plays high octane run & gun the Kings still won't make the playoffs.

The offence may be working "statistically" Paul, but that's only from players making plays or hitting shots. Gaze's upgrade on the shuffle seems to be 5 out and throw it around until the shot clock is running out. They score because the players are good enough to make a play or hit a shot. Their structure itself is rubbish

Defence wins championships. Kings - nope...

Sydney’s rotation chart.

Rotation chart rather than depth chart, because these are the guys who will get serious minutes. I’m leaving Humphries in there, I think he’s shown enough:

Tyler/Humphries/Ellis
Ellis/Blanchfield
Newley/Blanchfield
Lisch/Cadee
Randle/Lisch/Cadee

2 ex MVP’s in Randle and Lisch. Backed up by Cadee, who, despite his detractors can flat out score on his night.

Ellis who’s been starring, Newley who is still probably the 3rd best small forward in the league, even with this year’s strong crop. Tyler who averaged 21ppg 10rpg in China. Blanchfield who was rated an NBA prospect only 2 years ago after his breakout season in Townsville. Hasn’t come along as expected but still a decent NBL player.

Not bad, is it?

He's better suited for the "Lisch role" in the offense right now, where he gets the ball at the top of the arc with 6 seconds left on the shot clock and needs to create something from nothing.

Interesting thing with Tyler will be, as with all import bigs with some size (girth in particular), how well he manages to avoid fouling out in 15 mins of court time with the way the game gets called here.

One the best PG in the modern Era. Here's a tip for Gaze. The rest of the Kings need to cut and rebound. Not just stand on the perimeter and watch him.

Jezuz, Tyler looks big on an NBA court, he's gonna look like Shaq out there.

Aussie boys better get back in the weights room!

Kendle is staying with the team this weekend and will then be released when Randle joins them the following round.

http://www.sydneykings.com/news/article/35860-reigning-nbl-mvp-comes-harbour-city-randle-now-king

Won't end well, IMO.

Does anyone know what happened in Turkey to result in Randle becoming available? I haven't been following him over there.I've heard Mrs Randle didn't like the chips she was served and threw the plate and it landed on the coach who was sitting on the bench.

Gaze is still the coach though. Gooooood luck.

Adding Randle & Tyler to the Kings roster still leaves me with the Big Questions..

Who is on the team will play any type of DEFENSE!?

Does anyone know what happened in Turkey to result in Randle becoming available? I haven't been following him over there.

How far away is Lisch?

Don't forget, the FIBA/International ball break will take up a couple of weeks of his rehab time.

The original timeline was 8 weeks I think? If that's on track, a month left? How many more games until he's back- possibly not too many?

Yeah, they'll also have to cut Kendle along with Leslie. Which means until Lisch is back, their guards are more or less Randle and Cadee. Bit d-lite, right?

Tyler/Humphries
Perry/Pineau
Newley/Blanchfield
Lisch/Kendle
Randle/Cadee

???? Kings have 4 imports

More like..

Tyler/Humphries/Singh
Perry/Pineau
Newley/Blanchfield
Lisch/Thoseby
Randle/Cadee

Still impressive though. Why couldn't they pull this off in game one is interesting.

Even Mrs Gaze should be able to Coach this team , no more excuses now.
Pretty much an admission of how wrong the roster was at the start of the season.

Is Kendle not an import?

In Pauls lineup, there is Randle, Kendle, Perry and Tyler.

Either way, very interesting team with their new additions!

Doesn't look good for JVG, does it. Fanbase (And assorted other NBL fans) all knew what the Kings needed months before the GM did.

Joey Wright Vs Randle will be awesome drama! Very happy to have Jerome Randle back in the league.

@ WookieE; definitely NOT... I literally just unfollowed him from Twitter this morning, hence he was on the brain... :D

Sydney vs 36ers rivalry reignited? Randle the new Heal? Ohhhhh this is good

JVG the genius finally filling the spots that any simpleton could see were the weaknesses. Hope they miss the playoffs by 1 loss

I like it.
Things just got interesting again for Sydney.

Adds a little extra spice to the NSW rivalry. Such a shame that the garbage NBL draw has had the Kings already play the Hawks three times.

I've split Tyler's signing off to its own thread.

At the very least, this makes the NBL even more interesting!

Even as a Kings fan, I don't buy the whole "the league needs the Kings to be successful to be successful" thing... The Sydney market is notoriously difficult and very football-code orientated, not to mention there is really no significant tribal support left for the NBL...

Sydney basketball fans love a winner though and a big name, and Randle brings these in bunches... He'll be great for sound bites and articles and great for fans as well... Not sure how he is community-wise, as Chill set a pretty high standard for all to follow...

Powell... yikes. I of course mean Perry....

A couple of pretty good players they’re adding might make some difference!

Randle was shooting the 3 at 58% in turkey...

This season just keeps getting better! Always great to have the mvp back in the league. Legit 5 contenders now, is it to little to late?

At least Sydney are making the effort for the club, fans and entire league, need Sydney to be competitive and successful so the competition can keep growing.

How ironic that Randle destroyed Sydney the last couple of seasons and now might be there to build them back up.

Game changer.

No excuses for Drewy now.

2-6 is a long way back, and it'll take a while to work them in. But this makes the Kings the wildcard now.

Didn't Randle sign a multi year deal in Turkey? Fallen through, not being paid, out clause?

I find this one a bit hard to believe until the Kings actually announce it.

Powell... yikes. I of course mean Perry....

Make or break for Gaze now. If you can't win with Randle-Lisch-Newley-Powell-Tyler, maybe this coaching stuff isn't for you.

I thought Randle said he would only play for one NBL team because he was so loyal. Wonder how much loyalty is costing Sydney then?

With the Randle signing the Kings fans finally have a reason to feel good about the team. But as far as Gaze coaching goes, IMO he's not a coach and the list of potential replacements should start ASAP!
Followed by replacing JVG!!

Kings should be championship favourites now, straight up.

Jeremy Tyler is just as impressive a signing as Randle