If CJ Massingale and Lester Strong do not have NBL jobs, then its very unlikely that Chuck Long will. He is a bit of a journeyman in ABA basketball. Interesting that Joe Werner is listed on the NBL free agent list - Cairns were interested in him about 3 years ago.

Very inconsistent shooter.

I think Isaac is just putting his "big game" into perspective..

- In that same game hill had 9rebounds 7assists, 5steals, and 4 turnovers
-Long had 8rebounds, 2assists, 2 steals, and 5 turnovers

Long played 10minutes less however, and had 12 less FGA's


All in all, tough to compare the two going by stats alone without watching the game.. But I think statistically comparing long to hill, it does however show he could be a role player in the nbl. No doubt. Many seabl imports could. Many couldn't

Cj Massingale is slowing down on a daily basis. The Raiders played 2 games in Tassie on the weekend. Losing both.
the 2nd game they lost was to the bottem on the ladder, thunder. If CJ was to ever have had an NBL shot, it should have happened maybe 5 years ago.
Plus he knows nothing about the word defence.

Not sure if i like the idea of the 36ers not using both import spots, especially given where we have been in the last couple of seasons.

Unless it is to pool the money and bring in one proven stud import, (im talking proven MVP level Ebi Ere, Chris Williams, Donta Smith) id rather the 36ers bring in 2 cheeper imports say 80k each than spend say 160k on the next Warren or Simpson, both were good but not studs or guys who carry a team to the title. If we need to go 2 cheap imports id be happy to see Galen Young and Josh Pace given a go.

Young is a versatile front court player who has the toughness and defense we need and seems to be a good team/glue guy and brings some veteran experience, he can play SF,PF,C. Has plenty of NBL experience including a title with the Wildcats with Schenscher, Weigh and Radford, which could help with chemistry, probably also not rated a 10 in the points cap which could help.

Pace seems to be a 'do it all' sg/sf who can help handle the ball and run a little pg, which to me would be a great fit for the team, aslong as he has a half decent jumpshot, doesnt have to be great but just reasonably realiable. Would like to see how he would go in the NBL, his numbers in the NZ NBL have been great and given guys like Abercrombie and others who have done ok in the NBL including some imports dont do any better id be willing to bet he would be atleast as good as Chris Warren, and possibly could come cheap as he is playing in NZ.

That would give us

Schenscher/?? young big or Ballinger if we can fit him in
Johnson/Young
Weigh/Creek
Pace/Ng
Cadee/Crosswell

Again unless the import is a proven MVP level player id rather see that than taking out say Young and signing another Aussie, not too many great ones realistically available, as we would probably only get a import as good as Pace, just pay them twice as much, id back Pace in to Average atleast the 13pts, 3assists Warren did last season given his NZ form over the years.

With the import insurance idea, if say Schenscher gets injured for the season, we wont have that much cash left to bring a great import in anyway, proven by the fact we didnt even replace Ballinger last season, so we would just end up with a Galen Young type anyway, so why not just grab him from the start, assuming my line up above fits the points cap, which im pretty sure it would.

I'd rather play with 2 imports from the start and plan for a best case, injury free scenario, than go a player short just in case, and if an injury happens just grab the best available at the time, even if its a top line NZBL or SEABL player ie Horvath/Bradshaw for a big if he got injured or a Tait/Dickel type if a guard went down.

Anyway will be very happy and excitied to see the 36ers play if rumours of Schenscher and Cadee come to be true, which seems likely to me.

Great recruiting efforts by the club as they have retained our 2 best young talents, secured another top young talent and secured the best SA player in the NBL. So congrats the the coaches and management for this and hopefully this leads us up the ladder.

Yea a bit like in 2002, wouldnt mind that, but by seasons end we will definatly need 2 imports along with our Aussies remaining healthy if we are going to make playoffs imo.

I chose the 2 imports i did as they are both versatile and could basically cover any spot/role between them, so if we could get them or similar players i personally dont see the point in waiting, but it did work (well didnt hurt the team) in 2002 bringing in Garrison so wouldnt be to upset if they did aslong as by half way through we have 2 good imports.

The risk is the new arrival hasnt had pre-season with the team to gel with them all and learn all the structures,etc so could mess things up a bit, but there have been success stories with this method also and we may be able to pay a guy worth 300k, a reduced fee of say 150k to play half the season, which is what Donta Smith did with the Dragons isnt it, so could have some real benefits.

My preference is 2 imports from the start, but aslong as we have 2 by halfway i wont complain, dont see the point in going 1 import all season, unless the club is that strapped for $$$, but even then would go 2 cheaper imports.

I'd go with a 2nd import PF, ala Galen Young as Johnson and Schenscher can cover C. I would like a defensive minded, mobile(ish) PF ala Young who can have a crack at shutting down/harrassing Wortho, Wagstaff, etc if need be.

I'd rotate the mins something like

C Schenscher (30)/Johnson (10)
PF Johnson (20)/IMPORT (Young) (20)
SF Weigh (25)/Creek (15)
SG IMPORT (Pace) (20)/Creek (10)/Ng (10)
PG Crosswell (10)/Cadee (25)/IMPORT (Pace) (5)

Giving all of our young guns atleast 25 mins, whilst still playing our import big atleast 20 and more if a big gets into foul trouble/injured.

A young big would round out my roster, only given mins in blow outs, etc.

Ng gets more mins if on fire and reduce IMPORT or Crosswell depending on form, game situation, etc. But if not hitting shots after 5-10 mins leave him off.

Cj will always play his game, look for his points no matter what the result is.
On the subject of the Thunder win, Janev has just joined them and Ben Armstrong has unretired. Armstrong has still got it and top scored. Javev started slowly but was solid down the stretch.
Strong still recovering from a back injury didn't help either, but the Raiders are now back with the pack.