Hoops

Team Ratings Part 1- Sydney Kings

inb4 multiple old man injuries. Reporting this whole thread for spam.

I think Sydney have the talent to compete for a championship but as we all know talent alone gets you nowhere. The big questions will be cohesion and chemistry. They have some pretty strong characters (Bogut, Randle, Kickert) and if they can all co-exist peacefully and work together as a team then they should be up there at the pointy end of the season.

The back court is pretty good offensively, but I think there are some question marks defensively. Both Randle and Lisch are small guards and if Lisch has lost a step then his defence may fall away. I can't see Newley playing much time at guard either unless they sign a starting quality small forward. I like Adnam off the bench - wish Joey had been able to keep him instead of Doyle!

"Will the lineup of death (small ball) become a thing in the NBL?"

Wildcats used it quite often last season with a lineup of Martin/Cotton/Tokoto/Wagstaff/Walker and i think statistically it was very effective, i remember reading an article about it. I expect them to use it even more this season with Kay being an upgrade over Walker at the C position in the small lineup.

Not included
A) Coaching - F
B) Management - F
C) Chemistry - Unknown
D) Aged Care Plan - Unknown
E) History of dealing with expectations - F

I think the backcourt is probably better than the frontcourt. Two very capable MVP-level guards with exceptional ball-handling skills, both can score. Then Wilson coming off a strong SEABL season and Adnam is fine - knows what he's doing, can't question his effort, doesn't wreck team structure. Plus Newley/whoever can come across to SG a bit. I think that's an A.

In theory the spacing of Wear and Kickert meshes well with Bogut... biggest question mark is health (across the board really, but especially the frontcourt).

I have to rate the Kings backcourt an 'A'. Any backcourt with two recent league MVPs backed up by two promising livewires with talent has to be an A.

When you include the fact that Newley can slide to the two when you want to go big and that the final piece to the roster will possibly be someone the likes of Kendall Stephens (or dare I say it, an Anatoly Bose if there was mutual desire), It's an EXTREMELY strong backcourt.

As previously mentioned, Childress is not coming.

The biggest question actually comes in the frontcourt - not as a question of talent - but rather of getting the mix to work together. There is a mix of experienced talent and youth - Gaze just needs to work out how they fit together nicely in lineup combos and to best use their skills (and cover weaknesses).

While i agree that this frontcourt will dominate against other traditional frontcourts (eg. Perths Kay/Brandt or Cairns Walker/Jawai) I am keen to see Kings play teams with faster or stretch bigs. I very much doubt a 30+ frontcourt (with the defensive liability that is Kickert) will keep up with the likes of Ogilvy/Conklin or Deng/Johnson

Surely Wilson over takes Adnam by seasons end?

Locke, if Randle and Lisch is the starting back court that rates as a "B", who do you think is an "A"?

What could possibly go wrong?

It reads as a Kings fan being too eager. No mention at all of age issues. Many better entries on here about the Kings which were better. Not a new topic worthy post hence the comment.

Let's just say with that gaff I'm not looking forward to seven more parts. *cringe*