First foul on Adelaide.

I think Holmes & Hill both starting with Defries, Balls & Winder.

Q Time
Cairns 24-21 up
Adelaide had led by as much as 7 points.

6 Fouls Cairns
9 Fouls Adelaide

Adelaide with key turnovers

Great. I must be jinxng the Sixers. Tuned in to live stats and they're up 21-14. Next thing I know Cairns go on 10-0 run to win the 1st!

harris has hit the court already )

getting ugly now.

now where is my panic button....or should that be my rape siren. This is just ugly, was hoping the was the game they would get of the split this week figuring they will be tired for the next game but alas its not to be.

The last laugh this season will be on Ninnis.

marty has a lot of work to do, having watched a few games on tv- he needs to adjust his timeout position- the players that are seated can barely see his board. and second, ffs give them some feedback opposed to just drawing up plays.

offensive plays are designed for people that are stupid and don't know where to be....

Winder has to go now, surely? ZERO assists from your starting point guard - are you serious? Again, Balls 8/12 FG, and week before 8/11 FG. GET THE MAN THE FREAKING BASKETBALL!!! But that won't happen while Winder is on the floor. Way too selfish.

Playoffs for this team this season - forget it.

You know your in a bad situation when you lose the first game of a back-to-back by 16 points.

Some coaches are good developing kids but cant coach men - Clarke? I thought Stacker would have been good for you down there. He has experience & knows how to win....

The thing is de vries does show the capacity to contribute more even on an off night. Not saying that this game was a good example of that though. I dont see them making a move though and you have to remember that if you make a change you have to find a better player, not simply make a change for change sake.

This game and last game from DeVries haven't been good
first few games were.
This might be Carters worst game for us - had been doing pretty good.
Winder not distributing.

There's 3 guards tonite - maybe why we lost ?
without seeing the game?

Well what a fizzer this season is already after hype of new coach and new team.
Same problems different players .
Winder is totally destructive to this team and if Clarke cant see that then a short career in NBL.
If cant replace Winder get him on the bench and not at PG.
DeVries brought as known scorer and on good Pay .
Well he is not a team wrecker but Isaac he is not a scorer or in top 10 imports either . If cant score give him PG duties cant f--- it up as much as other.

That Winder is a real superstar isn't he - USELESS!!!!!

Aw 4920 fans get a free Maccas for the win and a score of more that 85points.

For us Ballinger very good - begging for the ball
Dowdell does well in his 10mins
Ng gotta coupla threes
Not much of a nite.

Yeah that was depressing listening. Hard to know exactly what went wrong when you can't see the game, but Winder just doesn't seem able to make an impact.

Balls has been shooting well, but that is about it. When I watched DeVries earlier in the season he looked to have a beautiful set shot, but all I have seen from him since then is a guy constantly forced into trying to create his own shot.

The Sixers need a PG who can run a half court offence that gets Balls and DeVries good shots. Time and again this season the Sixers main problem has been that they cannot score in a halfcourt game. This has to change.

If they can afford to replace Winder with a better import PG or an inside power player, I wouldn't hesitate at this stage. Tough to find the right guy though, so starting Carter and seeing if Winder can make an impact off the bench is what I would be doing as of next game.

Gods, I am sooo tired of putting up with crap imports. Other than Balls and Farley, the Sixers have had no-one for a decade.

Ugh.

Painfull.

Are you people kidding me? I preferred it when Brad Hill was the whipping boy! Winder had 10 and 5 with a steal and a block shooting 5/13. No he didn't have an assist but that's in less than 13 minutes at PG. Statistically he was the 2nd or 3rd best player on the team. Not a game to write home about by any means but shit!...

Time to direct a bit of attention towards everyone's golden boy Rhys Carter (1/6 and 0/5 from 3), DJ (1/6) and Holmes (1/3) and away from your scapegoat import.

Disappointing loss. Even more disappointing reaction, as usual.

Marty your on notice. Why should we give you three years? Thats just a cop out! You have got heaps of talent to use in the team now! More talent by far than last season! What are your goals for this season instead of talking up a three year plan! That requires two years of losing. A three year plan we all understand but what are your aims for this season?

Why isnt Jacob hitting 10 - 12 pts per game? He is an amazing talent, fantastic rebounder but he shoots flat!!! How hard is that to correct?, If you were actually to take it on board and insist on guiding him as if he was a junior how much better would he be if shooting wasn't his last option? Alright he's not a junior, but you could actually try to help him correct this rather than ignore the problem . When he left the 36ers for a season and a different coach he came back hitting 3's from all over!! Go figure!!!!! He quickly slipped back into his old flat shooting ways and hasn't done it since. You should watch him from a few rows up, it is so so obvious!!!!. It is oh so frustrating for a dedicated fan to see this ignored when he could be scoring like Adam or Dusty.

Why isnt there a set play every time that Darren comes off the bench? If he hits a three straight up that gives him confidence and puts incredable pressure on the opposition and opens immediate options elsewhere! Well he's not a junior is he?

As a coach you need to design structure around your players strengths not pursue idealistic junior routines which should be for the younger bench warmers. I am a senior fan and after playing forty years of summer and winter without missing a season and watching for a further decade or so I am dissapointed in the lack of ambition displayed and the over emphasis on offensive structure.

These talented players are not able to display their individual talents if the coach is over controlling. They wind up just doing a job for a weekly pay. There is a definate need to go back to basics in tems of skills and back the players abilities and creativity on court without over direction. Practice structures but let them be creative in their own right more often. Good basic opportunistic skills are worth more than any structure. Players should be encouraged to be individually hungry for points. Why isn't our three point percentage better? ( Basic skills) Why are our turnovers up. (basic skills).
If we wanted nothing but play choreography we'd go to the ballet! We come to the basketball for excitement!!
Marty I think youve the right general ideas with respect to offensive and defensive structures but ease off on the controls a whisker and give the talents some freedom. If you feel the need to be controlling save most of that for defence. These boys are talented and need to be able to cut loose.
Whats the point of recruiting talent and stifling it with dicipline? Ease off a little and be a better coach.


I want to see exitement in offence and dicipline in defence and thats what I hope to pay to see this season, maybe we might win more than a few as well.

X, I wish it wasn't so, but Winder is not doing enough for the Sixers to succeed. He had one decent quarter last night - the first - where he put up 4 points on 2-4 shooting, a rebound, a steal, a block and 2 fouls. After that, he went 3-9 from the field, had four more rebounds and 3 more TO's. Hardly the impact his team needed. All this might even be okay, if he played defence like Darnell Mee! But he doesn't - once again he got smashed by the opposing PG, who put up 21 points on 7-13 shooting!

no doubt about it,cairns is tough at home because the fans are starting to believe.

its not only the opposition thats under the pump but also the staff at maccas drive through!!

jones brought the crowd into the game early and it stayed that way.

another great crowd with a sellout on the way soon.

X, I typically agree with you on most things, but not this time. Winder has been a failure. He cannot get the team into the offense, and he is being destroyed by opposition point guards. Carter has had some shocking shooting games, but at least he is getting us into our halfcourt sets, and does play defense. Winder is simply not up to being an import point guard in this league. He lost the NZ game for us on his own, and his game last night is sadly about as good as it has gotten.

We can keep waiting for him to find his place, but for how long? I would have thought that the Cortez lesson of last season had been learned, but apparently not. Other teams are already cutting imports who are quite frankly, better players. I would suggest bringing him off the bench tonight in Townsville, to see if he can have an impact as a sixth man. But I doubt it.

Though we didn't see the game, it's a bit of a stretch to defend Winder too much in this one as it was far from a one-off. Yes, Cairns were at home and are better than people think (they beat the Blaze up there by 20), but that's an ugly loss whichever way you look at it.

x I also agree usually with your views but yes our fringe players are patchy at best but every team has murdered us at PG this season thats why most have a import PG if havent got a CJ or Martin.
Winder apart from not as good as talent expected he has absoloutely no D but more important is wrecking any attempt at teamwork or getting balls etc open shots . Although things changed over years these imports cost you good part of salary cap. Obviously DeVries is a keeper but what is he really adding to this team. Maybe Winder stuffing up his game to .
Not working what are you going to do . Point finger at all or just get your main man right and then get structure. But we sat with Groves all year so here we go again

Agreed Isaac, Cairns ae a much better unit than a lot of us have given them credit for. Who would have thought that "Always Injured" Ubaka, "Soft as Butter" Crosswhite and "Too old" Jones would carry the team to an impressive home win 2 weeks in a row...

Its almost as though they recieved some added motivation recently to lift their respective games...

0f the 36ers six games so far this season 5 have been against the top 4 teams.

Josef, that is true, but in part only because we cannot play ourselves.

Josef,
To be the best, you have to beat the best.

mens and womens programs in s.a need to be looked at seriously and changes made

It's simple - get a coach with experience & a personality!

I've been a 'posso' Winder for a while, but I'm starting to turn. This team needs to distributer at the PG position, and unfortunately Winder doesn't appear to be that guy.

It's almost getting to the stage where I'd rather see mixture of Hill/Ng/DeVries play the PG position just to get us into the offence. I think there is enough offensive talent in this squad to get the job done in a structure offensive system. Still waiting to see what tricks Clarke has in his bag.

I'd give Winder 2 more games. That's enough time for the D-League draft to have taken place and see what falls out of that...

I think they should move Winder to his natural position on the wing, and line-up like:

Ballinger, Dowdell, Winder, Devries, Carter
Johnson, Holmes, Hill, Creek, Ng

Winder is a finisher, before getting rid of him I think they should try and use his skills better. Having Dowdell with Ballinger frees him up from some of the banging, and Holmes with Johnson helps cover his defensive rebounding weakness.

yea i agree if we are going to keep Winder it needs to be at SG/SF where he is better suited.

Its frustrating to watch..........

Lets start playing the kids. Start DJ instead of Holmes and give Harris back up minutes for DJ. Bring Daly into the squad and let him back Carter up at PG. Once Creek is ready to go start him instead of Hill. DeVries can start SG with NG his back up.

At least we are getting some experience and game time into the younger ones and working towards the 3 year plan! Look how well Garlep is going these days.

Did anyone else feel the coach was having a slight dig at the 36er fans in Boti's article today? "Surely the Adelaide public understands that the other team has a coach and that we would give Ball's 40 shots if we could"........just more than 12 would be nice and a few plays run for Ng as well!

Well I was ther guys and your 36's are staring at the bottom 3 in the ladder for sure.

Winder- Was a hot head dummy spitter who was easily rattled and didn't contribute enough.
Johnson- Wasn't doing enough.
Ballinger- Had his moments but most scores were gift lay ins.
NG- Had his usaul cameo with e few 3's.
Didn't even notice Holmes was out there.

The first qtr score doesn't show that the 36'rs were the better team and had terrific intensity for 8 of the first 10 mins.They let a 21-14 lead fold to being 24-21 behind. Basically that was the end of the fight. If that was the best they could show in the first of the double,they will cop another hiding today in Tvl also.

Something needs to change in a hurry for you.

'Still waiting to see what tricks Clarke has in his bag'. I agree TR only i'm pretty sure i can answer that for you in the form of a big fat doughnut! If he had some cards they would be being played right now. What will now follow is knee jerk reactions, import cutting & disharmony amongst the aussie content. Bring back Phil - he's had time to recharge the batteries & could turn this nightmare around for you!

I have a lot of faith that Clarke is a better coach than what people are giving him credit for. Again, it's a step up for him and it'll take a bit of time to adjust. It is proven that it's difficult and a big step up from coaching kids to coaching professionals. I think he has the kudo's and skills to be a successful NBL coach. If we are in the same hole next season then that's a huge concern.

The problem is that the time is running out on this season, and quickly.

Anon #296842
I got my words muddled up, that's exactly what I meant. Thanks for picking up on it.

If Clarke is of the opinion that he has 3 years to work with his team to bring them to the top, then he needed to stay at AIS. The AIS and junior leagues is where the development is done. NBL is a professional league. No point using the same tactics you would to make better players out of juniors. I wonder if this was the agreement made with SOS in recruiting him. I would have thought after 2 disastrous years with Ninnis, they would be looking for an immediate turnaround from the previous dire situation. I had my doubts about this coach from the moment he was announced as the new Head Coach. If I had my way, the club would have looked overseas for a suitable coach. Finding a suitable coach overseas first, might have resulted in a better selection of import players based on the coach's contacts.

Whilst we are lucky that SOS came to the rescue when we nearly did not have a team, I think they are highly unqualified to make selections relating to the potential success of the club. Since SOS came onto the picture, the success of the team on court has nose dived. For critical decisions such as a suitable head coach, they need to outsource that to a consultant who is more qualified in deciding on the right person. By consultant, I don't mean a consultancy firm but other successful coaches both here who are not currently in coaching positions in the NBL or even overseas.

With all due respect, those saying you can't build a team over a couple of years are just mindlessly repeating some mantra. There is nothing that says you can't sign players to multi-year deals that gives you time to develop their skills and build understanding between team mates. Look at the best teams in the league this year and over time. They all have a core group of players who have developed together over time.

The Hawks have been a good team for most of the last decade because they have built around Sav, Campbell, Davidson.

The Cats - most consistent NBL team ever - look back over their rosters and you will see the same core faces, year after successful year. Martin, Redhage, Cat. Grace, Vlahov, Fisher. Grace, Crawford, Pinder. Currently developing Weigh and Wagstaff.

Breakers - CJ, Penney, Bear and Oscar for several years. They are retaining and developing talent - Abercrombie, Pledger, Webster.

Tigers through the 90s - Gaze. Copeland. Bradtke. Simmons.

The Sixers problem is that, as Maher aged and the club was run into the ground with terrible financial management, virtually no talent was brought in and that which was, never developed into elite NBL talent. So we never replaced guys like Maher, Catt or Rees with the same level of talent.

That just means we're gonna have to do it the hard way, by taking our lumps with a lot of young players and hoping we unearth a couple of diamonds we can build around.

With that in mind, I agree with pretty much everything Jonnos aid in his thread about rebuilding. Marty needs to start Johnson and give him the minutes to develop. Likewise, start Carter and give Creek minutes as soon as we can. Johnson and Creek are probably the two guys we have who have the potential to be elite players in this league. So lets give them and the coach time see how far they can take us down the track.

Beantown, you make some pretty good points but I want to ask you who would be happy to continue paying $25 per game while this rebuilding is a work in progress. For $25 per game you expect a competitive team that has every chance of making finals. Its a professional league where a professional price is charged for the privilege of supporting.

The Sixers have certainly been competitive in all their home games. I dont think that is an issue.

I agree that it's a lot harder to keep parting with your money when the team struggles for so long, but in the long run, we are better off taking the time to develop a nucleus of Aussies who can match the NBL's elite for an extended period.

The alternative is to keep up this hit and (mostly) miss reliance on gun imports and recycled Aussies. The latter process failed hopelessly for us in the middle of this decade, when we relied on a bunch of geriatric, has-been imports and journeymen to support Maher.

In the long run we will have more success by building a young core that can develop together. I also think success will taste all the more sweet once the 'kids' start to get it, because we will have been through the bad times with them and will appreciate what they achieve so much more.

What guarantee do you have that they will stay in Adelaide when they have been developed? Take a look at the championship teams of the last 10 years. Have they achieved it on the philosophy of a 3 year rebuilding program? You don't need a rebuilding program, you need the right coach and the right players.

Paul, they have not been competitive at all towards the goal of making playoffs.

There's no guarantee EC. What you hope is that you build a team culture where players will want to stay and continue developing together. It could all come to nothing, but better to have a crack at that than try to buy a team that can win you the title because:
1. It would bankrupt us.
2. We would have no depth cos of all the points being spent on 4-5 stars.
3. No-one would really appreciate the title as much if we used hired guns as if we had watched a bunch of guys develop as a team to the point they could win a title.

EC you talked about getting your $25 worth. Well I think 2 wins (one against the champs) and 2 competitive performances gives a spectator that.

Beantown I agree at home this year showing a lot more fight etc than previous year .
My only negative is that the players want to develope are not getting the responsibility .
So how can they really develope when crunch time comes and with Winder there currently it becomes his show which he stuffs up .
But Clarke must give DJ - Carter - Dowdell and soon Creek real time if serious about