My 3-quarter-way report:


Gilchrist A: Still gets my vote as the best PG in the league so far. Same reasons as Toft as to why he didn't grab the A+. Things to work on.

Herbert A: B for Offense. A+++++++++++ for Defence. I feel bad for not agreing 100% with the move to pick him up. He has certainly proved me wrong in that he can play at SF, and that his D is WELL above average.

Ballinger A-: If I gave him an A+ I'd be saying this is his best. This hasn't been a perfect season for Balls, he started pretty slow. Still brilliant and well in contention for league MVP with McKee missing a few.

Holmes B+: Rebounding has been huge. D has been huge. Needs to keep up this level of play as a benchie with Burston back and will hopefully see more than the 12-14mins he's been getting.

Burston B: When fit he's been an A. I don't know how much to detract for injuries... meh. Well he'sback now and he's an A.

Ng B-: Playing his role pretty well with improved D. If they combined Cortez's confidence with Ninja's outside sroke he'd average 5 threes a game!

Hill C+: Has shown glimpses, especially early in the year about the time when he snatched the starting SF spot. He's dropped since. I don't think he's been as inconsistent as people seem to be saying. He's been below his best, yeah but he's been pretty consistently average! He's an X-factor for the run at the playoffs.

Cooper C+: Has stepped up big time in a few games of late. Not his best year, avoidable turnovers were a problem early but he's provided all the 6ers wanted I think.

Groves D: Only because he can be sooo much better. I've said it all before but if he stops jacking bullshit threes and starts penetrating, things will turn around. Frustrating, frustrating year, Tezza. These ratings get me thinking about NBA 2k10, I'd hate to imagine the nasty things that 2k Insider is saying to Cortez...


I better mention, before some numbnut picks it out, that the ratings are obviously influenced by that player's talent and expectations. ie. I am not saying Herbert has had a better season than Balls.

Boti is a champ A+ all the way. Sorry but Darren C-, struggling with form. Don't get me wrong love the guy but he needs to stick to being a Dr. Hill deserves a D- too

Yeah. Hill is a C- or a D+ at best. He's blown far to many sitters for a starting spot and his ability to score is alot worse than last year.

I'd personally look at getting Molitor some more active time in conjunction with Hill at this point because there isn't really much to lose IMO.

Great season so far reports by Jack Toft and Xztatik and agree mostly with those thoughts .
Only slight differences would be
Ballinger -- Is still our best player but average defence at times and going missing scoring wise in some games this season although not just his fault though. Just makes a A
Gilchrist -- Agree best point guard in NBL currently especially if can learn to distribute the ball quicker. Just makes a A
Holmes -- Very very important to this team as adds that much needed agression to defence and rebounding. -- A -
NG -- Has improved on a lot of aspects of his game especially carrying the ball and D.
Still think he could be given a lot more open shots. Frustrating to see crunch time others trying to win the game on their own when get NG and Ballinger open our percentages to get results would go up. B+
Herbert -- Has been a real positive to team especioally tough D and was really taking big steps until poke in eye. B+
Hill -- Still a believer in Brad but has put in some shockers and maybe another suffering with imports at PG holding ball too long. C
Molitor -- Obvious as no use by coach in any game circumstance that not up to it so why picked .
There had to be a u-23 in Aust that could of been some use.
Cooper -- As everyone aware of my views on Coops selection but has gone from blo--y awful to average in last few games . Still struggle to see what he does on defence that others see as I watch players go past him as though not there.
Groves-- Again my views are known but seriously hate watching him play for us with his - turnovers --stupid unrealistic shots -- majority of time pitiful defence-- at PG holds ball too long and no idea when to drive,shoot or who to pass to .
Basically a player that long ago lost his game and playing a selfish style game to try to get numbers up.
Coaches guess still sitting on fence with but defenitely need a experienced coach in there some where .
Skip doing good job on music adding some new ones to old favourites.
Announcers defenitely on the improve .
Murray Magpie actually does something now.
Boti Like at times call a spade a spade but ruined his around the NBL with total sarcasm now and it also creeping into his reports now.
SOS - Defenitely trying hard with obvious limited funds. But at least turn on air conditioners at reasonable time before to cool stadium .

Another add:

Apollo Room: A+: Great pre-game dinners. Good meals, good value, great range for all the family. Well done. Anyone who hasn't dined there yet, make a point by season's end.

Tram as a whole is a C- for mine. The consistsnt inability to close out games isn't good enough for an even par.

You don't like the new trams Tripod? The air con is meant to be good...

DB5 i dont 'do' public transport haha nah i meant team, still getting used to my iphone!

Trams get an F from me for stopping me on Morphett Rd when there's not actually a tram...

grr.

A+ . Ballinger . A top tier import now naturalised. Third club MVP and very high league MVP
A . Gilchrist . Has his faults but can be a gamebreaker
A- Burston . Missed so many games but called a players meeting after 4 team losses. Lifted the team when starting. Assesed as a brilliant defensive centre. Even the sixers didn't realise how good he is offensively.
B+ Herbert . Plays with heart and as with Burston, was under rated on offensive ability.
B Ng . Catch and shoot - wonderful to watch, but a whole lot more.
B- Holmes . Rebounding, guarding - might even be our best free throw shooter, but the jumper is so flat
C+ Groves . Under-acheived - looked terrible in some games, but shows/is showing some signs of improvement.
C Cooper . Playing better than last season.
C- Hill . Gone backwards from last season ,when he was in our best players in away games
F u23 garlepp = F for ....
Coach. Frustrating to watch lower rated players starting and slow at subs and time outs for 4 losses.But that has been corrected.
Love '300 violins' and dancers not as good as last season

Mostly agree with Jack and Xztatik's comments earlier. Balls and Gizmo are clearly our two best, but both have their flaws.

Star players:

Gizmo dribbling the ball too often is more a symptom I think - he's a great scorer but hasn't shown me he can run a team offence the way a good PG should. To be fair, some of that is probably a lack of basketball nous from his team-mates and/ or poor offensive instructions from Ninnis et al (I don't really know the source).

As usual Balls has been phenomenal with his shooting, but I've been disappointed with his rebounding and defence at times. I think some of that is down to playing too much centre while Burston has been out. Offensively, has a tendency to go missing at times. Though this is sometimes his team-mates fault, on many other occasions I think it is because Balls decides he doesn't want the ball. I've seen players looking for him but he actively avoids establishing position sometimes. Not sure, but I think it might just be that he is winded at times and needs to conserve some energy on the offensive end. Just to be clear, I'm not slamming Balls for this because I think he generally works hard. Its more an observation and yet more evidence that Burston being out has REALLY hurt this team!

Top contributors:

Burston, Holmes and Herbert have been excellent contributors. If we can keep Burston next year, I would love to see Holmes as first guy off the bench every game. He's really improved his shooting and is a perfect sixth man.

Big potential - frustrating as hell:

Hill - someone mentioned a little while back he is carrying an injury, but I never did find out if that was true and how long it might have been affecting him for. I still think he has the tools to be a top notch scorer in this league - but for whatever reason he has been blowing layups and playing without confidence for most of the season. Your time is now Hilly - step it up or your chance is going to pass you by!

Could do more:

Tez - has been solid defensively when I have watched him and still has the athleticism to succeed in the NBL, which is why his ups and downs on offense drive me crazy! In the end though, his unreliable outside shot makes him a poor fit on this team.

Ng - has good games occasionally and tries hard - but is just too slight and too often gets abused defensively because of it. If this team ever learns how to set screens and run an offence to get him open, he could be a microwave off the bench. But in my view that is his limit in the NBL - he just isn't the starting SG you need to build a team around.

Mostly harmless:

Coops - I've actually seen him have good games this season, but with zero offensive skills he HAS to be top drawer defensively and he just isn't. Sure he blocks shots, but good players just outmuscle him and score anyway. I hope next year we can give his roster spot to a young big man with the potential to be an NBL starter down the track when Balls starts declining.

Molitor - no idea - saw him on court once in garbage time and he missed a shot and racked up a foul.

Overall, this team has the most to be positive about of any Sixers team since about 2004, but the core needs to be kept together (Balls, Gizmo, Burston, Herbert, Holmes, Hill, Ng), complementary pieces need to be added next season and Ninnis needs to show his coaching chops by getting this team to run a REAL offence!

Hope we can still sneak into the top four, but we're making it hard for ourselves at the moment and with Holmes and Herbert out this team is really short of hard-nosed competitors right now.