Great news. It's always handy having an elite shooter on the roster.

I'm glad the handsome one is back.

Anon, he's still a few years from 30 at the moment. Some would call the 25-30 years the "Prime" years of a players career.

If we sign Big Red this is a great signing has players won't be able to leave Ng to double team. I felt he started to find his feet but then got injuried

Link
http://www.nbl.com.au/teams/36ers/news/article/article/2011/may/36ers-lock-in-sharp-shooter-darren-ng/

At least 2 others approached him

Its good we signed a good local player that can shoot the ball
but we just let go a better all round player in Brad Hill

Agree BigSexy

Good signing especially if get Schens also lets add Herbert and maybe Bruce to go with Ervin or similar

great news me an my mate can still use our 'N' & 'G' tshirts lol

Thomo, the other 2 teams were looking for medical staff though...

If that's what u think

So as I read it, thae state of play is as follows:

??/Johnson
Ballinger/??
Weigh/Creek
??/Ng
??/??

Anyone want to try fill the gaps?

In an ideal world the gaps will be filled by Schenscher, Herbert, Ervin, Bruce and Holmes/Dowdell?

Ng is a decent signing, I havent been an avid supporter of him over the years but last season he really stepped up and started to play better under pressure than he ever has. If he can build on last seasons form into next season he will be a good option for quick bursts of the bench

I thought Dowdell had one year remaining on his contract?

Ng was playing his best basketball before he got injured last year and I think the sixers missed him when he went down. good to see him back. You cant have too many good shooters. With Weigh and Creek I dont think we could fit in hill as well.

Shannon wasnt the same once Ng went down. There was no one to stop the floor and no perimeter shooters for Shannon to find. Ng hit 18/38 triples in Shannon's first 6 games before he got injured

Thats a very telling stat there Paul! Perhaps Ninja's injury had more impact on the team than I previously thought. Could be one in the mitigating circumstances column for Shannon.

Re the signing, I am happy with Ng off the bench, but would prefer a stronger guard as our starter.

As to keeping Ng and not Hill, it just comes down to the other signings. With Weigh and Creek signed there is just no room for Hill. He's a useful player, but I'm happy we are going with the former two next season.

I think Ng over Hill is a no-brainer given how bad the perimeter shooting was last season. As a 15mpg player he can have a significant impact on the offence.

OOI - Shannon's stats in the 6 games with Ng were 12.5p @ 47% (40% 3p), 4.7a, 1.5s, 2.5to. Who knows if that would have continued but a 5'11 pg will always feel the loss of his team's best shooter.

Opposition coaches worry about Ng more than anyone else on our roster.

Balls is always going to get points, but Darren can turn a game on its head in 2 minutes.

A lot more muscle on him this year.

Anon, that's crap. Sydney won championships with Carter coming off the bench as merely a one trick pony spot up shooter, and he consistently contributed.

Ng is ten times the player Carter was.

Ng aint gonna win it by himself, but he is a good contributor and complimentary team player and will make this team better if the other pieces are in place.

Spot on XY!

Aaron Bruce has signed with Sydney Kings 2 years!
Rhys Carter has signed 2 years in Sweden

Shooting was a bigger issue than defence or hustle last year.

Roger, agreed. Also agree with XY.

Happy with this signing. Some people respond to every bench signing with "just filler" for some reason. I know Gordie McLeod is a big fan of Ng. Don't understand those who don't rate him. We missed outside shooters almost more than anything last season.

Did Cairns defence win them a championship? Bet they wish they could have thrown someone like Ng out there at times in the GF.

Offence and Defence wins Championships!

Ng's defence was a liability when he started but I think it has improved alot. clearly not going to be our best defender but think he gets a pass on D last year

Get Gilly back as the PG, i loved his game to watch

I also suspect that Ng has more respect amongst NBL referees than he has in previous seasons. I was often surprised how often he was credited for drawing a charge from opponents. In previous season those calls were either blocking calls or no calls.

He put on some muscle whilst he was injured so I think he wont be pushed around as much.

I've seen 3 of his ABA games and he's been awesome. The 5 three's he hit against woodville in the first quarter were amazing.

Love the signing. Always good to have a guy who can turn a game on its head in 10 minutes court time.

Anon #318685, wrong Carter. I was talking about BJ.

Rhys and Ng play different games in different positions and are not really comparable.

Very happy that Darren is back - I'm a huge fan.

He needs to be utilised more.

And Ng is one of the last players that would ever be intimidated - he's calmer under pressure and makes better decisions than 90% of the roster.