I think our D is terrible, we have major lapses in all those wins and we struggle to execute at times.

We seem lost sometimes. Hodge fixes a few glaring holes - namely D and intesity.

Jury is still out in my books.

Credit where credit is due!

Great work by the coaches after a slow start they have made the necessary adjustments on defence and offence as well as got rid of the lame duck import.

We still have lapses in the defence at times but so does ever team however for the main part we look pretty solid and we will continue to get better. Bruce has improved a lot in the last few games which helps heaps on the defensive end.

Offensively it is refreshing to see a decent offence as aposed to the Smyth era where it was basically pass it around the top of the key until we get the chance to shoot a 3. Currently, the offence is running like a well refined engine. The Hodge haters that said he would stagnate the offence where wrong as he is in fact using his ability to get everyone involved. Using Schenscher in the pick and rolls or high low with Ballinger is going great. We seem to mix up the offence which exploits defences.

Our scouting has been alot better lately which is helping our defence!

Finally our rotations now are excellent compared to how it was before. Players are getting more consistent minutes compared with playing a few minutes then subbing off. We are only playing about 8 players with significant minutes and playing a few minutes with the 9th player instead of before where the 9th and 10th player would play and the rest would have less minutes.

We have everything going for us at the moment and we will continue to get better. It is exciting times for the Sixers and the fans!

Well done to the coaching staff of Ninnis, Flynn and Hill for making the necessary adjustments!

Yep, happy to praise the turn around driven by the coaching adjustments. They've had it tough with injuries & there's no doubt Brett's return has underpinned our resurgence. I think we'd still struggle without him steadying the ship, but why knock a good thing?
We've got Davo & Winnie waiting in the wings & that will bring us some fresh legs, & put more pressure onto the opposition. I believe you can't have too much of a good thing.
Bring it on guys.

SVD, you're baiting. Right?

DDfan - not at all - not my MO at all. I'm sure people on here could vouch that I have never done anything like that.

That is my opinion.

I'm not hanging Scotty out - I just don't think so far that he is a doing a good job to get my praise. I think even before Hodge came we had a good team and he could have been doing a lot more with it (injuries were a factor).

The thread said we have to give Scotty some praise - I don't think we do.

I don't think we are playing good D, I think we have too many lapses where we take the foot off the gas, I think our offense looks terrible at times. The reason we are doing ok offensively is we have better offensive players (Balls, Luke, Bruce, Hodge) than most other teams in the league.

I will give him praise when I think he deserves it - not after a few wins cos we got the best player in the league back.

I believe we would be doing better if Phil was still our coach.

Yes have to agree. Nice to see our coach actively taking an interest and reacting quickly to what is occurring on the court. The coaching team is also quick to change a player if they are not performing. Rotations are effective at present and even the refs appear more consistent.

I completely agree with SVD without a doubt.

SVD & A...they'll be calling you Dana soon. ;)
FWIW I still cannot understand how he can have Balls and Luke both on the bench at the same time with Coops on court in their absence???

SVD you obviously havent seen Crocs play before . we did our homework and closed up Homicides drive and stopped their 3 point shooters who were super hot in NZ . How many times in past have you seen Gaze Herbert hea letc etc having a shot no one in sight.
Maybe early to say going to be great coach but obviously putting the planning and work in.
And to say Phil could do better is a joke . Phil didnt put effort in or work out stategies.
We might have a good team but so do 7-8 other teams this year and havent injuries we have. Look at the improvement mentioned by another post in Aaron Bruce in attack and espec. in D.
EC and SVD dont give Scotty any praise yet but you must acknowledge they all seem to know what they are doing out there

BTM - I have seen the Crocs play before - I saw them on Fox earlier this year (saying that I was a tad distracted cos they played music every second the ball was in play - even though I am assured that is what the Crocs fans like).

On Wedensday we didn't do anything any other team would do on D - we stopped Williams, made him shoot jumpers, closed out on their shooters and we hit the boards. Any coach worth a grain of salt could do that.

Phil was a good coach - he won championships with us. We all forget very quickly cos he had some lean years cos our teams stunk.

We were 5 and 9 and looking terrible. We are now 8 and 9. What happened in those last 3 wins - oh yeah I remember, we got the best player in the league. Me thinks that Hodge should get the praise not Scotty.

I like Scotty - I was happy when they hired him. I was calling for Phil's head too - we all agreed it was time for a change and Phil was not the guy to help rebuild the team.

Then we got Luke and Bruce. And Hodge came back. If we had that team before Phil got fired I would have prefered to keep Phil - he has proven he can coach taleneted teams.

Scotty is a good Adelaide boy - he was a good player for us (even though he missed all those free throws in Game 1 of the 94 Finals) ... I'm a fan.

I'm not giving him praise for being less than .500 17 games in.

If he gets us to the top 4, gets us to the finals then I will think about it.

SVD, he has not proven he can coach talented YOUNG teams. He would have had Luke playing behind Cooper, and Bruce backing up Davidson.

I wouldn't be heaping praise on Ninnis yet either, but there have been some positive signs of late. I will say that when our roster was finalised at the start of the season I thought we'd be top 3. The injuries haven't helped, Winitana has turned out to be a better mascot than a player, Tyndale was a bust, so my expectations were lowered. NZ is also better than I thought they could possibly be. But we have showed some really great signs in the past 4 games, many of which are on the defensive end.

But the jury is still out on Ninnis.

It's possible to "give Scotty some praise" while still thinking that the jury is out on the team being, say, a top three side. No one need be completely sold if they don't feel entirely convinced.

e.g., I like how Hodge has worked into the rotation (didn't think it was that cohesive against the Dragons, for example) and the recent results but I'm waiting on a road game like this one against Perth to give us a further indication of how the team is doing.

Good job Ninnis
Im happy he doesn't sit back and wait for things to fix themselves, he is hungry and eager. The D is 10x better than earlier and the intensity is great. Well done on rotations and minute management. He is not just doing his best for this season but for the future of the team. He learns quickly from previous mistakes to and is not stubborn like previous coaches.
GOOD LUCK AGAINST PERTH BOYS.

IMO the issue with Phil was that he never changed things.
When he started coaching his style was different, and with a good roster results were there.
However, when other coaches adjusted to his style, results slipped away.
With all three current coaches being rookies in their respective roles, I have no problems with what's happening.

Scott has been impressive in the last few weeks to achieve 3 consecutive wins but the real test will come tomorrow night on the road. I praise him for what he has achieved in the last few weeks, I will praise him more if the team wins tomorrow night and I will praise him even more if the 36ers make some noise in the finals.

Don't anyone forget that although we have the best import in the league, we had him for a short period under Smyth. Since Hodge arrived late last season, we were all thinking how much better off the team would have been and made playoffs if Hodge had been here earlier. Getting Hodge was Smyth's iniative but unfortunately not early enough. Ninnis has the luxury of having Hodge a lot sooner and with time to make playoffs and beyond. Ninnis also had the benefit of familiarity with Hodge when it came to recruiting because he waited for a long time to see what was happening with him in the NBA. This familiarity came about because of Smyth.

Fill,
that is spot on the money. Philbert had a formula and never deviated. As a result opposition coaches never if they pushed button X, he would move three paces to the left and then one forward. Trap complete.

A good coach needs to be a little bit like a schitzo who has forgotten to take her tablets - unpredictable.

My last point re this post is it wasnt about Scotty being a super coach or a dig back at phil. It was a good few were totally bagging Scotty a few weeks ago after Hodge was back and It is not only about the wins but many of us can clearly see there is system out there and real direction obviously time and effort is being put in to team. We broke down 2 in form teams games by research and planning.
Yes Hodge was our top scorer but I thought it was SChens. Bruce and Balls along with our D that created our good lead in first half and bit of game.
We can now work the ball inside the key.

It appears I interpretted btm's thread as it was intended to read & I'm all for it, at this stage.
I had reservations earlier in the season about how the team was utilised around injuries, their body language, & results, but there's no doubt that adjustments have been made & the team's looking the goods.
Aaron in particular now looks more comfortable in his role, through the pressure being taken off of his shoulders with better rotations. He's quickly grasped Jules' style of play, & they're working beautifully together. We now have 2 VERY creative players on the same page & good things are starting to happen.
I couldn't be happier with the adjustments that have been made & don't see any harm in handing out a pat on the back to Scottie & the coaching staff. Kudos also to the whole team, they've ridden a rough ride & are now on a roll.
Hell, I'm not going soft, I'll strap on my "screw the mob" persona if it starts turning to shit.
Can't wait for tonight's game.

Newley agreed to come and play with the 36ers last year under Smyth. Unfortunately Europe called him away (ufortunate for the 36ers, not Newley).

I thought Newley agreed to come back to Adelaide under Ninnis. However, its easy to agree to return when you know there's a high probability that you'll be going overseas to play anyway.

Our NBL is not a good qualifier for the NBA. An NBL season is like a stroll in Central Park compared to the rigors of an NBA season. Newley needed to show he can play a full season, physically that is, hence Europe.

For heavens sake give Scotty a break. This is his first season and he is putting up W's. We are in the 6. With Phil,making the finals was a last gasp sign of success, and we weren't even doing that in the end.

I think Hodge deserves a good amount of praise for how he 'individually' revs up not only his team mates, but also the crowd.
I don't think his effect on lifting the team, aside from any coaching, can be ignored.
Sure his jumpshot might leave alot to be desired, but his presence at all has made a HUGE difference. Just seeing him 'lifting' his team mates up around him is valuable in itself. Not to mention his efforts on D, hi-5s, chest bumps with team mates,etc.

So where does last night's result leave people? Not quite the win we hoped for, but still showed that the team is in the mix if they can shoot 7% less from the field than their opponents and get as close as they did at the end. Can only go by the play-by-play but it seems that a freak shooting streak from Kendall was the killer move in the second OT?

No disappointment in my mind from last night's double overtime loss. The 'Cats shot unbelievably well in the 1st half, we shut 'em down in the second & they had a fresher group for the 10 minutes of extended time.
I don't see any point of bleeding about Brett's missed free throw. FFS, the guy was instrumental in getting us back into the game. Brett wants to be out there in the crunch & he delivers. I don't think any coach would sit him out with the game on the line. Some were saying Luke was less effective as the game went on. OK, who do you replace him with & for how long? Names & time slots guys.
It's all very well to sit back in hindsight & spruik your wisdom, but coaches have to use what they've got available at the time. They recognise that some can play through fatigue & have the character to get it done. Brett's that kind of player & you give him every chance. He's a proven product.
We lost but never gave up, so Isaac, that's a positive for Scotty & the boys from me.