Cat still gets my vote after all these years. Doesnt pussy foot around the situation. No freakin way this team was ever going to do any good! Thankyou Cat, good to see someone outside the same old fan base that posts on here backing up the facts.

He thinks the only two which should be safe are the coaches Clarke & Radford.

Brett Maher made similar comments this morning on Triple M

Funny that Cat & Brett made 'similar' comments.
Did they mention that you should drop into Muzz Buzz for a coffee?

(Mod: Language...)

l bet the coffee is about as good as him .taste like shit. MAHER should know better you need a team and game plan tp be successful both in sport and in life this team had no plan other than if we . well if my aunty had balls she would have been my uncle. and as far as we goes well we stunk end of story

Any chance that the last 2 'comments' came from same "Rocket Scientist"?

If the posts correctly represent the statements allegedly made by both former players then I have no doubt Boti will follow up both and put a story in print.

Sounds like Cat is getting his mail from Radford who was an assistant at which club last year? Oh yeah - Perth! Reeks of bollocks...

Dear Mr Cattalini ; The remarks you made about about our team , the Adelaide 36ers ,are not credible , as you had no reason to know that American Import , Troy Devries was injured pre-season , played for 8 weeks with an injury that wasn't going to get better.
As far as I can figure it, 4 players were brought in without a pre-season and felt you had insulted them.
Nathan Herbert was injured pre-season and re-placed by Mitch Creek who at 18years was injured, which you seem to have ignored altogether.
It would seem to me that you did it unconscionably,
for by so doing you have caused several fans to riposte that they would keep some of the players and get rid of the coaches.

Nah id say at 9 wins, Cat has made a good point, the players are on notice, and what has Richard Hill done lately? Infact what does he do now within the team?

And for all the agro over his comments, no one has denied that this the WORST 36er team ever. Just as he was as a championship player with the 6ers, Cat still get under peoples noses and i Love it.

Always classy when an ex player comes out and bags the current team and an organization that did plenty for them in their career.

Well, if they lose tonight they statistically will be the worst Sixers team of all time. Yep, a full percentage point worse than that horrid 2007 team.

If they win, they tie the second worst Sixers team of all time. Yep, they'll tie last years team.

But either way, I'd have to agree with Cat. The Sixers have been painful to watch for the last 5 years. But as ugly as its got, this team would certainly be the least watchable of the bunch. I mean, its been excruciating at times.

The shocking win/loss record, puzzling rotations, utterly inept offense combined with the fact the team cycled through four imports for the first time in club history with not a keeper amongst them. Sounds very much like the worst Sixers team of all time.

In about 12 hours the entire season will just be a memory. Thankfully.

I think Catt has every right to make a comment. He left a legacy in Adelaide, being part of 2 championship winning teams and bringing some glory to the club, only to see that glory get shattered by the worst teams ever.

Funny that Catt making the comments is annoying people, yet Maher makes the same comments, and all is fine.

>>What has Richard Hill done lately?

Sunk a whole lot of money into buying a team so that you can bitch about it.

I love how it's a simple comment that one individual is making and suddenly there's a backlash. Whereas there are several dozen threads about ditching players left, right and centre on this forum and there's at least some sort of "discussion" about the thought.

I do happen to agree that there will be a big review of the club as a whole at seasons end as has been mentioned already; I don't think that there will be as massive "cleanout" as some people think. I think it will be more of a case of finding the right combination with the existing talent and filling in the blanks around that core combo.

Murray - different organisation running the team to when Cattalini played for the Sixers.

Like most people posting here, I didn;t hear what was said, how it was said and what line of questioning led to the comments by cattalini. Nonetheless, he seems to have mostly echoed what others have said. i.e., this is the worst performed Sixers team on record; the coaches are signed for 2 more years and it's been reported that SOS are happy for them to continue next year; Clarke has made it clear that he wants to sign new "top line" players and hasn't publicly guaranteed anyone a spot for next year.

The only newish comment is about cleaning out "starting at the top...as in the front office". I'd be interested in what that means. But front office isn't ownership, it's operational staff. Anyone know what that's about?

Bit harsh to say the owners need to go IMO when they are sinking there hard arned into the company. Unless you are perepared to put your money on the line it is pretty hard to go down that path

I'd sack Clarke. He should have only had a 1 year deal with an option - i now wouldn't exercise the option. Unfortunately you have to pay him out now which sucks as you have no cash. Coaches with experience would save the day now - Stacker, Tomlinson, Choco, Black or even Molloy are out there & know how to play this situation. Some of you 6er fans will cringe at some of these names but look where an inexpeienced coach got you! Bite the bullet & start again!!!

Jake, I took it to mean operations staff rather than the actual ownership group. Right now, Richard Hill is in both those camps, but need not be - e.g., stood down as an assistant coach previously. Could remain an owner or silent partner without having a direct hand in team operations if need be.

orbit, we had a very, very experienced coach in Smyth and that got us similar results at the end of his tenure. The results were also average for Ninnis and now poor for Clarke. I don't think that the team can afford to look back in three years time at a trail of more discarded coaches to think "Wait, maybe it's not the coaches."

Just in regards to the SOS group, just because you "sink" money into it doesn't mean you know how to run a basketball club. Yes all of these guys have had some sort of success to a point in running there own business but if I owned and ran a successful basketball club and went and bought a medical centre it wouldn't mean I would know what i'm doing and it doesn't mean instant success!
I can understand from their point of view that if they take on roles they may save some money, but is it perhaps worth their while to look at appointing someone who has had success already in running a sporting club?
Even though these guys sometimes come across as idiots I can't question their passion for the club and that is great but sometimes it gets in the way of reality...

And my guess is Cattalini would have a pretty good idea as to what goes on behind closed doors at the club. With the people he keeps company with he would know quite a few things that the normal public wouldn't and he is in a position to say something without hurting relationships compared to someone like Maher if he was to be outspoken as much as what Cat has.

Panther, I think those things mostly apply to team-facing positions (operations, recruiting, negotiating contracts, etc) and not so much to marketing, surely?

In this case, we're not talking about the success of the club in terms of crowds, or public awareness, or ability to service ticket requests, etc - just the on-court performances.

Cattalini should probably focus on his own struggling business rather than pot shooting others

Panther32 because you 'sink' money into it doesn't mean you know how to run a club - totally agree mate. All I am saying in my above post is that Cats comments sounded harsh.

I am sure any owner would like to be in a position to recruit the best baskeball GM in the country and surround him with a top marketing managing; recruiter etc etc but the it is not realistic.

Look at Port Adelaide FC - they hired a top NAB executive with proven business background who also is a passionate fan. During his time in the role we made a Grand Final and still struggled financially and off the field. Teh AFL & SANFL have had to bail the club out.

If you actually dig a bit deeper the problem existis across most 2nd tier sports (NRL, A-League etc) in this country that clubs are struggling financially regardless.

90% of pro sports teams drop cash. The NBA is reported to have lost 370 mill as a league which is triggering the lock out. On field success doesn't equate to financial success or stability. Only a few AFL clubs make money even with the massive TV deal they have and all the corporate dollars. the clubs that do make money in the AFL don't participate in football alone, they have other income streams that pay for the football. A League is floundering too.

Although this has been probably the worst season the 36ers have had, i still think they are better placed than what they where this time last year, they do need to make some pretty major player changes, but i wouldnt neccesarily get rid of all of our players either.

I think we are better off than last year because:
- we have some good young talent and the best 2 u/24s which will hopefully develop into very good players in the near future.

- Some of our good young players such as Bruce, Carter, Hill, Holmes, Herbert, are still worth considering keeping off the bench and are pretty decent players and all under 30. Better than some of our teams when the bench was full of older guys.

- we have an assistant boomers coach which will hopefully help with recruiting guys like Gibson and he by all reports has a good raport with many top aussie players from his AIS days so that may also help with recruiting, and if he tracks them and brings the top ones back from college successfully ala Gorj used to that could lead to alot of young talent coming through the 36ers, something our previous coaches were bagged for, Clarke hasnt pulled it off yet, but if he can grab a Gibson and say a top young college/europe returnee aswell, it would be grat signs for the next year and future.

- Clarke also has some other similar attributes to Gorj (not that i was a fan of Gorj, many 36ers fans would want Gorj right now with his record) but both are very stubborn, too robotic/slow/structured offensively at times, and have defensive mindsets. Clarke also seems to look at and keep a track of all the young guys and has recruited 2 of the best in the league, another thing Gorj was good at. Hopefully this will eventually lead to some of the success Gorj had, remember Gorj won his titles over 20 odd years, im sure his first couple of years were not so much better either. So given that along with his AIS experience and rep and he seems to be one of the best teachers of the game in the league, so i think all that combined will make Clarke a good nbl coach in the next few years we just have to be a bit patient and let him learn a few lessons.

I would hate us to sack Clarke say he gets a job elsewhere and takes say Creek, Johnson who develop into stars, and brings Gibson and another top young(ish) player into his program and develops one of the strongest programs around, ie the new Gorj, some may say it wont happen, but i think its a reasonable chance it will so i want the club to be patient with Clarke and see what he does over the next 2 years before making a final judgement. I know Cattalini backed Clarke, but many fans dont.

With the management, who else is really proven to be better? as many have said we dont have the budget of the Cattalini championship team, so i dont neccisarily think its poor management as such, we just have to build a more Wollongong/Cairns/townsville style program, of developing a hardworking young team, who build through recruiting and retaining the best young talent they can get, even gamble on a few like Wol did with Trigger, maybe ours is Johnson, as they dont have the NZ/Perth type budget to simply buy all the top talent like we did in the early Smyth days. And hey it can work Wol made last years GF and Cai and Tow are in the playoffs this year, all have ahd tough times just need a bit of patience.

Jonno the "budget" of the Cattalini championship team was the SA taxpayers - the state government ended up writing off a bit of money from memory

I heard Cattalini is actually Dunkin Dan.

Anon, that's a false dichotomy. It's possible (as one other option) that players were not capable of doing what the coaches expected.

Hi anon, are you talking to me? I think you're arguing a completely different point.

@anon Daniel Johnson had career high in points and rebounds under Clarke. This was a kid who was basically glued to the tigers bench under Westover.

Ballinger lead the league in blocks for the first time

the 36ers beat the defending champs 3/4 times ( when was the last time we owned the defending champs who may yet repeat this season)

Clarke was solely responsible for the signing of the best kid in Australia " as soon as Marty became the head coach here , i knew i was going to be a 36er."

Radford chose to leave a winning program to be here and work with Marty, what does that tell you about both of them.

Carter came to the 36ers because of Clarke, Johnson and Bruce too. All names that posters suggest are a great nucleus to build around

Good post KB3. Glad someone sees the positives.

@anon some quick maths for you
Carter , Creek and Johnson currently represent 32% of the squads scoring

Of the team that will hit the floor tonight that changes to 40% when Ballinger's 15.3 ppg is taken out.

I am pretty happy to see that and am very confident that it will get better and better. DJ will be a force, Rhys will find his outside shot and Creek will get one.

It is relevant to that those 3 produce 1/3 of our scoring in some what limited minutes( how many have complained about DJ's court time on here)

That quote was from Mitch so pretty sure he is familiar with how he ended up here

And you have coached who exactly?

Anon, the team hasn't flown like an eagle for the last x years including under two different coaches prior to Marty. One goose was last year's championship assistant, BTW.

I am not the one slagging off the coaches.

You should be very proud of yourself

Agree last coach lacked effort. Disagree that Smyth's final teams showed real effort - they were not known for that at all. I think this year's team is working harder and is more persistent on court. I saw them up close in NSW on two road games the other weekend and they were trying hard no matter the margin, but after injuries and additions the mix has been wrong. I can see the reasoning behind a couple of the import selections, but one was wrong and the other was bad/lazy. Another was a reasonable choice but injured and the last one left hasn't been awful, just not brilliant. No one would disagree that the club needs to send the coach OS to scout next time. The Schenscher situation is complicated and I have commented on it many times already.

I just don't see the point loading up such vitriolic criticism (not just talking about you) on this year's coaches when the critical issues with the team have been common to each recent year. I would hope that they've seen enough to know what they need to now fix.

i have a rule to never argue with an idiot as it just creates 2

Smyth & Breheny ended up looking like the 2 oldies in the muppets in the theatre. They sat there & chatted & showed little emotion. That strategy worked for a while but i think they got out coached towards the end by more defensive coaches (Goorgian) & had no answers. Theres a fine line between being too slack & too strict. I hate being negative but i really dont think Clarke has got it - hope i'm wrong for your lots sake!

Jonno

I think we are better off than last year because:
- we have some good young talent and the best 2 u/24s which will hopefully develop into very good players in the near future.

KB3, try this saying, Never argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level and then beat you on experience.

Anon, I said nothing new there that I haven't said before many times on this forum.