Great pickup by the 6ers! Great work!

First I've heard of him, but can't wait to see him in action!

Seems like a pretty good shooter.

Is the 3pt line in the D-league NBA range?

"We wanted a guy who distribute the ball."

you sure?

Maybe a bit short?... but hey.. that was one mean 3 point buzzer beater... If he stays that cool under pressure he's bound to be of benefit.

Sounds like a good signing to me, hopefully he can average around 5apg in the nbl and maintain his scoring at around 15ppg and steals at above 1spg, which isnt too far off his d-league stats so look forward to seeing him play!

Anyone know when the 2nd import will be announced?

78 minutes of playoff action for 2 total assist? I hope he is great, just wondering what others are going to make of this from a point guard?

Maybe we could run the triangle offense.

as pointed out in another post, he has come off the bench all seas an played 20-odd mins a game so those stats are pretty damn good for a 1/2 of NBL basketball.

btw lol @ D-league defense in that game winner video.

There's still room for Cortez Groves...

Maybe he was playing at off-guard for the Vipers? I think Will Conroy might've been their PG?

Before people get too excited, Cortez Groves is not the second import!

im just glad we got someone young and new to the NBL, lets hope hes a willie farley and not a mark tyndale.

Any idea when the second import will be announced?

This is an outrage, I cant believe that we burnt Tez for this guy, He hit a big shot in the grand final. Tez made game winning plays all year........wait

Cortez Grove was a horrible choice as an import.

We were better off with only using Gilchrist as an import that year and saving money by only having 1 import.

...he banked it?

whilst on the surface not a lot to get excited by this guys resume, he cannot be worse than Groves who not only was a poor import but disrupted our team offence with no D .
If the other import not a point scorer then we will struggle to climb too far up the ladder

Before people get too excited, Cortez Groves is not the second import!

BTW, for those curious, I checked and Winder in this case is pronounced to rhyme with "blinder". Of course, if I bothered to watch the video, it's probably used in there.

Best of luck to the kid and I trust Marty and all, but those stats do not scream "Distributor". He ranges between 1 and 2 appg?

I like it how the Advertiser front-page headline is "NBA star snagged by Adelaide."

Likewise, I am disturbed by those assist numbers. We shall see.

D-league is definitely a shoot first pass later league, so to actually have assist stats is a positive i think

I'm all for hyping the club and season, really, but Boti's article is borderline ridiculous.

"Like Mee, he is a point guard. Like Brooks, we've never seen him before."

My GAWD! He's... he's RIGHT! Plus, Rob Rose used to wear shoes, and so does this guy!! Come to think of it, didn't Mark Davis have a head too?!? Hellllo title!".

Groves as an Aussie 6th man is a good signing.

Agreed Loco, I thought Boti was a bit OTT on that one, particularly comparing former grand final MVP and league veteren Paul Rees to unproven rookie Jeff Dowdell.

LOCO dont forget the team then was wearing blue and we are back in blue, coincidence.......i think not!

His college assist stats are even worse - 0.5 APG, or 3 per 40 minutes. Just saying.

His nickname is "Window"?

I'm trying to shake it off and get on board the hypetrain, I promise, but...

0.5 APG, or 3 per 40 minutes?

In any case, let's all be glad Boti didn't sink to a "Marty - Back to the Future" reference.

"My weakness overall is ball-handling. I sometimes don't try because I don't trust my ball-handling."

Yay :)

This was in 2008 so I sure it has improved since then..surely....

Yeah,

he played college with Daniel "Boobie" Gibson, so Daniel would have had most of the point guard duties with the Longhorns.

In possibly unrelated news, do the Sixers plan on utilising 100% of the allocated salary cap?

His college assist stats are even worse - 0.5 APG, or 3 per 40 minutes. Just saying.

Give the guy a chance obviously the sixers see something in him so lets wait and see him play before we judge. i hope he is a gun.

Got the stats from here, so I'm assuming they're correct. I guess he was fairly deep down the bench on a good team.

i hope he is a gun.

wow the sceptics are relentless. i know you guys are all basing it on stats but seriously.....come on give the guy a break he hasnt even stepped foot in Aus yet and your already writing him off. its really disappointing to hear it to be honest. how about a welcome to the sixers mate, show us what you got and give it all you got. sheesh

The one difference from last year is that you have Rhys Carter, so this guy doesnt have to carry the total pg load, and if he is a scoring pg that might not necessarily be a bad thing, as long as he can get the ball up the court and initiate the offence better than Gilchrist.

Certainly not a star signing, but he obviously has some ability to have put up those numbers in the D-league. How it translates we will just have to wait and see.

From memory Ty Mckee came into the league as an unknown last year with minor credentials.....and if it wasnt for injury, probably would have won the MVP?!

Give the guy a chance, he has had plenty of time to work on his game since all of the stats you are looking at....and who knows, maybe Carter will play the point and Winder the SG?

I have confidence in knowing Marty knows talent when he sees it!! :)

I guess the other concern is that is already been hinted we may have more of a problem with the import that has already played here.
If we have budget restraints thats what we have and Clarke has to do best with what he has got and certainly have more faith in him to get the best out of a group than Scotty did.

with all the sceptics you also get the people who would say the following about literally signing a piece of dog turd:

"all you people are the same, bagging this 'turd' without even smelling it. I trust (insert coach here) and know if he spent so much time smelling it it must smell like flowers. We havent smelt the 'turd' yet so lets give him a chance. I hope this 'turd' smells better than your favourate meal fresh out the ovan, to shut up all you sceptics. Remember when (insert team name) had this one 'turd' who everybody thought would smell like crap, and he turned out to smell half decent."

Poaro Winitana
Mike Chappell
Mark Tyndale
Cortez Groves

I have called all these guys out as 'Turds' and got blasted on here before they played. Tyndale I called after his 30pt game against the Spirit (2nd game), hadnt ever seen him play earlier.

My point is......YOU CAN NOT POLISH A TURD BY PUTTING A 36ERS UNIFORM ON IT.

Im not gonna say he is terrible, I have never seen him play, but when I do trust that your mum will tell you if he is good or just another turd in a rapidly growing list of recent Sixers import choices.

So has everyone waited eagerly to see who the import is or to see how many faults we can find, bloody hell people and who said the other import is a concern, I am sure when he is announced people on here will pick him to bits to.
Who cares is they spend all the salary cap, firstly they need to survive and secondly if you have a good season and spend all the salary how do you keep the same team next season.
I can't wait for the new season
Lets Go sixers !!!

Any ideas on the 3nd inmport- a 3 man who has played here before? Darden, Dante Smith (could only hope!), I cant recall too many more..I think we will have a good year, there is depth and talent and importantly, hustle. Fans can cope with losses as long as the team is having a crack. Go Sixers.

I put a little faith in the selection profile " A competitior and hungry" if thats he's mentality with something to prove then bring it on!

Your mum;

Who do you propose they sign instead? So easy for you to sit their saying how much someone sucks.

Does it make you a better person because apparently you can smell a turd from a great distance? Do you feel better about yourself because you come on Hoops and tell everyone "I'm the best at sniffing turds?"

Seriously, who gives a crap if you're right or wrong. Do you support the 36ers? If so get behind the team, and quit telling everyone how great you at smelling shit!

Your Mum, please refer to Mythbusters episode 113. you can polish a turd

Who would I have chosen, Will Blalock for starters. Ill take a PG who in D-League last season scored 11.8 ppg with 7.4 ast over Winder who averaged in the D-League 16 pts and 2 ast.

Im sure I could go through a bunch of D-League players and find better choices than the Sixers in recent years.

I am a fan, so because I support the team I have to tolerate shitty players, losing, poor coaching and poor choice in player personnel over and over again?

78 minutes of playoff basketball for a total of 2 assist is a f*cking joke.

Your Mum...

I apologise, your turd smelling skills are obviously well worth talking about on hoops, please continue to impress us all with your abilities.

My nose awaits your next aromatic wonder!

"78 minutes of playoff basketball for a total of 2 assist is a f*cking joke"


So is judging a player entirely on stats!!

Same old complaints, doom and gloom, there is a budget, there is a salary cap, and there is the desire of a player to sign for the wooden spoon team from last season. I am sure that if the 36ers signed Michael Jordan the complaints would be that he is too old, past it, Pippen really was the gun for Chicago, etc, etc, etc.

Until he plays here, in the 36ers, against NBL opposition, you cannot compare apples with apples. At the moment it appears to be lemons and sour grapes from the posters. Lets hope he doesnt turn out to be a lemon but cherry ripe for the 36ers.

Dont forget he was behind DJ Augustine also.

come on give the guy a break he hasnt even stepped foot in Aus yet and your already writing him off.

Thank you hereschenes, exactly what I am putting across. I am not saying he is bad, I have seen him hit one bank 3.

What irritates me is when the coach says one thing and does something else. I dont know how to do the quote thing but Marty said this:

"We wanted a guy who can defend, get in the lanes, distribute the ball."

How can a guy who averages 2 assist a game be considered a strong distributer? I felt annoyed when people jumped down Gilchrist back for not being a great passer, yet were happy to not knock this guy? We will be lucky if he averages half the assist Gilly gave us. I hope if this guy doesnt perform well we can maybe replace him with Gilly half way through?

This whole saying one thing and doing another reminds me when Ninnis said we will be a great defensive team and we stank at that end of the floor. Marty promised change after last season and pretty much signed the same team, just replacing the imports and Burston with Johnson. Burston is a better player by the way, and going by this guys stats and resume you have to say Gilchrist had better stats and a better resume coming in last year.

You Mum,
Its simple, the point guard will play the way the coach wants him to, he will play to the teams offences and structure, that is providing we have a strong Coach, and we do!

I am sure that the coaches would be convinced that he will fit in their structure, and he has the skill sets to do that.

Your mum,

You say that Marty has pretty much signed the same team? With 9 players signed 4 are new to the team and there is still an import to come. Surely that's a fairly big revamp?

I like this signing. Difference between Winder and Tyndale is that Winder has played one year professionally before coming here. I felt like Tyndale struggled because he wasn't accustomed to the pressure of professional basketball as he was fresh out of college.

"We spent thousands of hours looking at thousands of hours of tape and he was what we were asking about."

LOL. I assume that's collectively amongst all the coaches? Surely he must be joking! That is a crapload of tape. 1000 hours of tape = 41 full days

My Grooves comment was a joke BTW.

hereschenes, it may not written directly that people are writing him off but its not hard to read between the lines. i know what your both trying to say but maybe it was coach related in the D-league also? maybe the coaches plan was to pass to winder. i agree that stats show something but most definately not everything, Marty can obviously see some talent in the guy and he probably sees the potential to bring alot more out of him. thats how it came across in the article when he said they were looking for someone who was hungry enough, which sounds like they want someone that can work on there game relentlessly and take as much feedback as possible. who knows. lets just wait and see, he is signed and thats that. personally i welcome him to the team and cant wait to see him in action.

So we can't be objective as Sixer fans? I know both Your Mum and hereschenes personally, and those guys are two of the long term week in week out supporters of the club.

They raise concerns because they love the team and hope they do well - they're passionate about gettnig back to the top of the league.

All that's being said is "APG doesn't look so hot. Hope the guy does really well".

Having an opinion doesn't = doom and gloom. I guarantee you no one loves a win more than the long time Sixer fans. Also, no one feels a loss / finishing bottom more. That's the beauty of sport. Of course there'll be frustration after last season.

Speaking for myself, I'm 100% behind the administration.
I'm 100% behind the Sixers to the point where people are sick of hearing about it. Hell, the main wall in my house is covered in singlets (one of them from Your Mum... man that sounds wrong...).
None of that means I can't check out a guy's stats and discuss it with other fans. No one is bagging the guy - of course we'll welcome him and support him as much as possible.

Well now. That was deep for a Thursday morning.

As good as Clarke might be as a coach or in player evaluation the fact is all he is making his decision on not much more than us only some highlight tapes and probably a couple of conversations.
So sure we can have faith in his choice of Johnson over Burston because he has had chance to observe with this import he is really only rolling the dice with gut feel.
Re stats if his stats are not great due to court time usually means you are not one of the key players in that team and maybe not a starter.
Hey not looking like the team we were hoping player for player but maybe as a team they will give us a lot more than we have been getting .
And any import would be better than Groves and we were stuck with him whole season while he stunk in every aspect of game

I see your point Loco. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and i dont mean to hinder that in anyway. i think im acting more on that its still ongoing and its blown a bit further out of proportion than it probably actually is. i agree that its good to discuss and i know these hardened fans will support them regardless as i will too. Personally its probably more to the point that i am an optimistic person in general so im just hoping he is what the sixers are expecting him to be. But yeh i understand your point and i do agree. either way, lets go sixers!

Well said Loco. I am pretty sure almost everyone will like him if he plays with heart and helps the team compete. Nothing wrong with chatting about where he would fit - I think most agree he isnt a star signing like an Ebi Ere or Kirk Penney.

There are a couple of people already claiming he is the next Cortez Groves/Mike Chappell etc, and that is just overly negative given we havent seen Winder play, particularly after he had a successful NBA-D playoff campaign.

I like how much he has improved over his career, that indicates to me he is a good, hard working character.

Don't get me wrong - there are always a bunch of people that will also rag on anything whenever they get a chance. There was a rash of Anon posters in here for a while just ripping on everything, which got old instantly.

My personal wish is a shift back to the hard nosed Mark Davis days before Goorj teams could push us around. That's a cultural change from the top on down. Hopefully Winder brings some of that.

Your Mum said:

Who would I have chosen, Will Blalock for starters. Ill take a PG who in D-League last season scored 11.8 ppg with 7.4 ast over Winder who averaged in the D-League 16 pts and 2 ast.

What irritates me is when the coach says one thing and does something else. I dont know how to do the quote thing but Marty said this:

"We wanted a guy who can defend, get in the lanes, distribute the ball."

How can a guy who averages 2 assist a game be considered a strong distributer?

I really hope that the second import isn't Rashard Tucker with which they then naturalise and bring in someone else later...

I think the key to this is that he will get to play minutes at the 2, which is his natural position. Carter will come off the bench but will get plenty of burn. I'm hoping that the second import can play both sg/sf and handle the ball a bit, that would make us very versatile in the back court.

Loco

No one is bagging the guy - of course we'll welcome him and support him as much as possible.

with all the sceptics you also get the people who would say the following about literally signing a piece of dog turd:

78 minutes of playoff basketball for a total of 2 assist is a f*cking joke.

Wow - block quote fail^^^ :p

Gazza, fixed. You had the right idea but were writing/pasting /blockqoute each time you tried to close the tag.

I don't mind in-season criticism at all, but at any time, likening someone to excrement is no good for anyone.

Isaac - careful not to upset Mr Hanky.
He is quite sensitive.
Thankyou.

maybe if I keep calling people Turds Bono might come after me?

Get a sense of humour losers, calling someone a turd based on poor basketball ability is hardly an overly offensive insult. Im sure all of you have called Julius worse in other threads.

I havent seen Winder play so I can not fairly say how good/bad he is. Looking at his stats im not impressed, I also feel the team needs more of a true PG than a guy who played back up 2 in the D-League. Ballinger is not a guy who creates his own shot, nobody really signed right now by the team is a guy who creates his own shot consistently. I feel that Winder may be asked to do more than he is capable of doing, given passing does not seem a great strenght of his or ball handling for that matter. If Winder turns out to be a guy who also needs shots created for him, who is this player that is going to come in and get guys there shots? With one import to sign Im really getting worried, based on recent seasons past with due cause.

People can bag Hodge all they like, but Hodge was great at creating for others, ballinger was making a living off baseline jumpers from Julius passes.

I have a sense of humour your mum, I just don't get what's funny about saying our latest signing is a turd, based on you not having seen him play, which you even admit.

Have no problem with you voicing your concerns with the players they've signed, if you've done you research. Simply posting how great you are at spotting all of the turds the 6ers have signed over the past few years before they hit the court is not what I would call well structured criticism.

Where did I say Winder was a turd?

We need a hype up vid for him. Maybe some cool classical type awe inspiring music - real exciting crescendo stuff.

And then show him doing push-ups for five minutes culminating in an air-ball.

I kid, I kid.

Poor Herbie :p

This video shows a bit more of Winder in the NBA-D. He seems to me to be a scoring guard with a nice stroke, who also has a nose for rebounding.

He wont be a pure point guard from watching this, but I think Clarke must have made a conscious decision to go for a scorer, given the lack of shot makers in the line up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNqL2uP7Nv0

Here's another one, more extended play in this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvN3ZPqH-pQ&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq_1CGGRAUM

Another one worth looking at. No doubt he can score, and also some hops near the end of this. If Clarke is looking to defend up the floor and then run and gun, he could be a decent fit. Only time will tell of course.

Here are some college highlights:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c928Dus81_Y

At the moment , he is ineluctably drawn to NBA team trials.

So i was reading Adelaide now and it was saying that Winder is in the NBA team trials and Camel 31 has stated. so does this mean that Winder is signed to the sixers so long as he doesnt get picked up by an NBA team?

Or are these NBA team trials a bit of a not going to happen sort of thing where he is trying out, but he virtually has no chance because if he was good enough he would have already been called up by an NBA team??

Just trying to get my head around it because if he does get signed up then what happens? Clarke and Radford go back to thousands of hours of tapes??

Is tyndale the 2nd import?

Likely that Winder will be released from NBA team trials in 2 weeks - but maybe asked to hang around for 3 weeks.

( definately not tyndale , anon.)

Out of interest, in the last 20 games of the NBA-D season, including playoffs, Winder averaged 19.5ppg at 49% (38% from NBA 3p) along with 5rpg and 2.7apg. Probably explains why he has been invited to an NBA trial.

SRT, yeah. Nearly every player around that level would sign with an NBA-out. If he gets picked up, Clarke has to find someone else (would probably have some back-up options). If not, he heads here in mid-August.

After evaluating from clips etc getting much more positive about this guy being a good fit .
Isaac or others in know any idea when 2nd import will be announced.

Today or (most probably) next week I guess.

Who was the SF that played for the Blaze a couple of seasons back and went head to head with Hodge on their turf & got the better of Hodge? Could he be the one to fill the remaining import spot at the Sixers?

Luke Whitehead? He has had some big troubles with the law in the USA I think.

Juaqin Hawkins?

For some reason, I've got a feeling it will be one of the Blaze ex-imports with our other import.
Whether that be Justin Bowen, Justin Crowe or Juaquin Hawkins.
Would probably put my preference in that order.

Hawkins is too old (late 30's i think), plus he had a stroke while still on the Blaze's roster a while back, so I doubt it's him....was a quality player tho.

Bowen is the one I was thinking of....I think?! He could be alright, though I cant remember too much about him?

Yeah, it was Bowen. Hodge decided to play at the last second but wasn't very team oriented (the money stuff playing on his mind). And Bowen had a big game.

Rick Rickerts is now available as an import - thoughts?

My thoughts are that while Rickert would give the Sixers excellent depth at the 4-5, they desperately need a more versatile player, probably a 3-4, and someone who can be a scorer.

Good to see so-called supporters havent changed, and continue to bag the Sixers. Announcement has just been made, give them a chance.

Isaac, so what you are really saying is that the 36ers have more than likely signed Bowen, and now you are attemping to make him look like a decent signing due to your relationship with the club?

A - if you had actually had any dealings - either in basketball terms or just on a personal level you would realise he doesnt need 'pumping up'

He came to the Blaze as a late replacement and slotted into an established group of players without any drama. He did whatever was asked of him on court without any prima donna attitude. The game alluded too above where he absolutely smoked J Hodge showed he had a lot of strings to his bow, if and when they were required.

Of the court he was always very personable and happy to have a chat, always with a big smile on his face. He never seemed to show the moody 'im above this' attitude that a lot of imports seem to show these days.

All in all you could say I rate him as a quality signing for any club, and if the sixers can snag him Id say they are on a winner

Statman, not once did I mention that Bowen is a good or bad player or that he would be a good or bad fit for the 36ers.

A, I read it as a thinly veiled attack on Isaac that suggested that he was trying to make Bowen sound better than he is. I could have read it wrong, but Statman read it the same way as I did.

As for Bowen, what I liked about him was that seemed to do whatever the team needed when he was with the Blaze, and they were certainly better off for having him.

You look at his career stats, his scoring isnt high but almost every season it has been at a high percentage, and for me that says a lot about him.

He is also a pretty good defender from memory who can guard multiple positions, and Ballinger's range at the 4 (not to mention Ng, Herbert, Carter and Winder) will help make up for Bowen's lack of range and capitilise on his ability to get into the lane.

If it is him, I think the Sixers have done well.

Paul, it was a slightly personal attack on Isaac(all in fun), nothing serious, only having a go at him with his completley positive, constructive outlook on all things associated with the 36ers.-which is fine.

But in regards to Bowen, I cannot remember much about him considering that I am an avid basketball fan.

A, if you want to be pedantic, I never actually said you did mention Bowens ability (or lack of)

;)

Either way, if the Sixers do sign him I think you will be impressed with what he can bring to the team.