PG Davidson / Maher / Sutton
SG Maher / Hill / Burdon
SF Hodge / Holmes
PF Ballinger / Holmes / Mottram
C Schensher / Cooper

1. Davidson
2. Maher
3. Hill
4. Sutton
5. Hodge
6. Holmes
7. Ballinger
8. Schensher
9. Cooper
10.Burdon
11.Mottram
12.Dodman

My team will make the finals and probably get knocked out at the earliest possible moment. But it will be an improvement on the last few seasons so get off my back.

Davidson/Young aussie-college?
Maher/Hill
Hodge/Holmes/young aussie-rookie
Ballinger/holmes/cooper
Schenscher/Cooper

Starting With

Davidson
Hodge
Holmes
Ballinger
Schenscher

I'd don't know Joe, I think your squad would give it a real good shake up. I like the fact that you have Maher, Holmes and Cooper in that second unit.

Maher as the first guard of the bench, Holmes as the first big of the bench. Can mix it up defensively by inserting Cooper. The only thing that could be a problem is perimeter defence but with Balls, Cooper, Mottram and Schenscher defending the basket I could live with that.

what about aaron bruce, if he doesn't get drafted, would he be a possible inclusion to take over from maher and davidson? obviously would also depend on his euro offers

Sign Schench for a year and get it over with. He is a long term prospect and can only improve (possibly a Rogers type player), and if he does not dominate the league (which is likely), re-sign him next year for three years at a vastly lower points rating and with a 1-point loyalty reduction.

Pg: Davidson(8) / Burdon(3)
Sg: Maher(5) / Hill(2)
Sf: Import swingman(10) / Holmes(8)
Pf: Ballinger(10) / Dodman(3)
C: Schencher(10) / Cooper(8)

That's 67, with Dodman, which probably puts Motts (7) out of contention on any view. What a crazy system. I wouldn't rank the above team anything close to as good as the last 6 championship teams.

The import swingman would be Hodge if possible, to cover the shooting guard position.

I am not sure that Hill would push Maher out of a starting role, but depending on his performance he could push for up to 25 minutes a game there.

There are weaknesses at the point (depth) and at centre (well-rounded game), but the list is at least a stepped improvement on last year's roster.

that is the exact roster i have been hoping the 36ers sign, and gives us an improvement on last season and a strong SA content something fans have been crying out for, 6/10 players being SA born.
If Hodge is the import we will be fine at PG as Maher and Hodge can both slide there and play significant minutes and i would use Hodge in a point-forward type role for a fair bit of the game anyway.
SG with Maher, Hodge and Hill playing there gives us a good rotation, if Hill can get back to what he was pre injury i think he could have a break out season with some half decent minutes, i used to rate him above Darren Ng so he is a bargain at 2 points.
SF with Holmes playing 25-30 mins and Hodge playing the rest with maybe Hill there on occasion also looks quite good, i would use the depth chart differently to xy and have somethng like this
PG Davidson/Maher
SG Hodge/Burdon
SF Holmes/Hill
PF Ballinger/Dodman
C Schenscher/Cooper
I think a rotation of those players per position would work better with Hodge playing minutes at PG-SF depending on who is on the court with him.
Assuming Schenscher is atleast as good as Mottram and with NBA experience id expect better he would be more than capapble of splitting the Centre minutes with Cooper, and give us the strongest Centre rotation we have had in years.
PF looks great with Ballinger playing the bulk of the minutes around 35-40 per game, i think Dodman would be capable of filling in the 5-10 mins needed if he doesnt do well could use Cooper or Holmes in there for that length of time
Overall i think it gives us a very versatile and well balanced line up, not too old or guard heavy and with guys like Maher, Hodge and Holmes being able to play 2 or 3 different positions could give us some versatile looks, go big and use Hodge at PG with Hill at SG, or go small and run Davidson, Maher, Hodge, Holmes and Ballinger or something.
I think it will be a very interesting and exciting season and look forward to seeing a 36ers team with some good young SA talent on there for the first time since Holmes and Hill left a couple of years ago.

Is Hill that everyone is talking about, Brad Hill? Is he confirmed as being signed? If so, I must have been asleep when that news broke out. I would hope he is not signed. The 36ers can do better.

Sorry, spoke too soon. Just scrolled down the page to find confirmation of that news. How disappointing. We are going backwards while many of the other clubs are boasting marquee players signing.

EC - Not every recruit for every team is going to be a marquee player. We cant have a team full of 10 point players. For a 2 point player he is a great recruit.

If the salary that Hodge is said to be asking clubs to pay is for real....well then most clubs can forget him ...it seems as simple as ABC that he will not be a 36ers this year. So who else as SG ?

Correct. EC, he's 2 points. Compare him to Burdon, Kersten, Sutton, etc, rather than other more costly recruits.

Remember he scored something like 17 on debut. He had 28/7/8 in his Big V game the other day. If he's back at full ability, he could be useful.

EC which other clubs are signing Marquee players?

Dragons with Worthington (Have not seen anything official yet on Mika there), Tragardh at Wollongong are amongst the biggest if you take out Jake coming back here.

Teams have really only released what they dont want and resigned what they want to keep thus far.

a nana nap EC?

Sturty! Play nice.

For interest sake, the Sixers roster from last year on current points rating

Maher 10 (internal 5)
Ballinger 10
Hodge 10
Mottram 7
Dench 6
Ng 8 (internal would be lower?)
Davidson 8
Cooper 8
Dodman 4 (rerated a 3)
Burdon 4 (rerated a 3)
Sutton 5! (rerated a 3)

---
Chappell (10, no idea how though)
---
Points cap is 68. Ignoring Chappell, the above team is 75 points. It came 9th in a 13 team competition. For most of the year it was uncompetitive.

That the Sixers could not re-sign its (uncompetitive) team under the points cap means that the whole thing is a farce.

I seem to recall reading that re-signing your own out of contract player, before the two week period is up, gives a 1-point loyalty reduction. So if we re-signed every out of contract player within that period, we might just have been able to fit under the cap. But we would still have a crap team. What it the point of such a system, to ensure lowly placed teams cannot improve?

Ng would get a 2-3 point deduction. Maher a 6 or 7. You're also counting 11 players instead of 10. Given that, we could've re-signed that team under the points cap.

Chappell is only still a 10 because no team wants him enough to re-rate him, IMO. If someone applied, he would get rated down (Tucker is a 6, remember).

And two factors in us finishing 9th were that a ten point player for half the season was not producing. And that a 10 and 8 (Maher and Davidson) were injured for some time.

(FWIW, I disagree that the points cap is a farce. Imperfect, yes, but helps.)

XY very interesting post. Ng would have been capped at a 5 under the old rules but i am not sure what he would have been under the new ones.

It rally highlights the importance of team chemistry as you say that team is a big points team that failed, admitedly it was a different team with Hodge.

The Brad Hill signing was a great signing as he has real potential and will drive at basket which we need as shown by Hodge short stint, also huge value to club with the points system at 2 or even 3.
Obviously clubs have to value the plyr to the points they bring I think some on this site forget that .
So why would you look at Dench with points of 6, find someone out of college for less points etc.
Is Mottram worth 8 points , much as like work effort he probably isnt, points might be good to pick up another good plyr in the roundabout before door closes or keep with another 2 points for extra import if Ballinger becomes Aussie early in season which I am confused when this will occur .
as dont see regular A B A games unsure if Burdon and Dodman are worth 3- 4 points or is there someone in college or in system that can offer more . Saw a little of Kerston playing for N Z showed a lot more promise than Burdon and definetly Sutton who simply hasnt got it at this level.
Keep seeing posts with people saying someone is going to replace Brett Maher. You cant replace a Brett , you can only build the best team to cover the loss hopefully not for 2-3 years

Maybe a gd young recruit for the 36ers could be Alex Cox think he plays at SG would be a gd pick up finished senior yr last yr

I would love to see this team

Davidson(8)/Zorich(1)
Hodge(10)/Maher(5)
Holmes(8)/Hill(2)
Ballinger(10)/Dodman(3)
Schencher(10)/Cooper(8)

Zorich will not get a go ahead even though I think he would be worth giving a shot. Remember we did give Christian Bell a go. Zorich as been a good ABL player for quite some time now. Dodman looked like he could back up with the bigs on the spare minute or two. You could go throw Holmes into the 4 spot if needed as well.

Isaac

It would be easier if the NBL would just publish the rules somewhere.

I believe Maher stays a 5, either under the old contracts rule (that you stay at the same value you were signed for) which may or may not still exist, or possibly as a maximum loyalty holder under the new system, which I believe I saw posted on OzHoops somewhere as:

1 point reduction for re-signing prior to 2 week cutoff

2 point loyalty reduction for five years at the same club

2 further point reduction for ten years at the same club

If true, either way Maher is still a 5. In the absence of published rules somewhere though, any discussion of the points cap is somewhat speculative.

It follows (maybe) that Ng (8) would be a 5 if signed with us within the two week cutoff as he has been at the same club for five years. That said, he missed a year studying, so it would depend on whether it had to be five continuous years with the same club.

Would that then mean Cooper is also still a 7?

Isaac, how refreshing to hear you say the reason we finished 9th was due to injuries and not the coach as we have been force fed all this time. I thoroughly agree.

Naturalisation process sounds a bit like our player point system. Not sure on Ballingers date. (or Dusty?)
Schenscher, Mottram and Dodman have other offers. Guess that's why they thinking Dench?

I said "And two factors" not "The two factors". I've never denied that injuries and Chappell were factors, just not the only significant factors.

Either way, Mal has voted and the result is in.