Stupid post

And 1 and Anonymous - please pick an alias and stick with it.

On topic, I don't know that I'd think of Smyth as particularly pro-active at all. He was often criticised for calling time outs at the wrong time as well and, in the latter stages of his time with Adelaide, running some odd rotations.

I think this is mostly a young roster and Smyth tended to excel more with veterans that preferred a looser system.

With Ninnis, I'm not sure that he has the runs on the board to command the respect that a Goorjian or Westover might and it may hamper recruiting and getting everyone to buy-in to plans?

I was having fun :)

What is Brett Maher doing next year?

Smyth by far. Ninnis doesnt have the offence plays...or well anything and despite his talking about defense we still suck. He barely plays our centres so we put our players under additional pressure which doesnt allow them to play their natural game.

we need a website...www.BallingerisnotaCentre.com

Smyth wasnt the best but he got players to perform, Ninnis is running with a young under talented squad HE chose. Now he cant push them to their potential, guy was a great player but its obvious now why noone else wanted him as head coach.

Skud - Smyth didn't have structured offence either. He ran with offensive-minded imports and shooters and played motion offence. In the latter years when his imports sucked, so did the team's performance.

Can't see how Smyth would improve this squad. In fact, one of the biggest criticisms was time outs and rotations.

Honestly, I think the Sixers have enough talent, just no veteran leadership to run high-percentage offence at crucial times, and get to the free throw line more. Always going to lose close games if you can't get to the line and hit free throws.

I'm not sure that he has the runs on the board to command the respect that a Goorjian or Westover might

The last couple of years of Smyth and Ninnis so far are so alike that except for the possibility Scott is actually Phil wearing a hairpiece, it is hard to tell the difference. Both suffered from under resourced teams, ie $$$$, and both seem to lack the strategic know how to get the best from their players. No structured offence that actually works, poor selection of the second import, yet another centre playing elsewhere and the list goes on as detailed in the previous posts.

To be fair to SOS, they have managed to keep the 36ers franchise alive, but there certainly have been some restrictions, assume budget, that have prevented the best possible team to be assembled.

They do seem similar.
Maher-Breheny perhaps.

Sixers have not been an under resourced team either of Ninnis' years. They have spent as much as most (but not quite all) in the league on players.

Goorj would be an awesome pick up if available & if affordable. At least you know we'd be well drilled & execute the plays down the stretch when the game is in the balance.

He'd also attract quality players wanting to play under him. Maybe more sponsors?

Some good comments above. One thing I will say is that I can't see any real improvement in the young talent since the new coaching panel - Bruce - went down hill after his first game & seemed to have a massive upside. Hill is getting more inconsistent. Kersten - went backwards.

It's a tough league to learn in, very intense and quick. Hill is still only 23 and has missed a lot of time due to injury. He just needs more experience to get more consistency.

during our championship years we had one of the greatest line ups in nbl history.... phil smyth did nothing except ruin the career of a promising jason williams. when we lost our all-star team we underachieved and things would have been significantly worse if it wasnt for the consistent brilliance of brett maher.... luckiest coach of all-time...came in, handed championships on a platter by his wonderful team. then ruined the future of our club by not properly developing rookies.

you really think williams was that good? he was ok for spot minutes and played some good D at times but i could not see him running a team full time.

Aw - 'calling time-outs at the wrong time and running some odd rotations'

It is starting to get harder to tell the difference, as people are noticing/mentioning.

Paul 23 is when Hill should be showing his absolute best not still improving. He hasnt improved one bit in the last 2 seasons or from when he played with us before.
He cant defend, rebound strongly so he is there for his offensive game. A player scoring an avg of 7.6 is pathetic for an offensive only player, Herbert is scoring just below this and hes primarily defensive and coming of the bench.
Its not good enough and he needs to go find himself a new career, I think the monkeys at the zoo need a keeper.

Agree with the Beveridge call - he is a great coach and would have done a great job. All well to say so in hindsight though...

"phil smyth did nothing except ruin the career of a promising jason williams."

just about choked on my weetbix,

ruin career of williams OMG if smyth wasnt coach he wouldnt have had a career if you can call it that

Three games ago, the Sixers were everyone's darlings. I too can see faults in Ninnis' coaching, but this is the most even season in NBL history, and every team have had the same win-from-behind / lose-from-infront seasons. At the end of the day, we are only two games off of top spot (yes, admittedly also only two games off bottom). I just think we could from time to time try to be a little less fickle.

Problem with Bevo at the time was that he assumed that Adelaide were rolling in money and could afford to cave to demands. I think the club had a rough agreement with him and decision to hire him, but he started making some extra demands late in negotiations (extra flights for family, add-ons of various types). I suspect at the time that it seemed a bit over the top and the 36ers didn't agree to his requests.

Would've been interesting to see what he could've accomplished differently over the last year and a bit.

Not exactly tonnes of high profile coaches running around all the time. People talk up Marty Clarke, but I have no idea what it'd take to coax him from the AIS.

As this is pure speculation I will say that under Smyth we wouldn't have lost the game against the Breakers or the Tigers.

For all his failings he was a decent coach under pressure.

i hate to say it, but the only coach who gets more out of his squad than any coach i know is Brendan Joyce

Brandan Joyce? Does this mean we'll get a 2-for-1 and pick up Daniel?
Just spit balling here but I always thought that Ian Stacker might be able to give us some structure. Seeing that Melbourne don't replace their head coaches for atleast 20 years, I'm sure he would consider the main gig unless he's waiting for Al to roll over.

SVD, Smyth would've had Brett and Brad D! Would've been pretty handy in a clutch situation.

Annom, every single one of your posts is about a Joyce, so of course that's the only one you know... What about McLeod at the Hawks? Bevo at the Razorbacks?

Or Joyce at the Blaze last year. Oh, wait.

IMO Goorj would be the best fit........

With Goorj would come Wortho... Good fit

I know Goorjian has a great coaching record, but honestly after following the 6ers for nearly 20 years I think I would actually stop watching basketball if he sat down as the coach in adelaide.

I can't help it, I just don't like the guy.

Boy Goorj at adelaide....NEVER HAPPEN!

that would be like re-signing hodge or asking Shane Heal to be "player coach" HAHA

Not sure, but it'd be possible. However, in an era of teams overspending and going bust, it's hard to be savagely critical of teams taking the cheaper option, even if it doesn't always turn out.

Goorjan has a great record in winning titles, but how many of these teams are still part of the NBL?

There is nothing wrong with teams taking the cheaper option as long as the coach and player choice are right. Seems that members of this Forum have been questioning those choices even before the season started and those who suggested that certain players were suspect have been proven right.

For the Soccer fans, how many Adelaide United fans are happy at the moment. Similar situation when $$ are short and the coach has been proven wanting when under pressure.

Hopefully next season a few changes will be made, in both Teams, and Adelaide supporters, 36ers and United will be much happier with the performances of their teams.

Good to see United-Sixers joint ticket deal.

Sixers you'd think would advertise and ask Ninnis to apply, to see what's out there.

One season. Aw wait a minute - you've got me thinking now- one season - I THINK?