Even though you might not have been sure on him LV I've always been a big admirer of his work and have said for a few years now he's the best coach in the NBL.

Would absolutely love to have him at the Sixers first thing he would do is kick DJ's ass to the end of the bench ;)

Hang on 2028? He had one year to go on his current deal so have United just given him a four year extension? Pretty big if so, I can't remember a coach in the NBL getting such a big deal since the Sixers re-signed Joey Wright to a 5 year deal in 2017, that didn't end so well.

Smart move, he's got better like most as he’s got older, good luck to him and United, a well run club.

Perhaps the 4 year extension is because United was worried about him attracting big Asian offers, with bball money growing in that region

Agreed, good signing. I was also unsure with his style early on, still have some reservations with the 9-10 man rotations throughout the regular season but he has found a nice mix of tough team defence and attacking focus. Seems to be recognised as a great development of young talent which is a real plus. Will be interesting to see how he manages quite a different roster this coming season with some significant changes.

One interesting thing is it often takes new players a while to adjust to his system

Examples- Prather, DJ Kennedy, Trimble, Hopson, Tucker

All those guys started well below the lofty expectations.

All of them found their place in the second half of the season and turned into major players. No one was questioning their place in the team by year end.

I've come around to really appreciate his 9-10 man rotations.

It does significantly increase the depth, the options for different looks to throw at opponents, and prepare the younger guys for the playoffs.

It also wears opponents down.

Prather was injured two thirds season and Kennedy wasn't that good. Trimble gone on to very good career on Europe, not great at United, I’ll give you Tucker ended up great but said he was mvp before ball bounced and side missed finals. Hopson was just average after being good at previous team.
As I said previously, Vickerman is a very good signing but also has had very good players to work with and not all have performed.

If you look at the Hopson & Trimble examples, even Shawn Long and Chris Goulding.
None of those guys had played on winning teams before Vickerman, despite their individual success.
Vickerman is pretty good with development on doing the little things that influence winning, even if they don't show up on a box score.

Prather played 23 games for United in 17-18. He was putting up OK numbers early 2017-18 but United were struggling for cohesion.

After his injury, Moller and Felix stepped up and the team started playing well.

Prather returned in February and averaged 19.9ppg, 6.0rpg in the 5 game Grand Final series - the team managed to find a balance with his inclusion

Kennedy was quite good down the stretch of the season in 2018/19- if you were looking at the halfway point onwards, he was comfortably United's best player after Casper

Trimble found his groove late. He was relegated to the bench for the final 7 games of the season and averaged 22.9ppg shooting 53% from the field over those 7 games.

I maintain 19-20 was United's worst missed opportunity in the Vickerman era- Perth would've been a favourable matchup in the GF, and with the team finally clicking they would've likely won. But got screwed by the refs in SF game 3

Hopson struggled early but found a way to contribute within the system and finished 2nd in 6th man of the year (to JLA who was first). That United team barely lost a game when healthy- plenty of scorers and it was unrealistic to expect Hopson to score 18-20ppg like he did in NZ. Can't criticize a guy who played a strong role on a championship team, he eventually found hit spot alongside guns like Landale and established players in the system like CG43.

Tucker I think was right alongside CG43 as United's best player last season. United were unlucky with injuries and Tucker was pushed into a more ball dominant role when Ili was out. But a definite top 4 side, maybe even a grand finalist level, when healthy, with Tucker a centrepiece

^^^^
Agreed, other than Goulding none of the other guys helped winning the premiership though, and on hype alone probably should have, where he's had some players like Peatling that have contributed plus others of the same ilk, McDaniel, Hooley, Moller, Adnam just from memory.

Prather and Hopson both won titles.

Kennedy was part of the team that lost the GF to Perth. Trimble's team lost the SF game 3 by 2 points.

Basically everyone in the Vickerman era has contributed to success because United's been incredibly successful over the past 6 years

But, I think it's fair to say from 2018-2021 United generally had very talented rosters. Hence my comment earlier that I'm just as impressed by Vickerman in 2022 and 2023 getting good results (factoring injuries) with less talented groups relative to opponents

Of course not every coach with talented rosters wins titles or gets close- Dean Demopoulos, Gaze, CJ Bruton a few examples. But Vickerman did. He's proven he can coach a range of different teams with so many changes every year

Going to copy this from a post I recently made in another thread- very relevant to Vickerman

White made the NBA two seasons after arriving, when most expected he'd be backing up Dave Barlow

Delly made it back to the NBA, post Tokyo when most people thought his career was cooked

JLA went from a turnover-prone, foul-prone 9th man (year 1) to 6th man of the year (year 2), to MVP candidate (year 3) to a multi million dollar contract in China

McCarron was playing small forward, told United he wanted to become a PG, then became all-NBL 2nd team PG on a championship team, and earned a big contract

Ili went from a good defender to DPOY (and nominated again the next season despite missing half the season)

Barlow wound back the clock, played in a title and kept contributing to the age of 39

CG43 became a more well rounded player and defender, made the Boomers and won a Bronze medal

Oh and White did his achilles in those 2 years, making it even more impressive

Oh and Barlow played in TWO titles I should say

Around 2016 or 2017 Barlow was 33/34, slowing down, a few injury issues, you would've assumed he'd be done pretty soon

He's more athletic than most, and long and versatile defensively, which helps extend the career, but it's still a credit to the United coaching staff that they found a role in the 4 spot within their system and he kept contributing longer than almost anyone in the NBL has in the last decade or so (except Dave Andersen - who else has played to 39+ recently ...I can't remember anyone else)