good post anon

Yeah, excellent post. I think their guards could again be susceptible to pressure, but having Worthington who can handle very well for a PF should help a lot there.

I think on paper the Tigers have a fair few legitimate scorers. The 3 spot could be a bit of a worry though. How will Greer, Walker fare against guys like Creek and Frye, or Pace and Blanchfield.

I guess with Dennis' length they might be able to cover it, cos Greer isn't exactly athletic and Walker plays more like an athletic 4 than a genuine 3 in this league. But this exposes another potential deficiency in their roster at the 1 spot with Tomlinson the only legitimate PG, so a lot might depend on the versatility of Dennis

Auyrn is a spud! His numbers for Kilsyth are poor. Scrapping the barrel Tigers are.

Greer and Walker wont be as versatile as many 3's who can shoot the 3....

It's hard to say where they come on the ladder.

They could wind up with the spoon. Then again, anyone except NZ could end up with the spoon this season.

The comp has been blown right open. Just when I'm about to say Townsville or Sydney or Melbourne will be fighting it out for the spoon I realise that Cairns last year just choked in a heap (and could do again), Perth could have a huge fall from grace after losing their coaching staff and best player, we have no idea what Wollongong are going to look like, and Adelaide showed last year that being good on paper means squat until you start winning games.

Anything could happen in 13/14 which is actually really exciting after three or so years of Perth and NZ being better than everyone else by a wide margin.

Even the champs have lost their coach and potentially their best player in Cedric Jackson.

It's anyone's for the taking.

The Taipans would have been a lock at the four if they got a big who could play defence. Even so, I expect they will make the four. Kerry Williams (underrated as a liability) has retired, Shaun Bruce in as backup. Maybe even a combo import guard to play some PG. The wing is so much better than last year, and frontcourt has gotten stronger if anything. Interior D should still be better even without a guy like Hudson there. Trigger seemed to be given a jolt late in the season and he responded with some strong(er than he normally provides) stuff in the middle.

My top four, I'm order:
- Adelaide
- Cairns
- NZ (although would not be totally surprised if they weren't there)
- Melbourne

Perth are finished.

Nah, NZ will definitely be there.

Wow, writing off Perth with Knight, Martin, Redhage and two imports, with Wagstaff and Hire in support?

Yep. I don't think Hire will have a good season at all. He's a system guy and it's all going to change this time around. Martin won't be back until well into the season so they won't be stopping anyone on the perimeter.

I just don't rate them. Beverage going was bad, but Dennis leaving was ths final straw.

Here's a video I put together a few days ago (because there isn't that much of him on YouTube)

I think Melbourne have all their bases covered as they can also put Ballinger to centre, have Walker at PF or Worthington at SF... A fit tigers team could and should cause match up problems and they should be fun to watch,

Agree with Anon's post above - spot on

I know this is really off topic, but how are the D-league commentators hahaha like man they suck!!

they def make Casey Frank look good

I think the opinion on Perth is a bit off, they have maintained the core of last years team which lost only 6 games. Granted they need to replace Lisch but I think they deserve a chance to. They sent a party (CEO/Coach/as.coach) to watch the summer league and they also have good US contacts through the coaching staff so at least they're not picking their guy from youtube highlights.

The other players who left the squad are surely replaceable considering;
Tovey was injured and couldn't contribute for most of the year
Robbins has had enough and Carter didn't do enough
Trueman is being replaced by an Import
Barlett didn't look like hitting a shot even if they tripled the diameter of the hoop

I guess all will be revealed in the new season though, I think it would be great if the league caught up with NZ and Perth, its not good enough for our league to finish 3rd in the comp with a losing record

Another overlooked element: I think you will see less holding and slapping allowed which will temper the effectiveness of guys like Redhage and Martin on the defensive end. They will still be great defenders, but they won't have as much of an advantage.

Mick, Please don't put Martin in the same category as Redhage.

Yeah, with Perth playing more containment based defence last year Martin actually did very little hand checking etc compared to previous years.

ANstey has come out and confirmed MacMillan is not signed!

Yet*

Auryn Macmillan signing official.

http://www.tigers.com.au/article/id/qhz1u702z95a1hpe7q40cchi4

Checkmate by beth

I remember being really impressed by Auryn for the Hawks. I think he had this one break out game I caught where he scored double figures in limited minutes, i thought "shit where'd this guy come from?"... Andrew Bogut likes him too..