Yep - and if you read the reasoning behind the comments people make on here, you'll see we're not people with "half a brain", but people who care about our team and don't like some aspects of how it's being run.

"record speaks for itself" .. yep. No postseason wins in the last five years - speaks volumes.

I'm with pure silk. There is little thought or real basketball knowledge behind the majority of the comment behind the get Phil brigade that seems to prevail on this site. And before the infantile comment is made, I am not Phil although I am bald.

Can I please have a better excuse than

"his record speaks for himself". His record of what???

Hmmmm, last year was our worst record in history, as Melvin stated no postseason wins in the last five years and our record this season has been bastardise by the generosity of a NBL draw.

It's good to see you mention nothing about lack of development for younger plays, lack of passion and emotion etc etc, refer to my other posts for
further stuff.

Have you watched a Pigs game this year?? They are exactly what I'd like to see in Adelaide. Full of potential, young, pressure full court defensive, big guys hammering the boards, like to run and take the ball to the hoop. I'd love for the Adelaide recruitment team to get the caliber of young guys like Knight, Rush, Kazzouh and Martin.

Coach Beveridge has done wonders with that squad.

Adelaide constantly lets teams back into games. Up 22 points in the third, yet win by 3. Ballinger bailed us out big time. Up by 16 points to a new franchise and end up losing. Care to explain how that happens????

Have we even beated a good or contending team this season??

Don't let a three game win streak blind you. We had two games at home against one team below us on the ladder who has played 3 games in 4 days and the other team on a tough travel schedule and a road game against the bottom side with a schedule that has been very easy.

Yeh i agree Smyth is a great coach last night no Maher then Ng goes down with cramp in the third Chappelle fouls out in the third.Dragons go to a zone not a lot of outside shooters left for aelaide and it becomes a contest Dragons start making some shots down the stretch 8secs to go Smyth calls time out sets a play Ballinger with a dunk end of game still time to go but that was the play that sealed it.People in the States hated Phil Jackson because he looked relaxed coaching so all you fools would think the same.Perhaps all the knockers can put up who has a better record besides Goorgin dont give me the rubbish that the Pigs are looking good there coach has won nothing if you coach long enough you cant always win it you have to have some difficult times.

Yeh i agree Smyth is a great coach last night no Maher then Ng goes down with cramp in the third Chappelle fouls out in the third.Dragons go to a zone not a lot of outside shooters left for aelaide and it becomes a contest Dragons start making some shots down the stretch 8secs to go Smyth calls time out sets a play Ballinger with a dunk end of game still time to go but that was the play that sealed it.People in the States hated Phil Jackson because he looked relaxed coaching so all you fools would think the same.Perhaps all the knockers can put up who has a better record besides Goorgin dont give me the rubbish that the Pigs are looking good there coach has won nothing if you coach long enough you cant always win it you have to have some difficult times.

Do you sometimes feel that you cannot make any comment on here which may even hint of structural criticism?

Of course I care about wins, I also give a damn about where this team is headed next year and also 3 years down the track etc etc.

On this squad, who is the natural successor to Maher when he pulls the pin??? Who is our leader then??? We don't have one...

What happens when Ng retires to follow his profession of a Doctor??? Who on this squad fills his role??? Ummm.... no one

What happens if Ballinger doesn't want to return next season??? We go shopping for a new import and who knows how that turns out...

What happen is Davidson tweaks his knee and is out for the season (touch wood he remains 100%) or wants to move on?? Who replaces him??? Ummmm... who knows...

We can't keep rolling with trade-in veterans, whilst Davidson has been a diamond in the rough, our history suggests we don't get value for money from the older guys we bring in. If you had a choice between giving Rush $75ish k or Copeland $75ish k who would you want??? Dench has been a waste of cash.

Last time I looked the Pigs were above us on the ladder, we also lost to Sydney by 18 with Brett playing 38 mins and Sydney cruised through the game. The Pigs roster for the future looks a hell of a lot better than ours. They at least have young talent coming through.

I highly suggest you look at Coach Beveridges coaching credentials before you bag him...

Last night in my opinion was a pass mark for Smyth. Compared to the last game against the Dragons he did address the perimeter rotation and as a result South didn't get too many open looks from downtown. The defensive intenstity has increased noticably, and he should get some credit for that. For once we went Ballinger for 4 quarters, not for 2 or 2.5. Maher was out (and God he would have been handy at the end of the game!), and Ng could only play half the game due to injury. Also, Chappell was taken out of the game after a promising and aggressive start by a combination of the APPALLING, USELESS, PATHETIC refereeing and his own RETARDED decision making. It was a gutsy win with many things against us.

On the other side, we again let a large lead slip. South was white hot in the last quarter, with both Heal and Ingles unstoppable. But what pisses me off, is with all of South's momentum, their hot shooting, the criminally abysmal officiating, our trouble breaking their trap, and our inability to find an open shot, Phil finished last night with 2 timeouts up his sleeve. Wouldn't you think you would at least use them up to try to stop South's momentum?

Maybe of interest, Maher interview radio 891 said the vast improvement in defensive intensity due to Brad Davidson leading it.
(Phil is concentrating on it more IMO]

I think its a really healthy criticism to ask why you can be up by 22 points and then only win by 3 (luck had something to do with this also because a loss in this game was a reality in the last few minutes). You also have to criticize why Chappell scored 24 points in the first half of the Singapore game and only 6 in the 2nd half. You also have to criticize why the team was up by 16 points in the Blaze game at home, only to go and lose it. I came away disappointed with last night's game because inconsistency is still a major issue. I go to each home game thinking "will they fluke another win, or will they play with confidence and win convincingly?". If you are fluking wins, your luck will run out. You certainly cannot be a championship contender playing such a "touch and go" game. There was far too much clumsiness with the ball handling last night. Anyone could have been excused if they thought they were all handling a hot potato. On top of this, the only highly rated team we have played are the Tigers. No comments on that game, the result speaks for itself. If they continue to play like this, they can forget about any wins against the higher rated teams. When Sydney come to town in a few weeks time, the 36ers better be prepared for that or they are in for a real spanking. The team has some great players but there are still too many under performers. For this team to do well, everyone needs to contribute every game.

EC, the other top-rated team they have played are the Kings remember. They are 1-5 against top eight sides thanks to that win against the Breakers at the Dome. The five losses have been Melbourne (home), Sydney (road), Gold Coast (home), New Zealand (road), Perth (road).

On the schedule:

Still got two games to come against each of Melbourne, Sydney, West Sydney, Cairns, Perth, Gold Coast and Brisbane I think. Those are the remaining top eight sides (they only play NZ twice and have split that 1-1).

19 games left to play. 14 of 19 are against teams currently above them and in the eight. Will be a solid challenge.

My apologies, I did overlook the Sydney road game, but even more reason to be critical. I am just saying that the wins they have had, do not instill too much confidence that they will be able to cope with the better teams. Unless they win convincingly, its hard to find that glimmer of hope that they can beat the better teams. Hopefully Chappell will still improve (he is still missing far too many shots) and no more injuries occur giving them a decent chance to jell together and play as team. As this season progresses, it doesn't get any easier, its for that reason that wins against lower teams need to be more convincing.

Hey great idea TR lets get Beveridge because his record is so good just lost to the Kings by 30 points and lost to the Dragons your right his record is so much better than Smyths.You tool at least get your facts right 36ers lost to the Kings by a lesser margin and beat the Dragons Smyth can coach his record shows that you just dont like him

And Adelaide beat NZ who beat the Bullets who won it all last year so really Adelaide are the best - woohoo! X vs Y vs Z isn't a way to argue this.

(Don't forget that the Razors have at least beaten the Kings and are 5-2 against top eight sides compared to Adelaide's 1-5. That's pretty impressive IMO.)

another joke 'anonymous' poster... Calling people names and running and hiding behind your mums skirt.

Did you watch the 36ers v Kings game. They toyed with us. They let us loose by 18 points. They could of beaten us by 30 points. I'm guessing due to the rivalry between the Kings and Pigs then the Kings wanted to bury the Pigs to claim home town dominance. You don't think that either the Power or Crows want to embarrass the other club come Showdowns.

I'm not doubting Smyth can't coach, he maybe an okay X and O coach, but there's a lot more to coaching a squad than that.

Your correct, I don't like him as the 36ers coach, and I will not support him as coach of the 36ers. I couldn't care less who is the coach, all I want to see is a future, something different and with Phil's recruitment method etc etc all I see if year-to-year bandaid fixes and the 36ers remaining a mediocre team.

We will be lucky to make the 8 again this year IMO and if we do, we will just sneak in and we will go out first round, that is guaranteed!!!
We are winning only against teams that realistically we should be winning! Like someone said earlier, the last 3 wins have been against two ordinary teams and one team on a tough road schedule. Nothing to brag about really and knowing the schedule ahead of the team i'm sure Phil will be trying to keep a lid on the hype as he knows they will take a hit later in the season.

We almost blow a 20 point 3/4 time lead against a highly fatigued unit and the coach still has some excuses handy . We ran out of players , they hit some big shots , blah , blah .
I did notice how happy he was with the successful out of bounds play we got lucky with .
It rated a mention 3 times in the post match plus boti jumped on board in the first paragraph this morning .
It was a nice cut by ballinger but it was moreso a defensive mishap when gambling that allowed it .

Defensive intensity was good but so it should be , every match all match . We don't have the depth not to play hard for 48 .

Ballinger was huge and he needs to get at least 20 shots a game .
Ng was good before cramping .
Davidson had a terrible game offensively but his intensity is contagious and much needed in this team .
Chappell , a few good signs but still below par .
Mottram Cooper and Copeland were ok .
Sutton had a shocker and Dench = Stench .

I place more credibilty on Mark Bradke's opinion on the game and on Phil as a coach than many posters on here. And he thinks Phil is great.
The play set up for Balls at the end went like clockwork, just as Phil had set it up.
regarding defense, how many times did the Dragons get shot clock violations?
Just because Heal and Ingles managed to get in a few pot shots at the end when they had nothing to lose, doesn't mean it was a bad game.
OK so we didn't make the finals last season. So what! The 36ers record over the whole time Smyth has been coach are still better than even the Tigers under Lindsay Gaze over a similar period.

I just remembered, did anyone notice Bradtke's slip up at half time..."We've got Alan...I mean Adam Ballinger here..." LOL... Gold! Bradtke just seems nervous all the time, he's a strange choice to be honest, his height differentiation with Carfino just looks odd!

A win is a win, no matter how ugly it got in the 4th quarter. Why don't all you would be coaches do something constructive and coach a team or hell why not nominate for the vacancy at the 36ers if and when it comes up!!

Some Evidence From Saturday Night Why We Should Be On Phil's Back

We were over 20 points up at three quarter time, Dragons switch to a full cort press and get within 10 points in the space of three minutes - is this the second or third time this season we have shown we have no press breaker plays?

Davidson stopped Cortez for the First Three Quarters, then Cortez went off, exposed Davidson as too short to guard him, and hence scored a lot of points, as well as Ingles who did nothing all game until the end - yet Phil made NO defensive matchups to contain these guys.

Ng got injured twice, but Phil puts him on a third time at a crucial time - why risk an injured player who could breakdown at any time, who incidently made the wrong decision last time we had a close game and he had the ball?

Need I go on?

As much as I hate Heal - he out coached Phil on Saturday night, and we were lucky to get a win.

And what was going on with all the assistant coaches\mamagers\doctors etc. on the bench sat night - there were alomost more of them rather than players.

Brock - what's the difference between your pats on the back, and other posters' criticism? Isn't each as legitimate as the other?

And take that "well why don't you coach the 36ers" comment and stick it where the sun don't shine. It's a useless post. I feel like headbutting my keyboard everytime I read that sort of comment. It seems to come up every time the Phil debate heats up a bit.

It's saying because we are not Phil, or his peer in terms of coaching experience, that we are not allowed to have an opinion.

To put it another way - I've never been a musician, but I KNOW that the new Britney Spears album is audio vomit. Why? I'm a music fan with an opinion.

Crudeboy you need to get your facts right. Ng had cramp...he wasn't 'injured'. Don't you think he'd know if he couldn't go back on??

Dana ,

You put more weight into Bradtkes opinion because it resembles your own , pure and simple .

You don't however see things for how they are , your perception is a little skew whiff darling.

Your unwavering support for the team and coach is both beautiful and annoying as hell .

as are the unwavering criticisms...."annoying as hell"

and you feel Phil doesn't deserve some criticism???

what's he done the past season or two that can be classed as positive???

zero recruitment (and don't bring up Newley, we all knew he wasn't coming), zero improvement in individual players skills base and zero improvement as a collective squad.

Actually as a squad the 36ers are static at best or going backwards at worst.

04/05: 19 - 13: Lost Quarter Finals
05/06: 19 - 13: Lost Quarter Finals
06/07: 11 - 22: Did not qualify
07/08: 5 - 6: Praying to god we qualify

As mentioned above our schedule gets a whole lot harder. 19 games left and I don't see one 'penciled' in win bar maybe the last where we travel to Singapore and even then I'm not 100% confident.

At home I'd tip us against Crocs, Pigs, Slingers any maybe the Wildcats. We may steal a game in the GC. I expect we jag a game here and there which will put our record around the 11-13 win range. So much for this squad being so much better than last years with players Phil wanted. Okay, no one could of guessed Chappell would of been this bad so I'll grant that excuse.

We have a horror schedule in mid to late Dec, where we hit the road against Tigers, Pigs, Dragons and Wildcats and two tough back-to-back against Hawks (away)/Bullets (away) and Bullets (home) / Blaze (away). The 36ers had better utilize a three game home stretch against the Pigs, Kings and Slingers to try and build some momentum to finish out the season.

When do they release the NBL free agent list for next season???

Whatever ! to argue with you will simply waste another 14 seconds of my life so ____________________________.

The criticisms come from a passion to see their team do well. Anything that is an obstacle to that will attract criticism. Smyth has to take some of the blame for the lack of achievement in the last few years. He also needs to be given credit where credit is due. He is supposedly such a bad developer of players and yet when I think back to the players we have lost in the last 2 years, I look at how they are doing now. Have they really improved elsewhere or were they just as good 2 years ago here in Adelaide? Could the only improvement be from the money they now receive. I certainly have not seen any stark improvements in their games.

I think a bit of credit has to go to Phil in terms of our defense in the last few games. We did an excellent job shutting down the Breakers and after playing us, they have gone on a winning streak and are now in the top 4 showing our win against them was nothing at all to be ashamed of. I also thought the D was good on Saturday. In the last quarter, it was more individual brilliance from Ingles and Heal rather than a lack of D which allowed the dragons to get back into the game. It was obvious when the team was 2-6 that this was our biggest problem and its good to see this has been addressed.

What I find hard to deal with is that Chappell is still around. He has had 2/11 good games and still is struggling on D, regularly getting into foul trouble. I said it in another thread but he just doesn't have any explosiveness anymore meaning he can't beat anyone off the dribble and can't stay in front of anyone on D. If the sixers had a gun import at this position with a healthy Maher back in the side, I could see this team knocking on the top 4. Chappell may still be injured but its not a valid excuse 11 games in (1/3 of the way into the season). Its frustrating to watch a team that you know could be improved bigtime if a change was made.

EC

You seriously believe there has been no improvement in Jacob or Oscar?

Jakes shooting technique has improved for one. Every now and then he may rush a shot that may not be perfect but overall it has improved.

Probably more incremental improvements if anything. Holmes is averaging a career-best in rebounds, but other numbers are about the same. Forman has had some good games, but has lost minutes thanks to fouls and missed shots.

Neither has really leapt ahead and I don't think you can fashion an argument for or against a prior coach based on either of them to be honest. On top of that, you really only have a sample set of two. Brad Hill isn't playing and other rookies didn't stay in the league (Illman, Hambour, Gower, etc).

Dana - why would you risk a player that had already been taken off the court not once, but twice for injury\cramp?

Firstly - he could do some serious damage

Secondly - He could cramp up again a critical time and lose the ball and potentially the game.

Very poor decision by Phil that could have lost us the game and or a player through injury

I think both Jacob and Oscar have improved since they left Adelaide. Jacob more so as a young talented leader which Adelaide is so lacking in at the moment.

You don't think Sutton is worse this year than last???? The scary thing for me is that he seems the most logical youngster we have on our roster to be playing NBL in 3 years. That scares me....

We don't have young talent moving through the system at all. Outside of Maher, Davidson and Ballinger I wouldn't want any other player on my squad.

Ng is basically walking out the door to pursue his medical career and rightly so, good luck to him and I wish him all the best.

Our star and leader is 34 and playing on his last legs with a hell of a lot of mileage on those legs to boot, or next best guard after him is only a year younger at 33 who also happens to be our defensive leader. Our third most productive guard is 42. Our import sucks badly.

Our best big is 28 backed up by a 31, 26 and 30 year old guys. The biggest bloke on the team wants to play on the outside and is scared to enter the key and be physical.

Who would even know if our two youngsters in Dodman and Burdon can even potentially play NBL.

At least if we had Jake I'd see his as the natural successor to Maher possibly replacing him as a leader. He's doing a good job of that at the Dragons at the age of 24. Oscar to a lesser degree at the age of 25.

We have no 22-25 year old coming through sticking their hands up demanding court time and showing that they are the natural successor for Maher and Davidson. We had them in Jake and Oscar and if we can only replace them with Ng and Sutton then things are in a sorry state.

We have no young bigs coming through the system where after 3 mins of court time you want to see more of him and wonder what he'd do with 10 mins of court time.

There is no saliva dripping talent or even potential at all coming through in that age bracket which is hurting us no end.

Who do I blame for this.... only one person...

I think half the problem is Phil's coaching style, or the team's playing style should I say? His game plan is very much free flowing, no real offences, and you shoot if your open or think you can take your man. This system doesn't work that well with younger players as they tend to take 'bad' shots. This is why Phil constantly recruits older, more experienced players.
But it's scary to think what the new coach is going to get stuck with if Phil ever moves on or is sacked. We rarely develop young players through the squad, hell we had J Will for 7 years, Gower for about 3 or 4, Dodman has been in the team for 2 seasons now and has seen all of about 5 minutes of play! He hasn't even hit the court this season, and Burdon has only played a combined 8:47. The two development spots change just about every two years with rarely a player being promoted, Ng really the only exception! Sutton came in late last season and got a chance this year but who else has been in the squad only to be dropped at the end of the season...

Doctor,
Your argument is just as valid as mine so how bout you shove your keyboard where the sun don't shine thats if you don't headbutt it first and knock yourself out.

Was it Dench last week who said in the paper he is struggling to find form this season as Phil has no offensive structure, rather you do want you want, and he isn't used to playing selfish?

I think that statement sums up Phil perfectly - he is not a devolopment coach, he is not a tactical coach, he is a freestyle do what every you want coach.

I still cannot believe that the Sixers does not have a press breaker offensive set play - it has exposed us several times this season - c'mon Phil, this is taught at U16's Div 3 level!

Look at the Wollongong Hawks and Eric Cooks recruiting, all done with a smaller budget than Phils.

Cooks recruits are all young, there is a future:

I would take Kench over Sutton
I would take Tait over Davidson
I would take Tragardh over Dench/Mottram/Cooper
i would take L.Davidson over Dench
I would take Kavossy over Chappell
I would take Rigby over Dench/Cooper

You might say 'Sixers are above the Hawks'

Well yes they are but only after losing their two starters in Tait And Campbell who were combining for 30 pts and 8 assists.

The big plus for the Hawks is their team will be around together for another 3+ years together.

Interesting post given that many of us have looked to the Pigs for the "recruiting fresh on a budget" inspiration.

I think Davidson is a better player than Tait, but I guess you could argue for Tait on the grounds of youth and price (assuming he comes cheaper than Davidson)? Tait's always reminded me of Brad Hill a bit actually.

Hawks saw value in Tragardh that many others didn't previously - probably easy to evaluate in hindsight?

Kavossy I like. They considered L. Davidson I think but he has a bit of a morose-style rep that wasn't appealing - something like that? Rigby I don't mind - big threat from long range. Kench is having a good season too, but don't mind them retaining Sutton since he's local.

Hawks have definitely done well for their spend though.