Hoops

36ers vs Breakers, Nov 23

More "naturalised" Australians and less Australian born plyaers getting a chance - is it any wonder the interest level is fading and it explains why basketball does not look after and continue to develop a larger group of players into seniors. YEah - a few imports are great for the game as they bring an exciting dimension, but keep naturalising all these guys, who by that time are also getting towards the twilight years of their careers and you are seriously doing an injustice to all the juniors who have slogged their guts out to be dumped at around 17.

Well the tigers can afford D-Mac, Anstey and 2 top class imports and a stacked bench so im sure we can fit Farley, Maher, Horvath and another import in

anon #10824, there's so much talk about imports gaining Australian citizenship and the the benefit to the team as an option to fit another import in. Has anyone stopped to think that just because an import gains citizenship and can then play as an Australian, it doesn't automatically mean they will play for less money. How does a team under a salary cap afford Farley's income as an Australian, plus 2 imports?

Defence - what you talking about, who needs it when you have offence -TIC?
A little too much "I" strangling the word "TEAM"? You can't be a star and rev up the spectators more than with some swish individual basket work and yeah sure, if the lane is open, you'd be a crazy not to go to the basket and the crowd loves it, the player loves it, the stats love it. Defence - us basketball tragics love it but in general it has little appeal to the spectators and stat focused coaches and players - isn't the game all about its value in getting the crowds in - and maybe it has to be to support it?. Even coaching kids in defence is tough - they don't really want to do anything else but score (especially with dumb parents offering a $ reward for each hoop!) - so what chance have we got of seeing defence, individual and team effort, consistently in an nbl game?

Yep i agree, i think we need to go after all quality free agent SFs for next season, and hopefully with the new ownership situation we may be able to throw some decent money at them, and as Isaac said it doesnt hurt to ask the question even if they dont end up accepting it! i think we have a good core group and if we can add a top class SF to Maher, Farley, Horvath and our bench is solid, we will have a good team again next season

very true about the Crocs, but with this team i think Copes is just about the best option for the spot, as Nash and Majstro are not performing. SF is obviously the main issue we need to adress as it looks like we need to recruit decent stating SF for next season, which may be tough depending on who is available, and if we intend on keeping Farley and Horvath,which i hope we do as they are both top class imports, it will have to be a Aussie which makes it even harder.

Yea Copes will probably give up boards to those guys, but if Newley can play there i reckon its worth a shot,

Is there any truth to the rumour that hard defence will create offence? Is there too much of a focus on stats rather than playing ball at both ends of the court? Personal observation - could be way off - but how many players have we had that are just building a CV based on stats to give them chances to go elsewhere or bragging rights / ego trips?
Guess there is no glory in playing hard full court D - ask any PG out there - it just don't factor in the stats.......but maybe this could win us a game or three.

Yea Copeland has done well, i wouldnt mind seeing him play SF a bit more instead of Nash to be honest, i would like to see a 8 man rotation used, something like this
C Cooper/Wheeler
PF Horvath/Majstrovich
SF Copeland/Majstrovich
SG Farley/Maher/Copeland
PG Maher/Sutton
I would basically bench Nash or use him very sparingly and when Ng returns maybe put him into the guard rotation but probably wouldnt give him big minutes, put him on to hit a few shots here and there, like a Steve Kerr kind of role.