Just read that. I can not say i disagree to be honest. I havent seen a single game this season due to being overseas so i can only base my judgement on the results which dont look much better than last season or the one before that with ninnis. sounds like we have a solid team but they just arent putting it together. To be honest im all for Boti's suggestion of bringing back Smyth...now before you all jump on me about bringing back Smyth just hear me out. Smyth did alot of good when he had the money backing him up, once that money was gone he did all he could with what he had. if he had been given the same resources to that of Marty I believe he truly could have done much more with our team. in saying that we will never know but i do believe something needs to be done just by looking at the results. when you have a 3 year plan there is meant to be steady improvement but instead of steadily vacating the bomb shelter we seem to have setup shop there.

What did Radford say/do to Diamon Simpson?

I support the return of Phil as interim coach. He'd give the players freedom on the court and allow players to trust natural instincts. If the shot is there, players would take it.

We definitely need a change.

I am curious at why Diamond was blasted. I missed it and never thought he did anything wrong.

Yeah great coaching- piss off the teams most valuable player and the one guy who gives 100% every game.

Simpson is the one guy I would be happy with lol. No idea what muppets are being paid to coach the 36ers.

If Boti knows so much why has he never offered to coach the team
I suggest he sticks to writing his non sensical agenda driven crud

If he wants his mate to get the coaching job he is risking his own to do it.

From what i hear his mate needs a job because he failed to set himself up for life after basketball, and will once again be keen to visit the well that fed him for so long.

Boti has openly said that he wants Clarke out. All because Clarke wont give Boti free reign to contact players when ever he feels like it.

Apparently Boti has driven many wedges into teams of the past and is the reason why a number of players dont wont to play for the 36ers.

In my opinion he has an over inflated opinion of himself and his importance in the Australian basketball landscape. `

Boti is just voicing what this forum and the 36er supporters have been saying for a looooong time! This is a great article, now its in main stream media, the end must be drawing to end and end for those 'coaches' of ours. They cant even win consistently in a 'bush league'... End this era, and focus on getting the right personnel on and off the court, so the Dome or whatever it is now, is rocking again come playoff time. Mistakes have been made, but with the recovery process is just as vital as the initial mistakes.

Boti's "agenda" seems to be the same as most people's on here - to have a 36ers team we can all enjoy watching, win, lose or overtime.
Hardly think that's a bad idea.
Marty's team is hard to watch and his rotations impossible to follow. They make little sense and he has no consistency with how he rotates.
Helliwell's few first-half minutes every game is a great example. What's he supposed to do in that time?
Pretty sure Brett Maher HAS a fulltime job but I'd rather try him (like the Crows did with Mark Bickley) than have to sit through more of this crap.

MUrray Magpie, if a player doesnt want to play in Adelaide because of a journalist, that probably suggests they dont have a backbone to start. Im sure Smyth has set himelf up just fine after basketball, and besides its not like this league has the cash flow to do so anyways. Weird points you have made. If Smyth or any other coach Boti suggests, does better than a 14-31 record then how is he risking his own to do it? And trust me, these players have lost faith in these 2, so anyone new with will get better results. They look like they are having as much fun as a fart in an elevator on court right now.

Murray , are you talking about Brett?
I would think he wouldnt have too many problems getting a job with his good media style etc

Also if he wanted to coach , every NBL club would be happy to have him in some capacity

Boti's agenda is clear and while the motive may be wrong, lets not lose site of the main issue - Clark and Radford have had their chances - promised plenty - delivered nothing.

The solution may not be as clear yet, but the message to Sixers is something needs to change. I have not liked Clark as a coach from the beginning and I just hope that the lack of action byt he Sixers board doesn't cost the chances of retaining two of the better young players and one of the best imports currently in the league.

agree with Kobe24, if you don't want to play for a certain club because of a fan or a member of the local media you are prob still being breast fed and tucked in by your Mummy and have no place in professional sports.

I'm throwing this out there but why go back to old 36er's players to coach??

Why don't we clean out the crap and bring in a fresh face from interstate with no opinoins on people currently in the organisation.

(before i get told I know Marty came from the AIS but he was a developer of talent not a leader of men!)

Half the probelm with many of the traditional NBL clubs (Tigers/36er's/Kings under Moose) is they always go back to thier past players or those who have hung around long enough for the jobs! Teams that bring in the best avaible people (Cairns,NZ,Perth) get better results which is what we are all about!

Murray Magpie. Your post is very bitter and twisted.
What agenda does Boti have other than writing the truth about the current coaching staff? Which mate of his are you talking about - Smyth (made a lot of money when he was with Canberra and I understand he is reasonably well off), Maher (don't know what his retirement pay was, or if he has strong investments) Green (think he is reasonably well off with assorted business/investment deals) - so who does he want as the coach and are you suggesting he may lose his own job by supporting a new coach (because that's the way you have worded it)? His problem with Clarke is that the coach WILL NOT communicate with ANYONE - won't attend post game Q&A in front of the fans etc. As to access to the players - can you prove your statement? Your statement that Boti has "apparently" driven wedges into previous teams is a very dangerous and defamatory statement unless you are willing to back it up with FACTS. I'm not sure about Boti's opinion of himself, but, he is well respected within basketball circles around Australia and without him basketball in SA would receive very limited coverage. Your whole post appears to be innuendo and rumour but not much fact. Maybe your are the one with some sort of hidden "agenda".

Tiger Watcher, later in the article he mentions bringing in a Westover/Joyce/Baldwin.

I agree that it's time for some sort of change. Maybe drop Radford and bring Maher in to work with Marty. If Marty stays around as the strategist, the other guy can be the one adjusting to the flow of the game, leading the players - Maher, or someone like Sapwell who is very personable. I think our roster is far too young for someone like Smyth who might struggle without more mature and self-motivated players.

I'm surprised that Brett would harbour serious coaching aspirations without doing a season with Sturt ABL (like Ninnis) or as second assistant in the NBL (again, Ninnis and others), but he's not stupid and wouldn't take something on if he didn't think he could do it well enough and learn the rest on the job. Maybe he's looking for a challenge to rise to?

It's great Boti is referencing social media and speaking for the fans, there's been lots and lots of chat this week on this site, facebook etc and it's good we're getting heard.

I'm not sure Smyth is the answer, not sure he'd automatically get the respect as he won't mean heaps to players of this generation. It's also questionable whether his sytem would work here. If Smyth came in though he'd automatically freshen up the team and create a better atmosphere. He'd loosen Warren up, give Creek 30 minutes and let him run wild. I reckon he'd mix it up a fair bit with his use of Helliwell and Ng. I'd at least like to see it tried. Surely Smyth would take an interim position with no promises for next year. It would be too hard for Maher to come in as an outside with no coaching experience (unless you count the Tristar camp!).

Al Westover or Stacker would be very good options.

I think the team needs an experienced coach to get the motivation and performance out of the players.

I doubt we will see Brett Maher on the coaches bench. Does everyone forget how we got rid of Scott Ninnis? That is how we treat our past heroes and for that reason alone I think Brett would be happy staying one of our greats.

As for looking elsewhere, I would like to see a 36ers team that supports South Australians. SA great is the easiest way to maintain a fan base. When you look around the league, we could develop, finance and have the points to have a solid SA team with 2 imports. Worst case scenario we have 2 or 3 from interstate. But beside Darren Ng and Tom Daly, who else played their junior years in SA?

Board should speak with both coaches and ask which one is leaving. Hopefully they are dumb enough to say "if he goes I go". Then sack Radford which will be the cheaper of the two payouts.

Seeing our club was gonna make the change if we went 0 - 6 to start this season , now is the time.
I love Maher's 'coaching ' on the the TV and Sapwell's on the radio.
I don't want Smyth telling us how to write and behave .

some people know facts on here others speculate

Another day, another call to sack the coaches. Someone once said there are two types of coaches, those who have been sacked and those about to be sacked.

Something has got to give at some point. We hear commentators saying that the Adelaide team is full of talent and should be winning more (Carfino), we hear fans and spectators unhappy at losing winnable games, or clutching defeat from the jaws of victory time and time again.

I wonder if wins and losses doesn't matter to Marty, what KPIs does he use to measure his performance? Are they the same KPIs that the Basketball Operations Manager for the Sixers uses? Are they aligned to the fan's KPIs?

If the games were entertaining and the Sixers were beaten by teams playing better basketball than them, the fans would be more sympathetic, but that is not the case.

The Sixers are ranking 5th offensively, but a woeful 9th defensively. If you add the rankings together to get a total rank, the Sixers have 14 points with the Hawks 13 points. (Breakers and Wildcats on 4 points each)

If the pin is pulled, then it needs to be pulled for all the right reasons. There's a lot of people saying there a lot of right reasons.

Sap would be good I think?! He has the likeable persona but is also the tough man when he needs to be. Also has experience caoching Norwood and took them to the Grand Final. Give him the rest of the season and see how it goes.....could even have Maher as an assistant, then his brand wouldnt be tainted not that it would if he was appointed interim coach anyway?!

However, I dont think SOS will pull the pin on the current coaching staff before the end of this season...

BJF, thats a big call haha But seriously most people are now on the same page, Clarke is burried in this state that loves its basketball.

To me, this is the kind of article Boti writes when he already knows that a decision has been made. I don't think Smyth is the answer, as I think the game has passed him buy. But, if he was to bring the passion and at the time unique approach that he did when he took over in 1998 then who knows...

To answer the earlier question of what is Helliwell supposed to do with his first half minutes, the answer is: collect three fouls.

I know his tennure with the Lightning wasn't all that great; but what about Steve Brehney (if I got the surname spelt correctly).

Was Smythe's right hand man for years, similar mindset on how he wants the game played, plenty of NBL experience already.

Thoughts?

rumour is radford has already breached his contract anyway...seeya

What happened to the 'Sack Marty' thread?

I think you'll find both Smyth and Breheny are unavailable due to the committment they made to the Australian College of Basketball in Melbourne.

Baldwin took a bunch of NZNBL role players and a young Kirk Penney and 1 NBA bench warmer to Indiana and came 4th at the world champs/end thread

Sack Marty.

SRT, lack of funds wasn't Smyth's only issue. IMO, he got complacent and casual, even took his girlfriend on the road with the team at least once. Definitely needed the kick up the butt. Whether he was available now and would have a renewed interest is a different matter.

I agree with Mutley's post above for Boti's article. I heard in a previous thread that the board meets tonight.

Based on the performances and my own observations it seems the coaches may have lost the players respect. No need to comment on how the fans feel.

I like the suggestion of keeping Marty on in an assistant role.

Mystro, I know you didnt type that with a straight face!

Re Simpson, from memory Radford went off his tree at Simpson when Simpson was subbed off. Absolutely screamed at him saying something along the lines of "if I tell you to f***ing do it you do it" then continued to shout something else right in his face. The rumour is it was something about keeping his arms up in defence.

It was not a proud moment. Radford should be ashamed. Everyone around heard it inc all the kids etc.

Also, I'd rather have a team of Simpsons than 1 Radford.

I would like to know why we continue to sign inexperienced coaches to long term deals? Surely we are losing money on these deals? Wouldn't we be better off to offer more money and a one year deal to an experienced coach? Or if an inexperienced coach wants to come in and get his feet wet, then give him a one year deal and say that's all we are offering, if you are somewhat successful then we may offer you a 2 year deal at the end.
Say we signed Marty to 3 years at $100k each season. We sack him now, we more than likely will payout a minimum of $250k for 1 and a half years, if not $300k. We then have to add the additional new coaches salary for the interim year (maybe $40k) and then the following years coaching salary of say another $100k roughly. So for 3 years of very little success (dependant on results next season) we have shelled out $390k for 3 years. Are we not better off going for one of the best coaches going around (Goorjan or McLeod) and offering $150k a year for 2 years?

First of all I would not call Scotty one of our heroes as was a good player and a player that went interstate in his prime for whatever reason.
Secondly it comes down to SOS and how cheaply they can replace heckyl and jeckyl and if they can afford it or not as whether Boti writes a article or not the facts are we are going backwards and style of game playing is not working and really SOS have no option but to make a change of some sort if can.
If they dont is that a indication Sixers maybe be up for sale or dissapear next year.
Who should replacement be then I havent got all the facts or inner knowledge of potential coaches but know going back to Smyth not the answer as isaac right in how complacent he got in last few years which i have knowledge of along with looked like he was asleep on bench some games.
And how would Smyth improve our Defence.

You can never know if "the game has passed ??? by" until that coach starts up again. Adrian Hurley being a very good example of a coach who more than "caught up" to the game, and then examples like Bob Turner do the opposite, Then there are coaches like Frank Arsego who never really made a successful NBL impact at all. Frank was the head coach of the AIS that Marty was the long time assistant too.


Perhaps

Personally I would like to see Smyth be a coaching success again in the NBL, byt doubt he would be tempted to come back to the 36ers.

The Brad, your maths isn't very good. If we were to sack him now we would only have to pay him about $160k ($40k for this season and $120k (my guess for how much he is on) for next season).

As some people have mentioned we should probably try to get the best out of the bad situation by have him around as a training coach but no way have him as an assistant! I would hate to hear that they paid him out and he gets to spend the year fully paid sitting on the beach. I would rather him help out with training and wash the uniforms

KJ, I think Brad was totalling the spend on Clarke, not just the payout. That total spend was contrasted with a higher year-by-year spend on smaller contracts.

Brad, anon beat me to it - interstate/overseas coaches would want assurances to come on board, length of tenure, etc. Wasn't Joyce out of a job in Wollongong when the Blaze promised five years? Or did the five years come after one season?

When the Sixers pretty much had Bevo (post-Smyth), Bevo then started asking for various extras (flights for family) as I understand it and in a post-Groves climate the management of the time felt like they were being screwed, having already had some indication of agreement, and went with Ninnis instead.

With hindsight, you'd say they should've just put up the extra thousands or whatever it might've come to, but at the time Bevo had come from a lowly club and wasn't considered all that more highly than Clarke, from what I remember.

Sure, in hindsight a lot of that is easy to see, but you can just imagine him coming to Adelaide, having a mediocre season first up and fans hearing about how not only was he given a 2-3 year deal, but he asked for icing on top and was given it. "And what has he even done? Coached the Spirit!"

I went back out of interest and read a few threads and articles about Marty when he signed. One comment said the 36ers were below him. One linked to an article about how highly regarded he was, including by US colleges. Another said "Martys next job will be a college coaching gig if its not at the tute. Lets see now $500K +++++." In another thread, LC said "Clarke is a great choice." Someone else: "Great appointment, congratulations SOS". HO said: "This is IMO a very very good appointment. I've seen Clarke in action a number of times and with the exception of that bizarre thing with the AIS team at Knox (?) he is one of our brightest young coaches... I think he will help with recruiting, have a good relationship with those in the boomers program etc." paul, "Great to see a very competent coach get a pro gig." Jack Toft: "Great news.
Been talking to ex AIS people who rate him highly". "INgles tweeted that he thinks Clarke was a great choice as coach for Sixers"

Boti, "Clarke, 42, is an unknown outside basketball circles but very highly regarded within the sport as one of its most promising and exciting "new" faces."

Now, there were critics at the time, or qualifying statements (e.g., paul wondered how his structured style would translate to a different league) but it's not like they grabbed a complete dud. I think he's failing in the current arrangement for one reason or another, but he cannot be completely devoid of coaching ability and his reputation was decent before all this.

I am not entirely against the idea of sitting him underneath a guy who can read the flow of the game differently, be a little more relaxed with players, front the media like it's something other than a funeral, etc. Clarke then maintains their effort level at training and provides strategy within the operations of the incoming head coach, stays as something of the Xs and Os guy, as they say.

'097, not trying to do that. I've said before that the 36ers should've just paid up for Bevo and we wouldn't even be in this position with Clarke now. But the club didn't and Perth are not going to let him go in a hurry. I think some comparisons can be drawn between them though, some. Bevo started making his true strides 2-3 years in. We may never get to compare Marty with that.

i would love to see brendan joyce coach the 36ers.
would certainly rip a few new A holes there.
thats what needs to happen.......that over structured,over coached crap is a breeding ground for complacency.

36ers have an athletic squad. Johnson, Simpson, Creek, and Warren are as athletic as anybody in the NBL for their positions. Yet only Johnson is allowed to come out of his shell.

what about andy simons from forestville

Maybe I'm seeing differently but I think Clarke should be kept on. See out the third year. Hope he gets rid of the the players not performing and brings in a team that can compete defensively.

Out of interest who is not signed up next year around the league. As in who might we be able to attract to Adelaide.

There was a 3 year plan people. Adelaide bought into that premise. If we are not be competitive a few (6-8) games in next year then turf him. But for now enjoy watching young guys play and develop.

The last thing i want to see is Brett as coach for 2 reasons. First i would like someone with some practical coaching experience, and second and most importantly i would not want to see fans etc turn on him and tarnish his legacy somewhat if things did not turn out great.

I agree with Murray Magpie, Boti has an agenda, and always has.

When his mate Phil Smyth was stinking it up for a number of years he never, ever wrote crud about him, in fact he defended him. For Boti to even suggest to replace Clarke with Smyth is embarrasing for him.

I would rather a change in sports journalist before a change in coach.

Paul, you are on the money as usual lol.

Doesnt matter who did it, what needs to be done is to make sure it doesnt happen again.

Cairns may not be the only party to benefit from the tech foul issued at the last Sixers home game. It might just make Boti's job a little bit easier too.

Boti's agenda is quite clear; write articles that encourage people to read and discuss his work. If his work polarises readers then all the more better for him.

But it should come as no surprise that he would also use the print medium to his own benefit, especially if his work influences others to remove barriers that hinder his access to information, like a less than accommodating head coach and his assistant for example.

But hey, how does the saying go?

"Thats business,its nothing personal"

even thou ninnis seemed to lose it near the end
at least he went upstairs afterwards (most times) and he would stop and talk to us if we were there at the game early

he has literally seen us yelling out when shite goes pear shaped and ya know what he would still talk to you
if you said it was shite, and it was he would at least admit it
i honestly didnt think it would get any worse when he 'left'
and even thou we havent totally bottomed out (yet)
it seems much worse at the moment imo

Ushiro - Clarke's standing up giving it to the refs
most of the time , so it's gonna happen agen.

I know that Camel - someone needs to take responsibility for straightening him out. Fat chance perhaps, I bet he doesnt even look at himself in the mirror