no

It's pretty good, though I would expect Williamson to start, this guy can play.

fine to say no, who is better and why then?

On paper they might rank well I guess. Perth's would be pretty well drilled in reality though. Melbourne maybe. Certainly not a weak bench though.

For the same reason other imports around the league come off the bench because there is better players on (e.g. Ballinger) or players that deserve to start for their futures sake (e.g. Weigh)

Perth: Trueman, Hire, Tovey, Williamson, Robbins
Maybe not so much at the 4,5 end but the 1,2,3 could be starters on any given night.
Not as familiar with NZ but would say their bench would be pretty decent too.
And Melbourne look pretty deep on paper.

Adelaide have decent back ups but I'm not sure that any of the bench players will be pushing themselves into the starting 5.. pending injury or "3 year plan" tactics

Probably a bit early for the title odds?

why would an import be on the bench?????????????

On paper, it's a deep bench. At Game-Time, I'll wait for the Pre-season games to comment.

I'd rate Perth as the deepest simply because it's a bench that tried and true. And it's been together for a few years.

On paper, I rate the Sixers lineup as being a finals contender simply on combination of players and "potential" stats. The same can be said for Melbourne this year.

But the proof is in the pudding as they say. I said the same thing about the 2006 Sixers team after watching Pre-season; boy was I wrong.

Bench looks good with the names mentioned....

But what i want to know is how good on the defensive end are we going to be? All these names mean bugger all if we cant improve our defensive and get stops.

Over the last 3 seasons it has been terrible to say the least, so it can only improve..... But i guess that comes down to execution, effort and direction from Marty.

I hate to say it but i dont care if we win ugly. DEFENSE wins championships and we all wanna win a fukn championship!

In Big Marty I trust in the other Marty the jury still out as is this team but looks good and deep which should suit Marty style .
Re our defence it will be better but how much better time will be the answer or how good the pudding tastes

I Dont buy the Perth bench being better.
You cant play 5 on 3.

Perth have Hire and Trueman in the bench lineup. Both of which would be handled easily by their 36er contemporaries

Last two title winners had imports coming off the bench. Don't get your panties in a knot just yet.

"Johnson - improving but couldn't guard a bar stool"

That's a good one, do you mind if I use that?

Its a pretty reasonable bench on paper to me, so whether its the deepest or not im not sure but im happy with it.

The real question for me is which big combination starts, Clark doesnt appear to be a fan of Johnson and Ballinger for big minutes, and most on here dont like Ballinger at C, so does he start say Helliwell and Ballinger or Johnson and Williamson? Id like to see the Johnson and Williamson combo, assuming Johnson keeps up his late season form and Williamson is a decent import.

Blaze have the best bench.
They have Worthington, Petrie, Hoare and Garlepp in the big spots.
Then you have English, other import, Goulding, Gibson, Harvey and Cadee.
Whoever ends up being the starting 5, they have more left over than we have on our bench.

This season wil see most teams go into the season with un tried imports & mostley new personal, due to that reason my bet for final standings is

Tigers
Wildcats
NZ
Blaze
36ers
Crocs
Kings
Hawks
Taipans

Breakers bench is made up entirely of NZ Tall Blacks.

Alex Pledger
BJ Anthony
Dillon Boucher
Leon Henry
Cory Webster

*Development Players

*Josh Bloxham (Jnr Tallblacks).
*Dion Prewster (Jnr Tallblacks, Iowa State University although I believe there were some issues getting him eligible to play there even though he was born in California).
*Isaac Fotu (Tallblacks).

I would say the opposite, successful NBL (and most successful team in Europe) in recent times have had a deep bench. It's hard to play with the intensity needed for a whole game if you only have 7 or 8 guys.

NZ in the finals played Braswell, Bruton, Boucher and Pledger off the bench. Probably spot minutes for Anthony too. Perth do it as well, as do Wollongong. Marty gets ripped for playing 9-10 deep whereas every club has been doing the same thing.

Tell me now , am I wrong in thinking
Goorjian played 10 deep.
Rolled them over to find those playing best
at that game for the most minutes.

stop bagging the 6ers all you haters

Wait til preseason is done then we have an idea on the bench strength of each team and also the imports.it will be interesting if williamson will start as a 3 man or a 4 man.

I'm a Holmes fan, so am a little dissapointed he's not there , but the lack of height has been addressed and I can't wait for the season to start.

Eat it haters! We will be a force this season! You heard it here first!