Cortez Groves the next Dave Chappell

Mike Chappell.....oops

Luke Schenscher over the soon to be 'dud Groves'. To say luke wouldnt fit into the roster is ridiculous. Ive said it before. Pay him over 2 seasons, so as to fit him in this seasons salary cap. With Burston and Schenscher, we would be close to the tallest and most efficient big combo going. Plus you wont have to go up AGAINST Shenscher when he signs elsewhere...Groves ahh boy, what can i say but agree with millhouse unfortunately

Sturt in front of Cooper of course.

Holmes is not big enough to be a PF.

Would go with Sturt over Cooper if no to Luke.

Ideal world, would have Luke every day of the week before Cooper and Sturt!!!.

Go with Burdon as back up PG.

In the past, teams have had 12 players on the roster with all 12 suiting up for home games & 10 suiting up for away games. Has this now changed? If not, then why can't the Sixers keep Davidson & also have an Under 23 player?

Hey millhouse poss. Dave Chappelle might have played better than Mike Chappell.
After re signing Adam and pulling off a coup with Burston. Whilst ok with Hill and NG, Holmes then the unknowns of Gilchrist and even Herberts.
I was looking fwd to some exciting signings to hear we might sign up Cooper again . Hell come on Scotty the guy totally lost it last year wasnt even competitive on the boards and froze it when had a chance to score. And as a previous poster prowled around the edge of the 3 point lines.
Then to say we going to have as our import another small scoring type guard . How many do we Bl--dy hell want . Making it worse taking a huge gamble with Groves who has been a huge flop last few years .
Give excuses but poss. reason well for Hawks was he was the main scorer where here he will trying to get the shots off of NG ,Gilchrist , Herbert and Hill
with Adam and Coop. standing on 3 point line with him.
It is obvious the money restrictions are tighter than cap and that is fine but lets get someone with some size and add something else to team.
Sturt or another young centre may not be up to it yet
but they will improve and add some excitement when they come on not the crowd groan coops.gets.
After voicing my dissapointment about lack of excitement from Sixers and this site decided to go underground and wait for something to happen.
I dont think the signing of Coops is what I was waiting for

I agree with Millhouse.......a big risk on Groves. Normally Gorj gets the absolute best out of his imports so it is strange with a quality PG in Gibson Groves was ineffective & cut. When we picked up Chappy he was coming off a similar stint in NZ & ended up as a big bust.

Surely Sturt or the other young kid from WA could be looked at over Cooper?

We all know what we are getting with Cooper defensively but a young kid with lots of improvement could be a real x factor for the team if he can develop quickly.

To have Schenscher and Burston as well as another import would be unrealistic. Also even if we went with Scenscher and Burston and no import that wouldn't work as you can't have two center only players on the court at the same time. Also to play them 20 minutes each would be wasteful. Its much better to have a balanced team.

Unfortunately it sounds like by default we have to have Cooper :( Oh well with less minutes this season hopefully his non offensive skills are not an issue. I still don't understand why they wouldn't just go with Sturt. If Sturt could be a player of the future for us then wouldn't you go with him? I guess they just want to use Coopers defensive ability and we already have enough young players.

With Groves able to play point guard at times also will help with minutes for Ng and Hill. Also Ninnis will be well aware of what Groves is capable of as he would have seen him at the Dragons (even if he didnt do so well there).

I think we have done well and picked and exciting and interesting team to watch :)

Not at all happy with the Cooper development. I still don't see why we wouldn't go with Sturt.

The under-23 rule certainly seems to have screwed us, especially given that it looks like we will have a 22 year old starter this season.

To be honest I am scared shitless at the thought of Cortez Groves as one of our imports. He is just so wildly inconsistent. I'd rather have Ben or Tim Groves from that point of view, at least you know what you are going to get each night!

King james, Schenscher and Balls play say 30min each and Burston covers 20min between them. If the coaching staff were good enough, this is easily covered and balanced.

For the right money any player would take a 2 year plus deal in adelaide anon

Cortez is a great signing, dont forget he was injured at the dragons and playing out of his normal role. The guy is an awesome athlete, good shooter and can penetrate well. Im happy with him in the team for sure.

holmes should be starting small forward and add sturt for an 11 man roster as back up power forward for ballinger, hill is not ready to start.

Adrian Sturt please. Taller and more athletic than Cooper.....and doesn't he have decent mid range game ?

Groves....hmmmm. I'd rather a swingman type with handle. We need more strength at the 3 ala an import.

You guys are only looking at this season...start small, let SOS get their feet and move from there..

they need to sign what they feel comfortable with.

Under 23 players 11th and 12th probably a good rule.
But plus another under 23 player in the 10 is the silliest rule that I've ever heard

The thinking on Cooper would be that you know what you're going to get, you know he'll follow team rules and won't introduce chemistry problems - I think those things are often very much underrated by NBL fans. Look at guys like Henare and Boucher in NZ - neither can really shoot that brilliantly, but they keep their spot year after year because they have those qualities appreciated by many coaches.

I liked Sturt from what I saw of him, but the coaches saw Sturt train and obviously made their judgement based on that - we can look at Poh on MasterChef and think she's a fox and would eat anything she served, but the judges were the ones actually tasting the food and making the decision.

I think the Anon poster further up shows that Davidson can't really fit in the side (U23 requirements) and I don't think paying Luke over two seasons is really going to work.

Holmes isn't huge for a PF, but he holds his own - his rebound rate would probably be one of the better ones in the NBL?

Really, for me, the gamble is Groves if they go for him and it comes down to what budget was available and whether they think he has more to give than what was seen at the Dragons. He's played with Ballinger before, as well as Burston and Herbert which might count for something.

Camel, if that's the silliest rule you've ever heard, you need to get out more. It's in place to encourage development of young, Australian players which is a worthwhile pursuit. It's only that Adelaide are slightly on the wrong side of the age cut-off. Wonder if the Maynard kid from the Sabres could make the leap from obscurity to roster spot given that a number of alternatives are a fraction too old?

Shackles I can't see two slow centers on at the same time working for 10 minutes. Its much better to get Groves instead and have a balanced team.

Agree with Mutley with the Cooper signing. Lets just hope he has worked on his 1-2 foot shoot this season!

I think something that is over looked with the signing of Groves is that now we have 3 exceptional natural drivers of the ball (Gilchrist, Hill, Groves). Last season we basically had Hill and at times Bruce. This aspect will help our team lots. It means that when our outside shot isn't dropping then thats not the end of the game for us.

This is a much better balanced, better shooting and driving team then last season.

I know I'm the odd one out, but I'd rather see Rillie and Mee go 'round one more year and Sturt and others that turned 23 this year,and develop 11th and 12th.

Interesting that you put it that way Isaac, as I'm about as thrilled with the prospect of seeing Cooper for another year as I was with Julie winning Masterchef.

I'd actually be more inclined to buy a cookbook if Cooper wrote it.

Groves is a risk, a big risk.

i think holmes needs to slide down and start at SF or get an import SF. Sturt can be a legit back up C/PF. Erik Burdon sounds like a great back up PG and U/23 development player and i deff agree with taking sturt over cooper becoz of the youth and cooper isnt that great. maybe NG or Hill if he can needs to slide down and play PG at times to cover and to give all our clustor or gaurds time. atm we are a bit undersized at the SF spot compared to other teams IMO

i cant believe posters trying to say Coops. is a good idea to return. He has done a good job for us and good guy but totally no offence and sorry his defence was not good . He did stand in their way with arms up at times which any 6- 9 plus plyr can do.
If Sturt not the answer try another youngish strong centre there must be a few still around not signed.
To few posters that are happy for Groves to be our import can you help us what he is going to bring and how he is going to play better in a brand new team with 4-5 other Qlty guards looking to get shots up and game time than a organized structured Goorg. team and why a Fwd type plyr like Grizz. or many others would not play a better role. Poss could help cover C. pos. with Adam and use a U-23 as a 5 min game back up and develope least would know had to shoot it if under the ring. Then could use Davo or Burdon etc as true back upo PG
Yes obviously tight budget but lets try to look fwd
and with vision rather than so called safe options

bretts the man, there is no other young big guys that is the issue! They either take a risk on Sturt or go with the experience with Cooper. That was realistically their only two options. I would have gone with Sturt personally but I know both were only going to get limited minutes so its not much of an issue anyway.

Groves was injured last season. Usually when you get nerve damage you don't tend to play very good straight away. The previous season he had Heal on his team so that would have sucked for him. He has the ability to probably play 1-3, is very athletic and will be great to watch, good defender, ability to score if required and can get to the basket good!

Grizzard was on the team last year and didn't do so well also his time clashed with Holmes. There is no way Grizzard could play center! To say he didn't have enough time to prepare coming into the team half way through the season, well if you're that forgiving do we give Tyndale another chance? It was unfair for him as it was his first season out of college so now maybe he would be better. No way its time to try something else and Ninnis knows what he is getting out of Groves as he would have seen his ability in training when he was at the dragons.

Got to give Groves a chance to see how he goes. However, I think he will soon become a crowd favourite.

Hopefully he can bring more highlight plays to the distinctive homes dome like the one below!

http://linky.com.au/vgk1a

-'Hopefully he can bring more highlight plays to the distinctive homes dome'

KJ, that was 5 years ago when is was 26 not 31 and many injuries later, but it was nice.

Doubt Burdon is U23 which hurts/kills his chances.

Bretts, see KJ's point about the alternatives. You're looking at a class of player like Matt Smith. Remember that with 40 minute games, they'll potentially run small with Ballinger in the middle and Holmes at PF too.

Anon, most teams are in that same boat of having to find minutes for players.

IMO, Cooper is that guy who won't cause trouble if he barely gets 5 MPG and you might not be able to get that sort of thing from someone else.

agree with anon above, too many guards. When will people realise you can not polish a turd by putting it in a sixers uniform? Winitana was average at NZ and even worse here after everyone thought he was great, Grizzard was crap at Melbourne and worse when he came here. If a player is average and gets cut from his team, likely he got cut because he cant play.

KJ there are alternatives I am not in a position to know them. Surely we are not getting in position like previous coach not getting of his bum to check out leagues etc . But I previousl;y mentioned Matt Smith being a much better option big strong and can score.
I dont think been signed up yet so would not be expensive and would do role well.
Would you rather him wanting more minutes but be able to do role if Burston out for game .
Or would you rather Coops be you starting centre in that circumstance and with Groves as import wow how small are we going to be . We would get smashed by all teams . Can you imagine watching arrogant sh--s like Anstey and Worthington killing us .
Surely cant be serious about Groves - Cooper options.
Virtually all posters agree that Groves or any small guard not option with this team and surely only those linked to SOS group and Scotty really believe right option.

I wouldnt consider Groves,because hes injury prone with his time with hawks and Dragons,we need a new young exciting import to bring crowds in,if scotty sign groves he will miss some games thru injury and that will hurt sixers ,we need a hodge clone.A small forward like KB in his day wow not flash but a great player in his day.

Bretts,

there are alternatives I am not in a position to know them.

not getting of his bum to check out leagues etc

Chemistry and ego are huge things to consider and I think Isaac has got it spot on.

Coops is obviously a great team mate and the coach values his imput highly. Sure he has his limitations but you can be sure he will give 100% effort all the time. He will bust his arse at training, be there to help others work on their game. If he sits on teh bench and gets no game time he will still be the first one out of his seat to support the team and when he does get a minute here or there he will do all he can to make the team better - often to the detriment of his own personal stats. Getting someone of unknown character in has the potential to have better individual stats but at what cost? A young kid thinking he is worth 10 mins a game and sulking when they dont get the chances could be a real drag on the whole group.

Bretts the man, other then Anstey and Rogers there isn't that many other big players in the league that Ballinger and Cooper couldn't contain (as well as any other player). We really aren't that small compared to other teams; have a look at the list below (includes most bigs)

Tigers - Anstey, Worthington
Blaze - Petrie, Vanderjagt, Vukona, Cameron
NZ - Foreman, Tanner = 6'9
Hawks - Tragardh, Behrendorff
Crocs - Hinder
Cairns - Crosswhite, Rychart
Wildcats - Rogers, Redhadge

For the record Ballinger is bigger then Worthington in height and weight.

Isaac NZ are looking very small or am I missing someone?

KingJames, Grizzard did not come in the team half way through the season. He only managed to scrape in the minimum number of games to qualify for playoffs.

Isaac, if the coaches hadn't attended the Boomers Camp and U19 in NZ, they could have been in the States as they should have been.

i tend to agree that Groves will unbalance us. I thought that the Dragons pre Goorg were too guard heavy in terms of firepower, and now the 36ers are starting to look that way.

Lets hope it is not too late for the U/23 Tassy kid to stake his claim as the back up point guard. Coach Scotty is saying his problem is that his current squad has no existing proven backup point guard, but this kid sounds like a goer.

He paid for his own flights to come from Tassy, and sounds like chemistry wise he would be a decent fit, but also he would be happy to be developed coming along with small minutes. And lets face it, in a forty minute game, if Gilcrist is the real deal, the the b/u point role would not be a huge one.

I dont understand why they dont take both Cooper and Sturt. If Burston goes down, their in trouble regardless. Sturt is a small 7 footer. Actually plays forward in the shuffle offensive than centre and is a good outside shot over an inside game. Provides some wing height over a gaurd heavy small line up.

Apparently, Tigers chose O'hea over Sturt, for some unknown reason. O'hea not consistent in Big V and will only be a waterboy all of next season. Not sure of the Tigers logic when shoosing a 25-26 yr old, who cannot play NBL level in your team over Sturt.

36ers should take both Sturt and Cooper and go with a wing import for a balanced, athletic, experienced and exciting team. Good balance all round.

dont understand,
My understanding from Boti's article is that if Sturt or they guy from Perth are under 23 then we would have signed them instead of Cooper and then sign Davidson as our backup PG. But because there are no good under 23 bigs we are going with Cooper which means by subtraction Davidson misses out and by addition Groves gets in over Grizzard as he can also play PG and we will just get any Under 23 player to wave the towel

KJ, their bigs will be Forman, Ronaldson, Boucher and an import. They also have Trueman (6'9" I think_ in the 10 and Pledger (7' rookie) in a development spot.

EC, Liam wouldn't have gone on the States trip, so the U19 trip is irrelevant to your point. Also, the Boomers camp was 2-3 weeks prior to the Vegas Summer League. Maybe do five seconds of research next time.

Isaac, if Groves is the second import then I would go with Sturt and an under 23 pg. It doesn't matter who he is as he won't play anyway.

So, Coops vs Sturt. As I've said, I liked what I saw of him too, but if Melbourne took O'Hea rather than keeping him on their books, no one else has grabbed him at this stage, and the coaches passed (given that he's over 23), I don't think it's a crazy decision.

I think if we're up against, say, the Tigers and Burston has fouled out in the crunch, I'd rather have Coops out there limiting Anstey, while the other four provide the offense, than have Sturt in that position.

So what happens next season ? Do we still keep Cooper ? Or develop our front court future in Sturt by signing him now ?

Everyone seems to be forgetting that we not only have to fit a team into the salary cap but also into a points system. Scott had spoken to luke before he went to the US and by the time Luke came back the signings we had already meant that Luke didn't fit into the points and still allow the team to get enough players

Don't mind the lineup this year at all .

Like Herbert as he is tough as nails mentally and physically , he can guard the PG to SF in a pinch and can penetrate , hustle and knock down the three ball .

Groves will be the wildcard . If he can regain 80-90% of his best we are looking ok .

The only thing we are lacking ( again ) is a legitimite stopper of the leagues best SF but my feeling is we will be uptempo and trying some exciting things this year to entertain and put bums on seats and regain faith . If that is achieved it should be viewed as a successful rebirth of the team moving forward .

We have a good array of weapons on O and finally some guys that can get to the hoop and fill it up quick .

Definitely gonna be interesting .

Hoping that Brad Hill will go off .

Good post rotateonthis, no one pointed out our inability to guard excellent SF's. I guess we can't have every spot covered though and think it will be a great team to watch.

i saw a wrap on that maynard kid on adelaidenow.com, but wouldn't he be to young? has he even done anything in the cabl yet?

im liking the lineup of:
Burston/Sturt
Ballinger/Holmes
Hill/Herbert
Groves/Ng
Gilchrist/U23

but like everyone else, who is that u23?!?!

Bring back Willie Simmons :)

test test

What people dont realise is its eddie croves not cortez thats going to be playing as he needs all the cash he can get..

They might have to make that an u24 rule.
Anyways - 8th 9th and 10th player unlikely to get on the court.

36ers-Lightning double header will be good.
Perhaps one advantage of a 40min game.

What's wrong with scaping the Groves idea and going for Schenscher, Chris Molitor and Brad Daivdson.

Schenscher/Burston
Ballinger/Molitor
Holmes/Herbert
Hill/Ng
Gilchrist/Davidson

If the 36ers go down the u23 route as back up point guard, bet on the phone to Dellavadova NOW!

I like your line up there Journo and wouldnt be upset with that at all, i defianatly think they shouldnt pass up schensch if he is interested and would go with 1 import if required

Isaac keep defending idea of Cooper and Groves as part of team but seem to be the only one on this site that does. It is such a negative move to re sign Coops.
Hard to see owners and Ass. coach wanting Groves to be signed as will take playing time and scoring ability from owners sons who have potential to really make a mark this season.
And as Rotate and KJ posted we were not able to defend qlty SF last season and choice of Groves will not assist in that role.
Nobody still not given good reason not to sign Matt Smith. Posters said clubs were not rushing to sign Smith and Sturt as a reason . Please tell me what team is rushing to sign Cooper.

I agree, sign Schensh. We know what we are gonna get with him. If injury hits, we can then possibly use the second import spot.

Schensch is easily the most marketable player and someone who will bring people thru the door.

Bretts, a SF import would take more time off Hill than a combo guard. You make that allegation about Richard protecting his son's time but I saw no indication of any undeserved minutes/opportunities last season.

Seriously dude, you're arguing between Coops and Matt Smith here! You could flip a coin. Your "not rushing to sign Coops" argument runs against Smith as well. And you're assuming that Smith wants to move across the country for budget bucks (possibly unlikely) - and he's certainly not worth putting a big offer to.

Sturt vs Coops is a better discussion, but I can still see why they're going with Coops over Sturt.

Then there's Groves where everyone is going on some games played injured and stats in a team where no one topped 20 PPG. Burston and Herbert played alongside him and if they (presumably) approved or pushed his case, that has to count for more than some armchair experts on a forum, right?

You can harp on about looking out for friends, but in the discussions about Coops-Sturt and Groves, it comes down to two things:

- having more than a passing awareness of how much coaches and teams favour chemistry, sticking to team rules, providing defence and the like (meaning they'd favour Coops over Sturt).

- the sheer drop in budget between last season and this relating to the strict salary cap, coupled with losing the club champion. Given that substantial change in budget, I think they're recruiting very well.

Cooper provides little defence and no offence. My friends and I would keep an eye on the score when he walked on the floor and a majority of the time we would be negative to what we were before he came on. He does stupid fouls and gets out rebounded to often. I don't normally bag players but the whole area around my seats cringe when he steps on the court and my friends and I cheer when he gets a simple rebound and doesn't turn it over.
But saying all that I don't know if any other players out there will fit in but if Sturt is on par with Cooper wouldn't it be smarter to look towards the future and sign the younger guy.

As was said in the paper, they're expecting this to be the youngest team in the NBL and that's where a veteran comes into the equation. If you get Davidson for that role, then you need an U23 centre and that isn't Sturt and it isn't Smith!

A few years back, you had Majstrovich impressing early and then turning out to be terrible when it came to comprehension of team structure and plays. I did hear a whisper that it could be a similar case with Sturt - unsure though.

I liked Sturt, but don't think it's such an obvious mistake, as to drum up serious opposition, to go with Coops instead given it's slim pickings out there.

Hey Isaac wont get into you said I said but regarding no other clubs interested was brouht on by you in 2 posts on the 21st where you said Smith and Sturt were not wanted.
Unless Smith wants to not be a Pro Baller he will go where asked for money offered. Smith not a star by any means but proved can score and rebound when given opportunity and how are we going to go no Burston in any game with Cooper as starter. Nobody could say thats not scary.
You obviously know that it is going to be these guys and I want to support SOS fully butI and many others think it is narrow minded thinking.
Yes we are armchair experts thats why we go onto your site and whilst appreciate this site enormously I want to give my views even if dont agree with you .
Espec. when you qoute me wrong like saying I think Hill favours his son. I am saying he should espec. as Brad and NG could be the future of club not 1 season Groves and Cooper. Last I havent posted about spending big money but more so saying keep it tight so we dont go through another will we continue to excist again. But it is my guess there is a lot of imports out there we could get same price as Groves.
I still feel we got pushed around last season and would have liked a bigger scoring import.
Thats my armchair expert opinion.
Hey tongue in cheek but the guys that own the club are mainly armchair experts. Thats what was one of great things about SOS group

Isaac
my main point is I don't think Cooper is good enough to play in the nbl anymore and if he is just getting a spot because he is an old good bloke that won't complain to warm the bench then I think it is worth the risk to take a young guy that the crowd will get excited about when he hits the court

Bretts, I don't "obviously know that it is going to be these guys". I haven't talked to anyone about these prospective signings at all - just going on Boti's articles like the rest of those here.

But it is my guess there is a lot of imports out there we could get same price as Groves.