Hoops

36ers sign Marcus Timmons

Key words Isaac "Every game I've been to". From your arguments it still doesn't satisfy my claim that they have not played 6 weeks as a full squad.

I'm not sticking up for Smyth but when you talk about 6 weeks to gel, I would imagine it to be 6 weeks after a whole team has played together. Has there been anytime whatsoever so far this season when everyone was fit and well and played 1 game together let alone 6 weeks worth? Every game I've been to I recall atleast one player benched due to injury.

Yea i thought Adelaide was only up to 53, not 100% sure but im pretty sure it was something around that when i added it up based on the figures given on the NBL site, which leaves thema round 10-15 points available, so there for they should be able to sign anyone they like within the points cap.
I personally like the Timmons signing as even if he isnt in top form id dare say he will be a upgrade on Nash or Majstrovich, and i think his role should basically be play hard defence, crash the boards and hit the open shot, and if he can do that he will help the team alot. I have no idea bout his personallity and how he fits into teams but i remember Lindsay Gaze saying he is the type of player who fits in and makes others around him better, which is what the 36ers need,even though its a while ago, he did it successfully with Melbourne and Perth, and Gaze and Smyth are reasoably similar in coaching style as apposed to a Molloy who cut him from Cairns, so i hope we do manage to get him in and he can play well and help us just win a few games this season.

Isaac in regards to your comment "knowing full well that the club were heading into a sale situation and all the off-season trouble, they allowed their free agents to walk". The decision was made by the individuals, not the club as they were free agents and not obligated to stay with the club. They may have been enticed to stay by offering them more money. This is what I mean by the salary cap being insufficient for Adelaide as they have to pay more to get the players they want. If Perth, NZ & Wollongong are keeping within the salary cap, that is because players will play for these teams within the salary cap. How many of their newly signed members would have preferred to play for Adelaide? Its not about how much you spend, its about how much is needed to get what you want. With the instability in the off season, only offering addtional money would have been an enticement to recruiting players, what else was Adelaide offering?

With Hemmerling and Groves in control, I hope players will feel more secure in coming here next season and hopefully there can be some offers made on the side to either help boost income or provide future career development.

No supporters don't want to be associated with a team that wins, they want to be associated with their own state team and want them to win. Have you done a survey on how many 36ers fans have jumped ship this season? You can start with me, I definitely have not.

Isaac, anything that is not above the salary cap in this league is a purse string, especially if you can't sign the players you want on this budget. You seem to harp on this fact, is it because you agree that no one wanted to come here?

Signing their own free agents would not have been a change to the team. I don't know that so much change was necessary, but something had to change. Just replacing Rees may have been enough. This also emphasises my point about players wanting to play for Adelaide.

I've said this before and I will say it 20 times more if I have to, but how many good players were rushing over to Smyth to get signed here in Adelaide? There was much instability in the off season. If they spent the full cap, then it wasn't enough for players to risk an unstable situation here. Were we really that confident that we had a team for this season? It more likely explains why older players were signed. Perhaps players like Copeland are not looking beyond 12 months.

Smyth had very little to choose from. I don't doubt that Smyth wanted to make changes from the previous roster, but I also doubt he had much to choose from with budget contraints.

There were many free agents after last season and no doubt many of them are playing for no more than what Adelaide could have offered. Why did they choose not to come here?

Isaac, Horvath has been hot and luke warm this season. Overall his stats may be pretty good, but what I see is a player who is not that compatible with the rest of the team (this may be something that will develop later). He may be good enough personally but at what expense to the rest of the team?

With Horvath, you cannot say exactly what you are going to get from him each game, Rychart was far more predictable.

Izzy, the purse strings were being controlled by the government and Smyth had a shoestring budget to work with. He picked up a lot of talent for a little amount of money. To some extent it was still unforseeable that so many injuries would occur given the ages of the new recruits. They have not had a good run with getting used to each other as a team as more often than not, one or two players are out with injury. The injuries are also occuring in both age groups. Lets face it, the injuries are sports related, not age related. If they suffered dementia and forgot what to do with the ball, then I would say they are too old.

I would also guess that Smyth's "lack of committment" is not directly blamed on the team but administration for the choices he was forced to make pre season.

Its quite coincidental that you should mention this right now Isaac as I was just going through some of the box scores for Dusty's games this season and realised just how valid my missing him is.

Izzy, I pay $5.00 per game to watch ABA and see the likes of Jordan Dodman. I buy my season ticket to see top quality NBL grade games and have a team I can cheer and get passionate about. I know this year's 36ers is doing little to satisfy that, but this was to be expected considering the activities of the off season. This is a disrupted season which hopefully a lot can be learnt from and appropriate changes made for the next season. With Mal Hemmerling behind the helm, I have every confidence that it will happen next year. If you are thinking about the fans, then you should know that fans won't pay $20+ for a ticket to see junior players.

Kent, thanks for confirming what I have been trying to say for a long time. We need a championship today, not in 10 years. Juniors will need to progressively get to NBL level by starting off training with an NBL team. He should then be given a few minutes for experience and then progressively increase the court time until professional status is reached. Don't immediately send a boy to do a man's job. You start at the bottome and work your way up the ladder. He may be fit and healthy, but not experienced.

So will Marcus start in the 5 or will we have him on the bench

A smart move. Things can't get any worse than what they already are so whatever changes are made must be for the better. Even if they continue to lose games with Timmons signed, that's exactly what they are doing now so nothing ventured, nothing gained.