2010 NBL Season & Offseason discussion

[Gozu]

The new NBL season starts today with the Breakers hosting Cairns in New Zealand which is on Fox Sports live at 4:30pm. Here are this seasons teams:

ADELAIDE 36ers

Coach: Scott Ninnis

Team: Adam Ballinger, Jacob Holmes, Brad Hill, David Cooper, John Gilchrist*, Cortez Groves*, Matt Burston, Nathan Herbert, Darren Ng, Chris Molitor, Tom Garlepp

CAIRNS TAIPANS

Coach: Aaron Fearne

Team: Aaron Grabau, Ian Crosswhite, Gary Boodnikoff, Tony Rampton, Dwayne Vale, Kerry Williams, Phill Jones, Dusty Rychart, Rich Melzer*, Julien 'Skip' Mills*

GOLD COAST BLAZE

Coach: Joey Wright

Team: James Harvey, Pero Cameron, Tyson Demos, Greg Vanderjagt, Adam Gibson, Mika Vukona, Anthony Petrie, Michael Joiner*, Ayinde Ubaka*

MELBOURNE TIGERS

Coach: Alan Westover

Team: Chris Anstey, Sam MacKinnon, Luke Kendall, Nathan Crosswell, Daryl Corletto, Tommy Greer, Daniel Johnson, Matt O'Hea, Mark Worthington, Ben Knight, Ryan Bathie, Tim Lang

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS

Coach: Andrej Lemanis

Team: Kirk Penney, CJ Bruton, Tony Ronaldson, Oscar Forman, Rick Rickert*, Dillon Boucher, Paul Henare, Tom Abercrombie, Awvee Storey*, Alex Pledger

PERTH WILDCATS

Coach: Rob Beveridge

Team: Shawn Redhage, Paul Rogers, Stephen Weigh, Brad Robbins, Luke Schenscher, Martin Cattalini, Kevin Lisch*, Damian Martin, Jesse Wagstaff, Drew Williamson

TOWNSVILLE CROCODILES

Coach: Trevor Gleeson

Team: Corey Williams*, Russell Hinder, Kelvin Robertson, Michael Cedar, Cameron Tovey, Brad Williamson, Rolan Roberts*, Stephen Hoare, Peter Crawford, Jeff Dowdell, Todd Blanchfield

WOLLONGONG HAWKS

Coach: Gordie McLeod

Team: Matt Campbell, Glen Saville, Cam Tragardh, Larry Davidson, Daniel Jackson, Rhys Martin, Tywain McKee*, David Gruber*, Tim Behrendorff, Tim Coenraad

* Imports

[RustyCage]

Will be back in the red uniforms this season, last worn in 1995.

http://67.199.103.164/gallery/#

[CK]

The biggest change that fans will notice is that games are now 40 minutes, with 10 minute quarters, back from the original 48 minutes. Hence last night's score of 95-75 for NZ beating Cairns appearing low at face value.

NZ the justified flag favorites, and that was before last night. Very attacking lineup there. While Perth have a fair roster, it's also an aging one, so wouldn't take silly odds on them winning the championship. Cairns, while losing Darnell Mee, have signed a couple of good backups in ex-Breaker Phill Jones and journeyman, Dusty Rychart. Will cause headaches at home, but struggle on the road a little.

Bias aside, Adelaide now has a very good setup. Groves didn't get the minutes he deserved at the Dragons and Burston is a big in also. Don't underestimate Darren Ng's return - one of the best perimeter shooters going around and was really coming on in leaps and bounds before the Singapore experiment. Looking forward to seeing whether John Gilchrist can transfer good pre-season form into the main contest. Look a top 3 team for mine.

[Gozu]

I agree the 36ers look like they'll make the playoffs to me (Top 4) and those red uniforms look alright too.

[Gozu]

Round 1 results:

New Zealand 95 (Penney 32, Bruton 28, Abercrombie 11) def Cairns 75 (Jones 24, Mills 16, Melzer 12)

Townsville 82 (Cedar 15, Williams 15, Hoare 13, Williamson 13, Roberts 11) def Gold Coast 79 (Harvey 24, Ubaka 19, Petrie 12)

Wollongong 94 (McKee 22, Tragardh 20, Saville 17, Campbell 16, Martin 11) def Perth 92 (Redhage 20, Lisch 12, Schenscher 11, Cattalini 10, Wagstaff 10)

Cairns 86 (Boodnikoff 16, Jones 16, Mills 16, Crosswhite 12, Rychart 10) def Adelaide 75 (Gilchrist 20, Burston 11, Holmes 10)

[Strawb]

good to see the crocs win

[aceman]

Will be back in the red uniforms this season, last worn in 1995.

http://67.199.103.164/gallery/#

Great new outfits the guys are wearing this season, both the home & away outfits are brilliant. Made by JS Sports at Salisbury South.

[Gozu]

We're getting two games this week on Fox on Wednesday night & Friday night, time to see how Brian Taylor & Dwayne Russell shape up as basketball commentators

NBL's season broadcast schedule on Fox Sports:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=24300

[Pag]

The biggest change that fans will notice is that games are now 40 minutes, with 10 minute quarters, back from the original 48 minutes. Hence last night's score of 95-75 for NZ beating Cairns appearing low at face value.

Any particular reason why the quarters have gone back to 10 minutes CK? I hope the ticket prices dropped a bit as well.

[Gozu]

The NBL is now run by Basketball Australia so the league is now basically operating under FIBA rules which includes 40 minute games instead of 48, 5 fouls to foul out instead of 6 fouls etc. bringing the league into line with the rest of the world bar the NBA.

I don't think ticket prices have dropped as such but the 36ers new owners are doing pretty good deals for four game packs, six game packs & season tickets (home debut this Saturday) and you could understand that game night costs and everything else needed to stage an NBL game wouldn't have dropped even though quarters are now two minutes shorter.

[Pag]

The NBL is now run by Basketball Australia so the league is now basically operating under FIBA rules which includes 40 minute games instead of 48, 5 fouls to foul out instead of 6 fouls etc. bringing the league into line with the rest of the world bar the NBA.

I don't think ticket prices have dropped as such but the 36ers new owners are doing pretty good deals for four game packs, six game packs & season tickets (home debut this Saturday) and you could understand that game night costs and everything else needed to stage an NBL game wouldn't have dropped even though quarters are now two minutes shorter.

Fair points. I'm hoping to get to four to six games this year, always a good atmosphere at the Dome.

[Magpiespower]

Will be back in the red uniforms this season, last worn in 1995.

http://67.199.103.164/gallery/#

About time.

Never liked the fact we changed to blue uniforms because of a milk carton.

I'm assuming a major sponsor will be plastered above the 36ERS logo...

[Strawb]

its good to see the NBL going back to the way basketball should be played without the hype. Its a pity that there is no Dragons. I will throw my support behind the Crocs this year.

[Gozu]

If you've got Fox the Crocs are playing Perth up in Townsville tomorrow night.

[Johno6]

ill be at next friday nights game...36ers V townsville

wildcats are my number 1 team closely followed by 36ers tho...

[Choccies]

Unusual to see the Melbourne Tigers minus any imports ?? Wouldn't be too many teams over the years that have gone in without at least 1 would there ?

[Gozu]

I'm not sure how many teams have gone import free during a season but I think Boti Nagy said only one team in the past (late 70's/early 80's I think) has ever won a championship without using any imports that season.

But most think the Tigers will sign an import if Anstey's not able to get back on court this season. He had hip surgery a few weeks ago and they hope he might be ready to go around Christmas time. They'll probably weigh it up to see if there's much point or not signing an import at that stage of the season.

[CK]

I'm not sure how many teams have gone import free during a season but I think Boti Nagy said only one team in the past (late 70's/early 80's I think) has ever won a championship without using any imports that season.

But most think the Tigers will sign an import if Anstey's not able to get back on court this season. He had hip surgery a few weeks ago and they hope he might be ready to go around Christmas time. They'll probably weigh it up to see if there's much point or not signing an import at that stage of the season.

Time will be on their side with this one. With the NBA season tipping off shortly, it may well happen that a player cut from the NBA roster on the eve of the season becomes available to them - hopefully its not the likes of Julius Hodge (if he became available, I'd love to sit in on the meeting where they discuss payment terms and more specifically, how and when he is paid)

[Gozu]

I don't think we'll be seeing Julius Hodge in the NBL again anytime soon. For doing what he did to the 36ers and because he wants too much money. The Tigers have shown interest in him in the past though but supposedly they're pretty keen just to field an all-aussie team this season.

Great finish in tonight's Crocs/Wildcats game which is being replayed at 4pm on Saturday.

[Gozu]

Round 2 results:

Melbourne 86 (Worthington 17, Kendall 14, Corletto 13, Crosswell 13, MacKinnon 10) def New Zealand 81 (Ronaldson 21, Penney 16, Rickert 12, Storey 10)

Perth 91 (Lisch 16, Redhage 15, Cattalini 11, Wagstaff 11) def Townsville 89 (Cedar 24, Williams 17, Roberts 13, Tovey 10)

Gold Coast 84 (Joiner 18, Ubaka 15, Harvey 14, Vukona 10) def Wollongong 78 (McKee 23, Saville 16, Tragardh 13, Campbell 11)

Cairns 89 (Melzer 23, Rychart 18, Jones 12, Boodnikoff 11) def Perth 71 (Lisch 14, Schenscher 13, Redhage 12, Weigh 11)

Adelaide 80 (Ballinger 22, Gilchrist 17, Hill 11, Groves 10) def New Zealand 76 (Penney 18, Rickert 18, Storey 11)