Well I have literally nothing to do until the Crows game starts so I'll add my thoughts to the above post by Bake.

Adelaide initially lacked some offensive cohesion but Copeland's injection 5 minutes in saw to that with 3 first quarter triples. Brad Davidson ran the point with aplomb and shot beautifully. He is going to be a fantastic floor general this year. Ballinger is a solid, no frills type player sort of in the Rychart mould. Defensively he is quite a step up from Nick Horvath.

Axel Dench shot poorly but had a couple of decent passes to the white hot Darren Ng, and blocked a couple of shots inside. Adding Mottram into the front court rotation will give Adelaide a size and flexibility that they haven't had at the 4-5 for many years.

Ng was superb, benefitting from the space that Davidson was able to create for him.

Lanard Copeland turned back the clock and gave an inspired performance, knocking down jumpers and getting in the passing lanes on defence, at one stage in the second quarter triggering a fast break which resulted in a Ballinger slam.

Matt Sutton was down but will come good, and Erik Burdon impressed with his defence on Steven Black. Black was white hot in the first half (as he almost always is against us the bastard!), but vomitting coupled with Burdon's harrassment resulted in a scoreless second half for the Snakes' leftie. Depth of talent at the guard spot is huge as while Brett Maher remains the heart and soul of this team, he shouldn't have to also be the legs, the backbone, the shoulders...

David Cooper had some good moments, though it didn't look like he wanted anything to do with Nathan Jawai (not that I can blame him, that guy is f*cking huge!). Jordy Dodman flubbed a couple of shots in the first half, but had a great second half, moving well to space without the ball and letting fly a left-handed, half-hook out of the post against Abney. Smyth's player rotations were good, and the guys showed enough last night to give me cause to think we could be legitimately 12 deep this year.

Possibly the most encouraging sign last night was the vibe of energy and purpose that was coming from the Sixers' huddles, after the DGAF attitude of last season. Great to see Rupert back on the sidelines for Adelaide too!

Was kinda hoping to see Chappelle this weekend, but as long as he's ready to go on September 21 I'll be happy. I really don't think scoring points will be a problem this season.

On the officiating, I thought Filmer was far too prominent (and as always appeared far too arrogant), but Haines and Weiland were ok. What the hell that conversation with Baker was about I don't know, but it is always a blight on the crew if the other team racks up 4 fouls in 100 seconds after such a chat (3 of which were absolute bullshit).

Bring on Brisbane on Sunday!

Believe that Tucker has hurt his groin so will be interested to see if he plays tonight.

Cat could barely walk after the game. Cant see the Taipans being able to afford to nurse him the while season as some have suggested.

Turnovers were really the only difference between the teams stat wise with Cairns having 26 , 8 more than us. Darnell would fix that you would think in a months or so's time.

Jawai is going to be a monster for sure.

Great to see some heart and passion back on the floor for the sixers.

Davidson seems to have infected Copes who was hustling all night. I like that fact that Brad plays with passion going a big fist pump in the last quarter when a great pass by him lead to a three point play.

Heckle of the night goes to Mahersy for his call of travel when Abney was taking foul shots.

I loved Dench's defence in the last quarter Against passes in the keyway he just swung a big arm and hand seemingly blindly, and came up with a few quick key steals. Reesey like, he feet are so slow, but his big hands are potential cult player stuff.
And in Davidson's peskiness, and Ballinger's hip and shoulder strength, he has plenty of competition for our new cult player.

Dodman needs to learn how to defend in a team enviroment, and shutup when hes playing on someone 100x's better then he will ever be. He constantly left Jawai open in the middle of the key while trying to go after the Pg...right a guy that fat getting in a steal from their.

Appart from him a good performance by the rookies, pity Sutton wasnt upto it, I would love top see him have a big year...maybe a haircut would help??

If Ng can keep up a performance like he did last night I will happily change my opinion of him being a waste of space, 1 good game in 5 isnt good enough.

If the people that fired last night can be consistant with the input of Maher, Mottram and Chappell we could have a very good team

Cooper I am sure will appreciate the defensive help and that extra height.

Here's my write-up:

36ers top Cairns in home pre-season debut

The Adelaide 36ers last night made their home pre-season debut against the fancied Cairns Taipans and a couple of new faces shone in a 103-93 victory.

Playing without captain Brett Maher and the 36ers only real three-man Mike Chappell, Adelaide started off-season recruits Axel Dench and import Adam Ballinger alongside three smaller guards - Brad Davidson, Darren Ng and Matt Sutton.

Davidson and Ballinger could only have filled the 36ers faithful with confidence. Davidson had 18 points and should prove a useful pick-up if he can pitch in on offense regularly; his defense and determination are never doubted.

Ballinger also played every minute as though this game counted towards the side's 2007/08 record, scoring 23 points and grabbing eight rebounds. His all-round ability might draw some comparisons to former 36er Dusty Rychart, but his added height will prove an advantage.

Home team fans looking for a taste of the local young guns got exactly that with solid court time for Jordan Dodman, Matt Sutton and Erik Burdon.

Young and old bombers Darren Ng and Lanard Copeland featured too. Ng topped all scorers with 27 points and Copeland came off the bench when Adelaide trailed the Taipans to hit a number of threes and bring the 36ers right back into the game. His 17 points came with some quality rebounds and he had a noticeable bounce in his step.

For Cairns, the usual suspects old and new fared well. Martin Cattalini scored 15 points and the only hint of his injury came with a limp off-court at the major break. Newcomers Stephen Black and Larry Abney had 16 and 20 points respectively.

The Taipans were missing injured point guard Darnell Mee and lost Rashad Tucker to what appeared to be a minor injury for the duration of the second half. Without Mee to control the floor, their side amassed 26 turnovers to Adelaide's 18, and that proved the difference in a fairly tight game.

Rookie Nathan Jawai was a raw giant, scoring 13 points, but showing serious potential.

Playing well with starters still to come is very positive for Adelaide. Maher and Chappell were on the bench and Maher will play in the hit-out against Brisbane tomorrow.

Also at the end of the bench was big man Neil Mottram who is a possible replacement for Europe-bound Brad Newley.

Adelaide 36ers 103 (Ng 27, Ballinger 23, Davidson 18, Copeland 17)
Cairns Taipans 93 (Abney 20, Black 16, Cattalini 15, Jawai 13)

Darren has definitely 'beefed up' in the shoulders. He looked bigger than Sutton even from where we sat.
Definitely stronger and not 'bouncing off' opposition players. Did a really great leap and grab of the rebound showing strength.
Offensive rebounding by all was good to see in 2nd half.
Cooper looks short now with the new guys around. It's great to have more height and strength.
Dench made a couple of great swats out of nowhere, a bit like Mee does but without the long arm swinging around. It was entertaining to see.
Well done sixers.