Hoops

Boomers preparation

Feel for the kiwis.

No adams and have just lost vukona and te rangi to injury.

Yeah, we fooked.

Got to be 5-6 teams clearly a level above us.

Only with simmons, Maker, broekhoff and Exum, we will have a shot at a medal.
And we desperately need some nba level sgs coming through.

" but ignore the abysmal lack of preparation games, leaving very little room for incorporation of new concepts after returning with mostly the same players, three years older."

Well, I disagree here. Our entire bench will be different bar (maybe) Goulding.

New players likely to play -

Sobey
Gliddon
Goulding or McCarron
Creek
Bolden
Adel
Landale

-

I am pretty sure BA has thought about all the concerns you've raised. I am pretty sure they have contingency plans for this. There are scrimmages arranged. I think they'll make the best of it.

Apparently we have scrimmages lined up in China before the games as well which may bump our prep from 4 games to 6.

And Lemanis is good at playing cat and mouse with scouts before tournaments. The Australia of the warm up games looked nothing like the Australia of last Olympics. Lemanis wont be showing his hand. Probably get run into a lot of the bench and rotate guys. I wouldn't worry too much. Neither team has or loses an edge in this scenario.

The preparation isn't perfect and that's probably why we wont see Ben Simmons.

So four rounds in and a few talking points:

1. Perth have lost nothing with seven footer Luke Neville walking. No team has even had the chance to slow the game down to try to punish their undersized frontcourt. Favourites, but every other team will get better while Perth are already peaking. Might not matter since the rest might never catch up.

2. Wollongong are just flat-out playing the game the right way on both ends of the floor. Nothing more to say here. Have yet to play NZ or Perth, which will be a good measure of where they are really at.

3. New Zealand are a cut below last year on the offensive end. Pledger is atrocious on that end as a starter but is having a fantastic campaign defensively. Wilkinson is being missed right now but the rest should pick up the slack as the season goes on. A team that historically gets better at the business end.

4. Sydney had a great round and find themselves in the four. Probably won't stay there for long but they are playing hard under Hammer. Any team that goes 2-0 on a road trip with an entirely new roster is doing something right.

5. Adelaide are about where I expected them to be at this stage. Still finding their identity as a unit. Probably won't contend this season, but will be a force to be reckoned with next year if they keep most of this roster together and the coaching staff matures. Will finish in the four or just miss out.

6. Cairns don't appear to be the juggernaut many predicted in the pre-season. Still early days. Should get better as they find their identity on the defensive end.

7. Melbourne don’t have a great team. Not much more to say.

8. Townsville are far and away the worst team in the league right now. Terrible on defense yet somehow even worse on offense. Terrible coaching exceeded only by lacklustre effort on the court by the players. A train wreck that still has time to be righted, but these next two rounds are absolutely crucial. A lesson in how not to execute an offseason recruiting campaign. Half the roster is too young, the other half too old. Too many PGs / undersized SGs. Will they ever get it together? With only four playoff spots available in the new condensed league, their season might already be over.