Ok. Here's my spiel:
No Damon Heiur. Last thing we need is another six-foot-nothing combo guard. Deserves an NBL shot eventually but not the right fit.
Chris Cedar has played hard for the Crocs all year long, but there is a point where "not stuffing up" isn't good enough and a point guard that can't shoot and doesn't rack up assists isn't very useful, even if he is a good defender. I definitely think he can be an NBL player elsewhere but unfortunately you can't afford to have two backup PGs, and though Woolpert played him at the two a bit, he is too small and his shot is too poor for that to work. He should focus on PG skills and finishing at the rim.
Allen is obviously out but I have a bad feeling they are just going to re-sign everyone else on the cheap and swap Allen for an import to save money. Prove me wrong, Pat Reidy.
I want Hinder sitting on the end of the bench, not as the sixth man. In fact I don't want him on the team at all but he is under contract.
5 - Nevill
4 - Import Four (Lazarre or similar). Must be a tough mother who doesn't back down. Nevill needs an enforcer to help him out.
3 - Blanchfield
2 - PC
1 - Ervin
6 - Holmes
7 - Norton
8 - SF like Young as suggested or similar (although Ben Allen has permanently left a bad taste in my mouth re: Gaels alums). Must be able to shoot the 3 ball.
9 - Tweener 3/4 like the several that Perth have for versatility in an ever-quickening league. Must be able to shoot the 3 ball.
10 - Russell Hinder (would rather have a young big stiff who just racks up fouls and can score at the rim if the ball falls in his lap but Hinder is under contract)
It's time for Mick Cedar to quit fucking around and start hustling. For every game he has where he is assertive and trying to make plays at the rim there is another where he lives and dies by his three point shooting (which has been atrocious over the past 24 months - hovering in the high twenties). Needs a hard-ass coach like Beveridge or Goorjian because he's just coasting in Townsville. He's either far too slow to play guard or he's just pulling a Jerry Seinfeld and "chooses not to run". If we could swap him out for a bigger player of similar age & value and he got an NBL gig elsewhere it would be better for both parties - he needs a fresh start. There's a certain comfortability that comes from living out your entire life and playing career in the one small regional city and a fire needs to be lit under his posterior.
Norton - whoever the brains trust over at Crocs HQ were that changed his once-pure shot to that flat, sideways-spinning Jake Holmes line-drive needs to be hung from the rafters. Kid has a long offseason ahead to work on fixing the thing, because there was a time when he was an automatice pure shooter and now his shot is fundamentally flawed.
Coaching - Woolpert needs to get his head out his ass. Without the on-court leadership of Eddie Gill everything has fallen to shit. Guys just aren't making the extra pass or diving on loose balls and it falls back on the coaching staff. Either get guys who can shoot, or make plays at the rim. Don't rely on the 3 ball if you shoot 30 per cent as a team. The other big issue here is effort. Never have I seen a team so lazy and unwilling to make the effort plays for an entire season. And benching Nevill for Hinder in fourth quarters is not going to fly.
Scouting - is just awful. It's like every time we play a team we play them as if we know nothing about them, a far stretch from the harsh reality of an eight team league where everyone is pissing in each others' pockets and scouting is more important than ever.
Development - since John Rillie left the club it's as if no one holds our young guys accountable or actively takes on a mentoring role. Remember the tutelage that Rillie put Brad Newley through? It was great to watch him develop under a veteran captain who took pride in imparting his knowledge to the younger guys. Todd Blanchfield, Mitch Norton, and any other young guys we take on board need the same treatment.
Conditioning - our guys get beat up because they are weak. Not only in the figurative sense but literally. Blanchfield and Allen aren't spending anywhere near enough time in the weight room for guys their age and body type, and Russell Hinder looks like he has just gone through chemo-therapy. Blanchfield isn't like Brad Newley with that skin-on-bone physique. He has a body that could easily add on many more kgs of muscle and his inside game will flourish because of it.
This team as it stands is just fundamentally flawed and it's not just one area that needs addressing: it's effort, it's sharing the ball, it's shot selection, it's shooting, it's points in the paint, it's defense, it's rebounding on both ends, it's choking in close games. It's just everything. Which I was why I'm leaning more towards the "blow it up" rather than the "improvement" model. Which is way it is a damn shame we have so many guys under contract.
It just sucks for us right now that the NBL doesn't have a trade week...
Finally, I could be wrong, but doesn't Woolpert also have to be re-signed? I wouldn't think this would be an automatic decision given his hand in the botched recruiting as well as the poor play and coaching all season long. One of Townsville's all-time worst seasons, including those awful days when the Suns were a newly-minted expansion team...
