From what i've heard he's got serious issues..

why is issues and reputation everything? i think Boti said it in a previous article, we need to get passed this good moral idea that all players have to be seen to be really nice and fit well within the community. ball skills should be the number one priority followed by personality. in the past it was about who could play the best not who went to the most community events making friends around a camp fire singing kumbaya.

Pretty average that when he called the Sixers to train with them, they said they could not fit him in.
Surely worth looking at during practice? Even just for a skilled practice body when we had players go down with injuries.

Just for those who might take issue with it, this is not Jonno's topic title. I've tried to update it to show that both Boti and Rashad have made the argument that Tucker would've been worth a run at the 36ers. Wording might be a bit awkward though.

I think Tucker has to be looked at in the context of the import hirings. At the start of the season, would you have picked him up over a field of other available imports? (I wouldn't have.) And then, once Shannon was here, would you have taken him over Howard (without benefit of hindsight)? (Hard to say.) Tucker was/is known for his all-round game and I wonder how much of that distribution was really required with Shannon/Carter/Bruce/Daly? Once Shannon and Carter were there, I would've been looking for a shooter. His rebounding would've been useful, no doubt.

He's not historically been a great three-point shooter (or really known as a shooter) which was something we needed and I don't know that his general history would've been the sort of thing you'd rush towards. Cairns-issues aside, there was still the Perth axing ("for not being a team player"), the DUI/court issue in NZ, etc.

Would we have won more with him instead of Howard, as one example? Probably, but I don't think Howard was very good at all for us.

As for Riley Luettgerodt, I remember him as being a bit like Matt Illman - admirable hustling, undersized G-F. His college site lists him as 6'5" but the Eagles have him at 190cm which isn't going to be big by NBL standards. Historically has hit the three, so would've been useful in that regard. Wouldn't have rushed to grab him at the start of the year though.

You think he is the only stoner in the NBL anon?

Give me a break. He definately would have been worth trying out in practice I think.

Agree Isaac re the shooting though, definately not what we were looking for at the start of the year.

36ers had their best season being coached by a bloke who had a splif on a roadtrip ( sorry for this post, just could not help myself)

Spot on I reckon with hindsight. Personally I wouldn't have taken him at the start of the season but after seeing what our imports did I would have...

He wasn't the only American/import who asked to attend Sixer training and was knocked back.

I may be wrong, but I was under the impression Tucker would be unable to play away games against the Breakers as he would be arrested as soon as he touched down in NZ as a result of the DUI / not turning up to court issue.

If you're serious about competing in finals there's a decent chance you're going through NZ and you don't want one of your imports unavailable, particularly when you knew that would be the case before you signed him.

I'd accept him at Sixers training with a "Don't expect anything from this" clause and see whether he'd show up. Could have had a well rounded player to train against. Worst case he never shows, best case he tears it up and the coaching staff go "hmmmmm...."

Personally, I'm fine with accepting a player whether they have issues or not. If your team in general are good sports, you'd be able to integrate someone like Tucker. If he's a professional, he'll man up and clean up.

If billo is correct, it's a bit embarrassing Marty (Big, not Clarke) if you have to omit a player from a team because they could be arrested on a road trip!

There is the off court impact too. Might not resonate well with parents and sponsors. I think there are a few other players in similar positions re warrants/punishments - Freeman and McKee, I've heard?

I think if he were a home run, he'd be suiting up elsewhere or would've lasted longer at Perth, Cairns, etc.

With the free training offer, the coaches might've just thought he'd be wasting his time, he wasn't a direction they wanted to go. There are a lot of guys who'd probably tear up training but aren't clear-cut signing decisions. The oft-told story is Pero killing Cattalini at training and so on. Just guessing.

'Personally, I'm fine with accepting a player whether they have issues or not. If your team in general are good sports, you'd be able to integrate someone like Tucker. If he's a professional, he'll man up and clean up.'

Many teams in many sports have used this theory and lived to regret it. Names like Akermanis and Fevola spring immediately to mind.

Didnt bother reading any posts here. My opinion to the title of this topic is no way Tucker makes you're team better. People are forgetting how poor he was in Melbourne. And i never even saw him perform in Cairns. Wouldnt have suited Martys stubborn boring system anyways.

I think we had a few ask if they could come out for just a training run - Greenwood, Johnson, Bruce.

Yes, Tucker would have been better than Happy Daze this season. But so would just about anyone. (Have we ever seen a worse import at the Sixers? Maybe Jeff Brown?)

I also agree with what Isaac said above, in that the Sixers greatest needs are outside shooting and a good playmaker. Tucker was never a great shooter and had as many turnovers as assists from what I remember.

Hopefully, we won't be reduced to asking him to play for us mid next season either. The Sixers are due for a couple of good imports after what we've been served up for most of the last decade!

My recollection is that Rashad was great for an NBL All Star game i think was in Adelaide {a while ago!}

but in his NBL seasons since then, his footwork at NBL level was not quite there,
but as a local import he will be fantastic value.

Teams are going to have to work hard to stop him, slowing down the tempo, and inconsistently hitting him with the double, and of course hanging off him.

If he was going to be so helpful, why haven't the other 8 teams around the NBL knocking down his door?

Its not like a number of clubs couldnt have done with a solid import.

Typical Boti stiring the pot when he knows he cant be proved wrong.

Clarke likes to have 15 out there he can throw the ball to.
Even better if they are fighting for a game
like AFL ins n outs, unlike NBL.

I think when you look at how he has recruited he definitely prefers coaching the young fella's and this obviously stems from coaching at the Institute. Having someone like Tucker out there who would probably be set in his ways and could potentially be a bad influence both on and off the court for these young guys would have disasterous effects.
3 year plan people, 3 year plan...doesn't include older players.
My guess is next to feel the impact of this concept will be Ballinger.

Isaac, I agree with you whole heartedly about the club image and general embarrassment it would cause the organization.

However, having the man train with the team is no biggie. You're simply offering a chance to showcase a player and have a good caliber player train off against members of the existing cast.

You can arguably use attendance and "social" situations during that time to scope him and determine whether the time, effort and money is worth bringing him on board. You can always do the "One Strike" rule into the contract for the 1st season and make it public knowledge.

There isn't much else you can do. It's a bit hard to hold past issues over someone's head for life; depends whether the Sixers would want to be the organization to offer a chance at redemption, or whether that gets left for another team.

Two words Big Marty...Brendan Fevola

Panther, exactly wrt the recruiting of young guys. That's why Shannon and Howard as import replacements made no sense. While Marty is coach we should be getting imports who are straight out of college. I hope they watched a lot of NCAA games this last couple of months.

Some coaches are better suited to coaching veterans and have done well with veteran imports (Mee, Brooks). Marty is clearly more comfortable (and better) at coaching younger players which is why he should grab players who are used to a college like system.

pretty sure the previous coach signed a player who couldnt play sunday games (5games in a season and poss finals)

so if tucker could have made a dif so what if he missed 1 game in NZ ???

Putting aside off court issues, and as dominant as he may be at ABA level, based on Rashard's age, most recent performances in the NBL, and lack of any top level professional contracts on his CV in recent years, is as likely to get another shot at NBL as Willie Farley - that is to say, buckleys.

Add the off court dramas back into the mix, and Willie Farley suddenly looks like a much more attractive option.

thomo - couldnt play Sundays was for religous reasons - not to sign him for that reason is illegal at best (Anti Discrimination Act to start with).

Mark Nash was another one who played for the 6ers but couldnt play Sundays due to religous beliefs.

Marty no Veterans with a voice to be heard, on and OFF the cort, no title. Ill be happy when his 3 years are up and they look else where. This bloke doesnt have the IQ for NBL style of play. You got to learn to play the game within the game, and he doesnt have the ability. Alot of NBLers dont want to play for him, to risky if they end up struggling in his dull system and there stocks fall for further contracts.

I'm calling bullshit Fizzle. Which NBL players have told you they don't want to play for Marty?

I'd have to agree with XY Mr Fizzle.

Although I'd like to hear your concept of the "Game within the Game" for interests sake.

I think it might be more about the rumoured strenuous trainings rather than the system. Quite a few players have built up their reputation by playing with fairly even systems (Goorjian's crew, Bevo's favourites, etc).

If Fizzle wants to pursue his anti- Marty Clarke agenda so be it. But to state as if it is fact that 'Alot of NBLers dont want to play for him' without I suspect anything more than inference built on rumour (as you suggest Isaac), sounds like petty spite.

Fizzle could be best friends with half the league's players, but based on his posting history I very much doubt it. If he can justify his assertion, I would love to hear it.

Anyone else find it ironic Fizzle would make such a ludicrous statement in a thread about a veteran NBL 'star' begging and pleading to be allowed merely to train with Marty?

Marty Clarke has a rep for running his players into the ground at training, every week.

"Rumoured strenuous trainings' is a beautiful way of saying it. And yes this has done the rounds of the nbl players. I'm not saying it's a bad idea or not, but there is def a perception out there. And then there is Martys first season coaching record...his import selection....

I think a player would be silly not to add those things up before making a commitment to this team.

If you don't have a good coaching record in this league you would want your players to be saying nice things about other aspects of the team, eg team work, bonding etc, in my opinion.

I am not saying Marty doesn't have a reputation as a hard task-master, nor that players wouldn't take that into account in considering who they want to play for.

I was asking Fizzle to back up his statement players are refusing to play for Marty, apparently because Marty has a 'dull system' that will make players look bad.

Looks like Fizzle is Fizzleless....

I agree with what was said above about recruiting young imports, as that is the type of player Clarke works best with, id have no problem with going for a guy out of college as many imports with good college numbers and dont get picked up by the NBA.

From memory guys like Chris Williams, Ebi Ere, Donta Draper, Dusty Rychart were all recruited straight out of college and were very successful NBL players.

I seen him play the first 2 games in the ABA, he look good. He was playing hard, rebounding, scoring, and passing. If i was the sixers i would give him a shot. I know TUC, he's a better person then most of you think and know.

Tone, I have no doubt Rashard will tear up the ABA, but he is not alone in that. So do current 36ers such as Brad Hill, Jacob Holmes and Tom Daly among others who are hardly dominant players at NBL level. It does go to demonstrate how vast the step up from local league to NBL is at the moment.