Hoops

A sensible discussion about Melbourne United

Having said that, I'm not counting on Prather being the saviour either. Time will tell. I just think it's funny how everyone thought United was so stacked and so good, when the smart money was always on Perth at $5.50 (and probably Sydney too) just like last year the smart money was on Perth at $6.00. And now United's screwed cos they're 1-4.

1-4 doesn't worry me.

1-7 would though- at that point, the entire season would be starting to look in some danger.

At the end of the day, United are 1-4 but they've lost 3 of those games by 3 points or less.

If they were 3-2, everyone would be talking about how they're championship favourites, because even without Prather they're still near the top of the ladder.

People are so fickle.

At the end of the day, United are 1-4 but they've lost 3 of those games by 3 points or less.

If they were 3-2, everyone would be talking about how they're championship favourites, because even without Prather they're still near the top of the ladder.

People are so fickle.

"A sensible discussion about Melbourne United" impossible on this site! Has anyone mentioned bring back the Tigers yet?

“A sensible discussion about Melbourne United”

OP is clearly mistaken in posting here.

Couldn’t underestimate the loss of Henare in all this,it must have some sort of impact,McCarron seems panicked in tight situations,for a player of his standing some really poor decisions and turnovers,throw in no Casper and it does escalate there lack of a real floor general,there performance in the NBA games was pretty impressive so they maybe still carrying travel effects,to much talent to not make play offs but need to get moving .

#770988 - good point, I was going to include it but forgot to mention the Prather aspect. Utd were struggling to hang on to a playoff spot before Felix arrived who helped them win the top seed to setup the run to the title.

Didn't know Vince was a barber. Amazing.

I think people are also forgetting Melbourne played better when Prather was out injured and they had Felix as a short term replacement.

Who knows, Prather coming back could even make things worse.

Ware still earning less than Melbourne payed Kennedy last season or Prather this season.

This is all on Vince Crivelli - he's spending obscene amounts of money but it feels like all he is doing is assembling a fantasy league side. How much basketball knowledge does he actually have? I do remember many eyebrows were raised when he was originally appointed as CEO.

Utd would still have Ware if Crudelli didn't lie directly to him when questioned about whether he was the top earner at the club. Bad move since imports naturally talk with one another and Kennedy revealed what he was on. So the club chief parlayed overspending on an unproven import with putting off the engine of the team. Great leadership. I thought Ware was injured in the latter part of last season but when all of this was revealed a while after the playoffs it makes sense.

CrocMedia must be feeling a little sick right now with their ownership stake.

I’m not certain Prather is going to be the saviour either, other clubs have very good 3/4 combinations now as well, no doubt he’ll be good but can he rescue them, perhaps, but it was a gamble.

It’s not only what you see game day that counts, players like Moller, Adnam, Hooley trained hard and kept the standard up and grabbed every minute they could to do well when given the chance. Vickerman is part the problem as he plays his starters into the ground and nothing has changed. Barlow was never going to get through last season they way he started at his age, they had to trust others. As others have said even in the premiership season Prather miss a bulk of the season. Felix was a much more team guy than Prather and he and Moller shared the time, Moller even started a few games. White went ballistic in GF series last season and Kennedy or McCarron could not get him defensively but nothing changed, they were good enough to go back to back but blew it.

Prather missed all of last season in Russia due to a knee injury and the same knee has kept him out the first five games of this season too.

Not only was it a risk to sign him but a very big gamble to give him a 2 year deal meaning they're stuck with him for the season and clearly with all the money they've spent poaching these players from other teams they probably can't afford a half decent temp replacement so going with Stith as he was already here.

The only positive in all this are these problems happening at the start of the season rather than the end they've got a lot of time to wait on Prather bring him back when he's cherry ripe then hope to go on a run. They only need to make the playoffs they will still be the title favourites if Prather is healthy in February.

If Prather was playing we would not be having this conversation.

The season is impacted by injuries, they will recover and when they do only Sydney can match them.

If I was a fan of any other team, I'd be annoyed about the commentary on this forum

NBL is a strong league, United are playing without Prather (and have missed Goulding, Barlow, Pledger in other games)- they're 1-4 but have lost a few close ones and could easily be 3-2 or even 4-1.

What did you expect, that they were just gonna walk all over everybody? Pretty disrespectful to other teams IMO.

The talent gap isn't so much that United can phone it in

Remains to be seen whether United's squad has the right balance. Time will tell. Right now, my concern is the Defense- two downgrades at that end, with Boone and Casper gone who were both elite defensively.

They really miss Ware and his all around 2 way ability, plus the fact he's such a proven winning star.

Long has way more talent than Boone, but Boone did more of those small hustle and defensive type plays. Plus Long is way more ball dominant.

They miss solid role players like Moller who plug your holes and do the little things.

The team is just out of balance, too many guys who need the ball in their hands to be effective and are too inefficient at scoring and poor on defense.

They have enough talent to win a lot of games, but hard to tell how they would go in a 3-5 game series. Teams like Wildcats/NZ/SEM/Kings all have much more balanced teams and players with specific roles. They've constructed pretty great teams. Where as Melbourne just went out and got the best offensive stats they could and cheapest bench and right now it just isn't gelling.

Their bench is pretty crap too. When they had McCarron on the floor with 4 bench guys last game, the commentator said "all NZ need to do is guard McCarron" and it was true.

I don't think Prather will be their saviour either.

Nobody gives a fuck about Melbourne's other team. Everyone should be doing what they can to see who the Hawks new import(s) will be?

lol sensible... nice try, OP...

Just because they've spent big, doesn't mean that they should be top of the ladder... More often than not, if they just get players that put up big numbers on other teams and don't think about how they all fit together, it's NOT a recipe for success...

Have to say, as a non-Melbournite, it's good to seem them down the bottom of the ladder... Now if only the wheels could fall off the little red Wildcats wagon somehow, it would be a pretty good season! :D

There wage bill is massive, they should be leading the competition not languishing down the bottom. They will most likely come good and tell everyone I told you so, they have to much talent not to but imo if they miss finals it would be good for the rest competition.

Team is unbalanced, but too much talent to stay down for long. They will find a way to make it work id expect.

Bit of a gamble getting the stat-getters from less successful teams.

They'll be fine, sunshine