2010 NBL Season & Offseason discussion

[Gozu]

Twas officially announced on Ten News tonight starting off at 2 games a week then increasing to 5 games. Boomers games too.

[Gozu]

The returning Sydney Kings have announced Ian 'Moose' Robilliard as their new Head Coach.

[CK]

Going to be good to have the Kings back in for a Sydney presence obviously, but also brings back that "black hat" that other clubs/fans will enjoy beating all the more. The competition really needed that NSW presence on so many levels to top off what was a fantastic first season under the new format.

[BZB27]

very happy that the nbl will be on one i can actually watch some games now, just hope shane heal aint gonna be on it lol

[Gozu]

Supposedly Bill Woods & Steve Carfino are going to be doing the High Stakes Hoops tournament on One this week and there has been talk One might add John Casey & Andrew Gaze for their NBL coverage. With the pretty poor season Shane Heal had on Fox this year I doubt One would be interested in him.

[bloods08]

Big rumour going around that Adam Ballinger will be at Melboune next year. Please don't be the case.

[Gozu]

Good signing announced by the 36ers today poaching the sought-after young Melbourne Tigers big man Daniel Johnson. The belief was he was going to head back home to WA and sign with the Wildcats. If we can nail down Luke Schenscher that would be a great combo of bigs.

I've heard those Adam Ballinger rumours too. Supposedly the Tigers have offered him a 2 year deal but have also heard some say it's not a lock that he's going to sign with them. Time will tell but it would very disappointing to lose a gun like Ballinger.

[CK]

That would be a terrible disaster for the Sixers if that transpired. The biggest issue immediately is the loss of leadership. I honestly struggle to think of many other captaincy options on the current roster.

[Gozu]

Supposedly Ballinger is going to re-sign with the 36ers and the Tigers signing of Hawks big man Cam Tragardh today could be an indication that they know that too.

[Gozu]

36ers announced today that they've re-signed Nathan Herbert and have also re-signed Darren Ng. Two quality role players.

[Gozu]

Excellent news today that the 36ers have re-signed Adam Ballinger to a 2 year deal and have (unfortunately) re-signed Brad Hill to a 1 year deal.

[Gozu]

The 36ers have re-signed Jacob Holmes. A few other recent transactions, Matt Burston has signed with the Tigers (virtual trade for Daniel Johnson), Stephen Hoare has signed with the Blaze, Mika Vukona has signed with the Breakers, returning big man Matthew Knight has signed with Perth and as previously mentioned Cameron Tragardh has left the Hawks and signed with the Tigers.

[Gozu]

The 36ers have signed former Croc Jeff Dowdell, the Crocs have signed promising young big man Ben Allen out of college and the Blaze have signed former Breaker and soon to be naturalised kiwi Rick Rickert allowing them to sign a further two imports and the Blaze have also signed 36ers squad member from last season Tom Garlepp.

[Gozu]

Townsville have signed big man & former 36er Luke Schenscher, Gold Coast have signed import Bennett Davison who played well here a few weeks ago in the High Stakes Hoops and last played in the NBL with the Tigers a decade ago. He'll turn 35 during the season. Wollongong have signed former 36er/Breaker Oscar Forman and defending champions Perth while losing Schenscher have re-signed stars Shawn Redhage & Grand Final MVP import Kevin Lisch.

[Gozu]

The Sydney Kings today announced they have signed Julian Khazzouh, Luke Cooper, Ben Knight, Luke Martin, Graeme Dann, Blagoj Janev and import Taj McCullough. Also Wollongong have re-signed import David Gruber, Perth have signed Cameron Tovey and Townsville have signed former 36ers assistant coach Liam Flynn to join NBL legend Pat Reidy as assistants under Trevor Gleeson.

[Gozu]

Not sure what to make of the NBL signing an apparel deal with And1 but anyway the Tigers have signed 7'2" young aussie big Luke Nevill who's been playing in the NBA's D-League, import Eric Devendorf who's currently playing in the NZ league and Lucas Walker. Perth have rounded out their team by signing young kiwi Jeremiah Trueman and the Hawks have re-signed Tim Beherendorff.

[CK]

So far, Townsville remain the team to beat for mine, along with Perth. Those rosters are very imposing, plenty of firepower in both.

Hard to say in some ways, but already looks a little difficult to make a big case for Sydney making the playoffs. It's certainly not a terrible roster, but also difficult to see it consistently dishing up 80+ points a match.

Hoare is a good pickup for Gold Coast, and Rickert - if he is completely right, physically - will also be handy but otherwise, that roster looks thin also.

[Gozu]

So far, Townsville remain the team to beat for mine, along with Perth. Those rosters are very imposing, plenty of firepower in both.

Hard to say in some ways, but already looks a little difficult to make a big case for Sydney making the playoffs. It's certainly not a terrible roster, but also difficult to see it consistently dishing up 80+ points a match.

Hoare is a good pickup for Gold Coast, and Rickert - if he is completely right, physically - will also be handy but otherwise, that roster looks thin also.

Your thoughts on the Crocs declining to re-sign the league MVP in Homicide, CK? I think it was the right move. I have to disagree with respect to the Blaze though, I think they're loaded and will be a genuine championship contender. The Kings do look pretty thin but I think they're more worried about keeping costs down at least initially to remain viable.

The 36ers look pretty ordinary though and unless our two imports are guns I think we're a chance for the spoon again.

[CK]

So far, Townsville remain the team to beat for mine, along with Perth. Those rosters are very imposing, plenty of firepower in both.

Hard to say in some ways, but already looks a little difficult to make a big case for Sydney making the playoffs. It's certainly not a terrible roster, but also difficult to see it consistently dishing up 80+ points a match.

Hoare is a good pickup for Gold Coast, and Rickert - if he is completely right, physically - will also be handy but otherwise, that roster looks thin also.

Your thoughts on the Crocs declining to re-sign the league MVP in Homicide, CK? I think it was the right move. I have to disagree with respect to the Blaze though, I think they're loaded and will be a genuine championship contender. The Kings do look pretty thin but I think they're more worried about keeping costs down at least initially to remain viable.

The 36ers look pretty ordinary though and unless our two imports are guns I think we're a chance for the spoon again.

On Homicide, interesting that every club in the NBL declined to take him, despite the MVP. That alone should say a fair bit about him, I reckon. Agreed on the Sixers also. Its a honest roster, but not one that can go deep into playoffs at the moment.

I see what you are saying in some ways about Gold Coast, but its also not the youngest roster going around. We've seen teams go deep in experience but old on age before and it can spell trouble as the season goes on.

[Gozu]

On Homicide, interesting that every club in the NBL declined to take him, despite the MVP. That alone should say a fair bit about him, I reckon. Agreed on the Sixers also. Its a honest roster, but not one that can go deep into playoffs at the moment.

I see what you are saying in some ways about Gold Coast, but its also not the youngest roster going around. We've seen teams go deep in experience but old on age before and it can spell trouble as the season goes on.

I'm hardly surprised a lot of teams have passed on Homicide. There has been talk that both the Kings & Tigers have shown interest in him since the Crocs declined to re-sign him though. The Kings need a hyped up showman for the Sydney market and the Tigers have OD'd on bigs so far (Nevill (7'2"), Tragardh (6'10"), Burston (6'11") AND supposedly Wade Helliwell (6'11"-7'0") is close to signing) but still have two import spots available.

So far the Blaze have got under contract: James Harvey, Chris Goulding, Adam Gibson, Anthony Petrie, Rick Rickert, Bennett Davison, Stephen Hoare, Jason Cadee & Tom Garlepp with an import spot still to go. I think that's a pretty deep team and don't think they're that old. Other than Davison & Hoare the rest of those guys are either young or in their prime. Perth have upgraded essentially swapping Schenscher for Matthew Knight so right now personally I'd have those two teams as the title favourites but if as the rumous suggest the Crocs sign Mark Worthington that would put the Crocs right up there with those two I think.