Hoops

Kings sign David Wear

It's weird how people operate, but fact is if this team is successful it will be "the team that Jeff built." He'll be able to take full credit, and entrench his position. (Until the money runs out.)
Me, I would have started with the best coach I could get, but some people just don't like to share power. They would rather supreme command of a failure.

Hendo8888
Yesterday

Sydney signed our Deng? or is there another one?


Yeah its not deng acouth, its deng deng.

My hope is Emmanuel Malou 6 9 100 Kilos and a ex NBA hopeful?

Err, that's what the quoted text meant.

Not Gleeson, as he needs an established playing group from another coach to win. He has never won a title with a group he built himself.

Some people (and maybe players?) get too caught up in who's "starting".
I remember when Joey would "start" Schenscher just for the tip-off, then sub him at the first opportunity.

Sure, general rule has been that you aim for 5 starters who play big minutes, but it doesn't always work out that way.
I prefer to think in terms of minutes, matchups, and combinations. Especially when you have older players, and good depth.

Clearly you've got two players, Wear and DK, whom you'd expect to play big minutes at PF. So maybe they'll split it 50:50, and also spend some time at C, or maybe one will spend more time than the other. Who knows, time will tell.
We've got to see how well wear adapts to our league, exactly how Bogut fits in, and of course how well they all fit together.

As an opposition fan, what gives me hope is Gaze. I think if these guys had been playing together for a couple of years under a good coach, they would now be unstoppable. Just too much talent.
If you gave this lineup to Joey or Gleeson, you could start measuring for the trophy cabinet.

Another one. There are many.

Sydney signed our Deng? or is there another one?

recruiting him out of another industry*

Capital Jack great summary re: Bullets era under JvG.

Credit where credit is due he did recruit Joey Wright as coach when the Bullets were an absolute no hoper team. I remember during the 2002-03 season Richard Orlick who was sacked for Joey to come in had a huge cry on the NBL panel show on Fox. Then the $pending really began but that was due to Eddy going ALL IN and like you say Joey being in control which would've countered JvG's stupidity.

The point being since this is a Kings thread without Eddy's $$$ JvG never gets considered for this current job. And for Lister to just assume JvG winning a title means he is good and recruiting out of another industry and totally disregarding the sheer amount of cash Grove$ threw around is negligent.

"I reckon Gaze would have done a much better job at building a team without JVG, even if he didnt get it perfect."

Correct. It just goes to further show how bad JvG is.

some people have been putting Deng deng as starting SF?

With no other starting quality level SF option, anon, what makes you think Newls will play guard? Might be a few sporadic minutes there if there's foul trouble with Randle/Lisch and the Blonde Wondertwins aren't working out, but with only really Deng to back him up at the 3, I'm not sure how you figured that out?

I might have skipped where Kickert said he'd be cool coming off the bench, but with Wear's supposed skillset, that might be best and it certainly does add some depth to the Kings bench, but since I'm biased against him, I'm going to interpret that as him wanting a bit of a cash in and relax...

As for Wear, I'm all for getting a role playing big to fill in the gaps and make up for Kicks crap rebounding, so will have to reserve judgement on whether he's the right type or not... If he can rebound hard and keep defender honest from outside while keeping up the D because Kicks can't, and also take some pressure off Bogues while on the court together, all the better...

Can't disagree with any comments re: JvG though... Still thinking that he's God's gift to recruitment...

looks like Brad newley is going to play guard because the kings are looking for another sf.

Everyone on the kings roster is out of contract next year or with kings option on their contract, they had bettewr have a good, great season or it’s over and the next owner will be looked for. IMO jvg has stuffed this up big time.

I'm not sure Kickert would've signed with the Kings with the belief he would be coming off the bench and to be honest Wear's resume suggests he might be Kickert's back up not the reverse.

Further proof JvG really does think he is a basketball genius. Scary.

Good to see the great scouting of the Kings continue. Has to be one of dumbest statements, only watched him for couple of minutes but stored it away. Imagine if he watched someone for more than 10 minutes, he'd probably give them a stake in the team, wait, hang on???

Kings Managing Director Jeff Van Groningen has fond memories of Wear training alongside former Sydney star Josh Childress at the annual event.

Van Groningen only watched a few minutes of the Long Beach-born big man in action, but it was enough to store his skills for future reference.


“You file those things away,” Van Groningen told The Sunday Telegraph.

I had no I dear wear signed a two year contract.

I hope Jock landale

Andrew Gaze was interviewed say the last spot was for a local?

Also thought that a 2yr contract is an usual aspect of the deal. Don’t see many imports doing similiar

This is shaping up as potentially the biggest Violet Crumble team of all time. Me likey.

Giving it some more thought, I feel better about the Wear signing. I think they've put too much emphasis on name imports in the past, especially ex-NBA guys. Wear looks like a role player, which is actually what we need more so than a scorer. Just needs to stretch the floor and put effort in on D. If Bogut goes down though, a Wear-Kickert frontcourt is going to get smashed on the boards.

How can Sydney have the “best roster in NBL history”?

They’ve had the “best roster in NBL history” for the last 2 seasons. This has been clearly proven by their response and buy-in to NBL-leading coaching strategies and systems, superior win-loss ratios and rafters full of championship banners.

Sydney then daylight: I’ll believe it when I see it.

Best roster in history??? Old injury prone players that will be mismanaged by Gaze. Won't make the 4.

Starters 3s small Bench

PG Randle Randle Randle Lisch
SG Lisch Lisch Lisch Wilson
SF Deng Newley Newley Deng
PF Wear Wear Deng Pineau
C Bogut Kickert Johnson Kickert

DP Deng Acouth,two more?
Last import signing Delvon Johnson?

16 mpg in Japan?

Blanket statements are cool, so someone gets signed and we jump in here and we get some expert opinion from people who probably aren't experts but who cares, for this moment right now it's entertaining to hear what people think of a player... but seriously who goes back and reads anything from a week ago on this site (why so many Greg Hire topics get started).

At the end of the day, the opinion stated above is cool and I'm glad they have their opinions but when the season starts and we see these players in the flesh for the first time we won't remember what anyone said about them back in May

Yeah, I do have to agree with the anon about blanket statements about unknowns being made (lol) but as mentioned just take them with a grain of salt.

So Anon? You agree with me, but hate yourself for it?
Please seek help.

Good point Anon! I would like all posters to be banned from posting opinions here unless they know the player IRL. This website should not be mistaken for a "forum" for "discussion".

JVG is a fan boy, those Japan numbers look terrible. Must of been cheap!

Not the super-star I might have thought they'd go for, but seems a very good player. And presumably happy to share the spotlight without getting bitchy about minutes.

I'd assume Bogut will be bale to play good minutes, as he should be the most dominant C in the comp. Interesting to see who they prefer as backup 5, whether its DW or DK.

Big Challenge facing Sydney now, how can Gaze screw this up?
I think this squad may be beyond even his ability.

This guy is a SEABL level import. 16 mpg in Japan?

Old news by now ;). I suppose the delay is out of respect for the conclusion of the B league.

He's ok I reckon. Not a superstar marquee but will raise your eyebrows every now and then. Unlike Perry Ellis, he has poor lower body strength but makes up for it with his length, vertical and high work rate. Has nice shooting range and decent rate but was pretty inconsistent in Japan, perhaps due to lack of minutes and coming off the bench.

What he gives the Kings is versatility as he can play SF, PF and to some extent C. I'd say he'll start ahead of Kicks since he'll likely play more minutes. Sydney needs experience and a proven scorer off the bench with Kicks already indicating he's quite happy to come off the bench.

I'm not sure about the Delvon Johnson rumour with Wear's confirmation. They already have the 4/5 spot well covered with Deng Acuoth rumoured to come back as DP. They'll target a defensive stopper or failing that, resort to their usual "best available talent" tactic. Probably considering Owen Odigie.

Hope the toorak tractors are ready for the big road trip outside the bubble to Hillcrest tonight. LOL