Hoops

New Zealand v Cairns Nov 9

crocs folded because they lost the free parking next to townsville entertainment centre.

taipans will be okay as long as they can win some home games over the next few years. After all, what the fuck else are you going to do up here in cairns for a night out in rainy season?

I'd be more worried about cairns getting an nrl team together. if Barlow Park gets redeveloped and any of the crazy rumours about a joint png/cairns team actually ever come off that's when people are going to start looking at whether they'd prefer a taipans or nrl season ticket. all that's pie in the sky atm and minimum 5 years away if ever..

Breakers moved the ball well & found the open man for the good shot.
Webster just seemed to hit everything.
Richard showed his value by taking smart shots and playing D.
Long got out and ran and protected the rim.

Tough gig for Kelly and Cairns. Lose their 2x best players to other teams and then have to try and build a competitive team on a budget and end up with a squad full of bench warmers and guys who are well past their prime with a new Coach & system.

The Crocs also hadn't been getting crowds for several years.

And the notion that Cairns will fail because they only spend within their means is completely absurd.

I guess they'll get some equalization taxes from the big spenders that may help! Haha

The Crocs folded because nobody went to their games, not because they were a promising young team.

Kelly seems like he'll be a decent coach, and the players he recruited in theory actually do suit what he wanted, they're all just below average players. He wanted to play fast and shoot a high volume of 3's, all the guys he brought in can shoot, even Loe as a stretch 5 can be useful in that style of game, Jawai was already under contract so obviously he's an outlier on their roster.

Dennis at the Crocs played fast with a shallow roster and was competitive, but they still came last, and he did win coach of the year. I said before the season Kelly might be coach of the year and they would still come last.

The worst thing I heard in the podcast this week was when Kelly said he found out he had the job on Friday and free agency started on the Monday, so he had the weekend to get things together and look at who was available. That's not Kelly's fault either, its managements.

If you can't afford to assemble a good roster the best you can hope for is being "competitive" and "brave in defeat"
The NBL model all but ensures that the Taipans & Hawks will constantly struggle.

Taipans supporter here.. If nothing changes nothing will change. Anon is dead right. Jaiwai is done. Lousy too old Devon has to go, Waxy past it Kenny Mitch and DKD wouldn't get a game anywhere else. Leaves a lot for BJ and Trimble to do. GM Beecroft major problem at Taipans too busy big noting himself to actually do anything positive for club. Major drain on the club.

I was clearly kidding about them being top I remember saying that.

But in reality I thought we were in with a decent chance to make the top 4.

I will say that bit part players in any sport benefit from having the game made as easy for them as possible. Loughton isn't getting the number of open shots that he was last season, granted Young is shit, Walker needs to crash the glass and be insanely active however he's coming back from injury, DKD same as Loughton, Kenny to some extent same as Loughton and DKD. Perth got Kenny the odd open shot, but Kenny has always been mediocre apart from defence.

The imports, minus Hall, are going so well because we aren't moving the ball effectively and they're bailing us out with individual brilliance. But we are scoring enough, defence hasn't been this bad in a decade.

I read that four of our last five opponents have shot over 50 per cent. What does that tell you?

Spot on Melb Boy. But who did they miss on? Hall performs as expected and these guys just need to play their roles. Heir gives better spark off bench. Others?

Manu I remember our comments on here pre season, you clearly had rose colored fans glasses on, yes Hall is bad, but Newbill and Trimble are both producing over and above what would have been expected, the imports aren't the issue, the local contingent is the worst I've seen in the league for 10 years.

Loughton
Young
Walker
DKD
Kenny

Honestly that's the bench 5, who would win, them or Hobart Chargers last season?

Being run over late in games means that when opposition defences turn it up, we can't go with them. We don't move the ball because our two best scorers are ball-dominant players

If Hall actually had some balls and got buckets, I dare say we would've won three games that we lost. And that would put us top of the ladder.

But we are generally being run over late in games, be it fourth quarter or overtime.

We cannot move the ball, but what really matters is that we can't defend

I'M HERE AND I'M MAD

Did we expect any less? The Taipans roster is horrible, especially the bench is barely a QBL starting 5, I said it months ago,

Manu where you at???

It's not Kelly, maybe his mistake is not knowing how to make his scrap heap team competitive like Bevo or Fearne, on the hoopla podcast thisbweek he actually mentioned having to change things from what he first pitched to the board, but if Kelly coached say the Kings they would play the way that suits his philosophy and would be good.

'844 calm down.

This is MK's first HC gig at NBL level.

He has lost 2 significant players.

His core of Loughton and Jawaii are aging.

What are your expectation of success for the Taipans this year? I mean realistic ones?

Even Andrew Gaze who has had double the money (my wild baseless guess) to spend on players has been given three years to make the playoffs.

You don't think Kelly deserves some grace on the same level? He has been 'OK' so far. Trimble is a win, yes the defence is a WIP but who isn't reviewing and refining at this early stage of the season?

You can't beat a nice pan fried hoke fillet on a Friday night
I wonder if the hoke is better when it's flame grilled?

Mmm...love it when people cook hoke.

Cairns with all these ft must be hoke cooking

ouch this is a serious beatdown!

Did anyone else see Weekes' footwork just before the three quarter time break? Changed pivot foot six times and moved two metres without bouncing the ball. NBA-like.

Taipans will be gone in 2 years time

It’s Kelly.
That’s the problem.

No hungry jacks in new zealand ?

Kelly’s (hopeless) defence strategy exposed again!
Has 1st Ass C come to the conclusion he can’t point out the obvious OR is it Jamie’s stratagem, and Kelly honour-bond to support it?
Like really, one whole quarter of the court with just Melo in it, no-one hedging to help??
And that’s for starters, and going back over the previous games, no lessons learned?
V poor.

Devon Hall just looks like he's almost scared to move

NZ by 5

Depends on which NZ team turns up. If NZ move the ball and get out & run like they did against the Sixers they should win. If they just play iso ball and jack up 3's they'll probably lose again.

Game one FOX 1 5:30pm
Game three FOX 10pm LIVE

Game two 11th June, is this being telecast? If so what time??