As usual, Tyrell has a few comments to make

-The Tigers need a press breaker- heck, Al Westover should be onto this one by now.
-Tigers need to drop Devendorf and bring in an impact/massive massive scorer who can create his own shot- Ebi Ere style.
-Wildcats and their press are pretty deadly
-Brad Robbins looks a lot like Jess Bibby from the Canberra Capitals!!!!

Damian Martin really is a fantastic player. He is incredibly efficient for someone who has the ball in his hands that much.

Melbourne are just terrible. Changes have to be made soon.

Westover's first timeout was one of the funniest things I've seen on a bball telecast. "I DON'T GIVE A F***".

Watched the first few minutes of the delayed telecast and then gave up. One HD need to reschedule any games that feature the Tigers because they are almost unwatchably bad.

re Skudded

Agree with you on TJ Cambell. He has to be the slowest sub-6 foot point guard i've ever seen ! Good luck to him as a human being and everything but the guy just doesnt look like an NBL level player; let alone a starter ... While Corletto is slow motion personified, he does a lot better job of controlling the ball.

The Tigers problem isnt that they have too many bigs...its that their bigs suck ! ... Wade Helliwell for example is the most overrated player in my opinion; he's like a poor man's Tony Ronaldson, in that he has the big fat arse but none of the skill

Man Tigers need a better PG and a better rotation.

They would be better off with Hodge or either a Hodge/Tucker type Sf or a 6'3ish pg than Campbell.

When Greer is healthy i think they need to run a line up like, with atleast 1 replacement import, id personally go for a 6'3ish pg, is Homocide available?

id run a depth chart like

PG Campbell(New Import) 25 mins/Corletto 15 mins
SG Devendorf (or New import) 35 mins/Corletto 10 mins/Lewis 5 mins
SF Greer 20 mins/Walker 10 mins/Lewis 10 mins
PF Tragardh 30 mins/Helliwell 10 mins
C Nevill 20 mins/Burston 20 mins

I reckon thats far more balanced and takes Tragardh out of sf.

Anyway personally not too upset to see the tigers down the bottom after the last 5-10 years of domination, with a few dodgy tricks along the way with points cap,etc.

^It also puts their best player on 20 minutes.

Tragardh plays SF until they have the balls to cut Helliwell.

I'd be getting the axe out as soon as possible. Not that I have any idea who's available to replace TJ, Devendorf and Helliwell. I can guarantee you Judas Hodge isn't going to reduce that shocking turnover tally but Homicide isn't that stupid a suggestion, throw him in with an Aaron Bruce type in the backcourt and an import SF and they'll look much better.

Good call about OneHD's schedule of Tigers games.
As a Cats fan desperate for a win, even I struggled to stay with that game at times.

Tragardh at the 3 spot is a joke. He is a heck of a player and he is being completely wasted there. You want a huge front line, Westover? I don't give a f***. Rotate those 4 big guys through the 4 & 5. So what if it wastes talent, at least the structure won't bring the whole team down.

Great game from Damian Martin. Last season saw his outside shot go from nothing to quite reliable. This season he is finishing around the basket - something he did not do well previously. Those two things combined make him quite a potent player now, on top of his always-excellent defence.

Something like this:

Nevill(30)/Burston(10)
Tragardh(30)/Burston(10)
Import SF(25)/Greer(15)
Homicide(15)/Corletto(15)/Walker(10)
Bruce(25)/Homicide(15)

You could even keep Devendorf as the SF. I think he'd be far more effective as a pure spot-up guy, without any ball-handling responsibilities.

I don't think Devendorf is what they need. Massive gamble in the first place to pick up a guy with his history.

Dan, in the pre-season, coaches were rating Martin really highly in polls and I was a little surprised - he's decent, but outside of all-defensive, where would you really rank him? But, even though he was up against the dodgy 10/11 Tigers, he had a strong statline and looks to be on the top of his game.

I remember when Loggins said that as long as you can hit the three, you have a job in the NBL. Now, I think it's as long as you can play D. A while back, I recall some people being surprised at Herbert getting a gig with the Dragons, and Robbins getting called up to Boomers camp. Herbert's now a bit of a fan favourite in Adelaide. When Bruton signed with the Breakers, he did it with the proviso (or near enough to) that they take on Boucher too. Grabau is still going around in Cairns. Fans are eager to get Greer back into the Melbourne team. And Martin has gone from being that offensively-deficient West Sydney guy to quarterbacking a championship team and dismantling a Westover team.

They'd have to be looking at Kendall too I reckon. Anyone aussie, half-decent and < 6'7 ought to be in strong contention to replace Helliwell. Who they can get will then determine what they do with their imports.
I like the idea of Bruce.

The tigers need to make some changes but i don't think homicide is the answer. I think they need a guard that can shoot from outside allowing more room for there dominate bigs

Where would I rank Martin? More highly by the month, to be honest. He spent last season proving me wrong and converting me, and he apparently spent the off-season getting even better.

His negatives used to be:
- shooting - he was literally a liability
- finishing - he'd blow 75% of his layups in traffic
- running the offence - mostly because he could be sagged off

Since then he has sorted his shooting out, he is finishing better around the basket, and the confidence of those two things has made him an infinitely more aggressive player. Him actually requiring a defender obviously makes things easier on everyone else as well.

He's still not great at breaking a guy down off the dribble, or delivering passes (outside of the obvious ones) when he is driving, but if he was doing that then he'd be Ricky Grace, and I'm certainly not saying he's at that level yet.
But the improvement in him over the past 18 months really is phenomenal. The exciting part is that he is still adding to his game.

As a Boomer in Turkey he still didn't quite look like he belonged. I'm tipping that this time next year he will.

He was ranked equal second-best Australian player in the NBL in the coaches poll (behind Khazzouh and level with Knight and Gibson). And 6th in the All-NBL First Team tips. There seemed to be some Perth-bias (e.g., eventual voters may favour the top teams), but he's obviously rated by many coaches.

Australia isn't exactly overflowing with quality point guards at the moment either, so that obviously plays it part as well.

I just needed to rant about the terrible Tigers. Everyone thought their recruiting was a risk but generall consensus suggested that they may be able to pull it together to be a good solid team at the very least, however...

The Tigers are woeful, and needless to say the "Melbourne Giants" experiment is failing badly. Westover needs to take a big bite out of the hyumble pie and make changes imemdiately or face another long season...how long will their supporter base put up with such poor performances?

Gaze was on SEN radio in Melbourne this morning and he stated he had to go back to the early-mid 80's to be able to compare the Tigers performances over the first 2 rounds (a time when the Tigers held up the bottom of the ladder). He clarified he felt that this Tigers team had far more taklent, but were unbalanced and not playing together as a team.

Tigers supporters were also calling up and quesioning the team's performance, structure and coaching. Gaze sounded embarrassed in responding to the supporter's questions.

He also mentioend that the only thing that kept him going through last night's game was the supporters wishing him well as he made his way to and from the commentary position. He stated there was nothing on court that made him want to stay there...

The Tigers IMO should keep Nevill and Burston but cut loose Helliwell as a few others have stated. Burston is providing great spark and support off the bench and has arguably been their most consistent big apart from Tragardh who as others have mentioend is being wasted at SF and it is hurting the Tigers too.

I would go as far to suggest that the only guys consistently providing energy and desire from the Tigers so far have been their bench guys - Corletto, Burston, Walker and Lewis last night. And whilst it is just 2 games, the writing is on the wall...

TJ Campbell is a pass first point guard, and at his size you wopuild think his ball handling would be far better than what it has been against full court pressure. The Tigers ended up going to Corletto more often than not the break a press, they need more from their import PG. Campbell is struggling to get the ball to the bigs in the right spots, but then again so is Devendorf and others.

Devendorf can score, and in a hurry, but it seems like he struggles to create his own shot, and the Tigers offensive structure has been so bad they struggle to create open looks for pretty much anyone. I think Devendorf's struggles are as much to do with the fact the Tigers look lost on offense with no clear direction or ability to consistently run set pieces and plays.

Overall, Westover as a head coach is being exposed. Yes he guided the Tigers to titles, but with very talented and versatile and experienced lineups. Now that those players have virtually all moved on and with new team dynamics, for mine Westover has failed to come up with a new game plan that suits his team. It happened last season and is happening to a far greater degree this season.

If the Tigers keep playing the way they are, I would suppoert any call for One HD to change their TV snhcedule to omit the Tigers as they are really that bad and are horrible - if not painstaking - to watch.

Now as for Martin, he is just going from strength to strength isn't he? For mine it looks like his Boomer's experience has provide even greater impetus for him to take his game to a new level.

Whilst it is early days, he must certainly be the most efficient guard in the NBL. He has very good, safe handles and doesn't turn the ball over, can get to the hoop when needed, and now is able to consistently hit the 3-ball even through the distance was pushed out further. Oh and he is like a dog to a bone at the defensive end, rebounds well for a small guard (he had 10 rebounds against the Tigers!), and often comes away with a block or two against his name as well.

If he can keep it up, and I can see no reason why he can't, he could well emerge as a leader for the Boomers come 2012 and potentially end up with some lucrative offers in Europe.

I just love his game and if it were not for him, last night's game would have better off not being telecast at all.

arent the tigers meant to be genuine title contenders?? lol

Funny I thought Matt Burston played well at the Point :)

@michaelscibilia
Melbourne vs Perth was the 39th most-watched program on television yesterday with an average of 223,000 viewers.

LOL, Isaac that is the higher average, compared to the round 1 figures.

That's one advantage of coming on after F1.

(Anyways - Hodge would be an option.)

From the same guy:

OK, that #NBL rating was inaccurate because it included the F1 overrun. Correct figures were an average of 40,000 and peak of 130,000.

well that guy should be sacked!

SRT070, the initial figures were attributed to the NBL in the list of Top 50 programs released this morning (see http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2010/10/week-44-3.html ).

This was obviously for the 2-hour timeslot that the NBL was meant to be in and didn't factor in the late change in scheduling.

Channel 10's press release an hour or so later showed the revised figure.

Averaging a double-double so far. 17 and 12, then 6 and 8 against Perth.

Dmac should make a comeback. at least he would be able to get the ball over the halfway line without turning it over

Do I count as an F1 overrun, watched the F1 watched 5 mins of the bball, tuned away, had dinner and came back for the last quarter.

Really would like to know who is actually part of the TV ratings.

DJ, ratings are all statistics anyway, unless you have one of those nielsen or nelson boxes or whatever its called your rating wouldnt have counted anyway. None of ours do. its all just a complicated statistical calculation which doesnt represent the population. from what ive heard they dont even have that big of a sample population either i believe someone said 2000 people in SA have them? (correct me if im wrong). 2000 for a state with over a million people is a little slim for my liking.

re: peoples comments on Matt Burston, how hes not playing longer minutes already on this teams is surprising me. He was the only player that looked like he wanted to take Perth on last night. I mean in one play he brought the ball down, fed the pass, rebounded, scored. Thats more than the teams PG did for the game.

It will be interesting to see what Westover will do for the rest of the season though.

Matty B is being criminally underused and Heliwell is just useless. I don't see why Matt would have wanted to sign with Tigers since they already had two centres? Or was he signed before (not D) Wade?

The order of their signings was:
1. Tragardh (top signing)
2. Burston (basis for a nice front court here)
3. Nevill & Helliwell announced on the same day (WTF?)

I thought he left because the Clarke had no spot for him, so it was sort of a forced move? i remember at the end of last season and when they were getting a new coach they said all the players were waiting in anticipation and were keen for a new coach, and then when he came he started axing them. thats my assumption though

Burston was a keeper for many years, I heard Ninnis say. (As did Boti Nagy,also.)
I assumed - he is a very good player but has health issues ? E.G missed half the sixers season with 3 or 4 injuries. That's what may have influenced Clarke??

Yeh i agree Camel, Burston is good only when he is at full health. but in all honesty the guy needs to be handled like fine china because he is so fragile, he is a gamble that pays off if all goes well. shame he is under utilised at melbourne.