Sydney have lost several key players including Ian Crosswhite, Corin Henry and Darnell Lazare, Charles Carmouche projects to be a role player, Madgen is out with injury for the start of the season and you predicted that Jesse Sanders will be the biggest import bust... what about this offseason puts Sydney ahead of New Zealand, Wollongong or Cairns?

Don't you have homework to do?

Forgot about Madgen being injured. I thought the combo of Madgen and Ogilvy would be a killer but with Madgen out I dont think they could make the finals. Swap Sydney with NZ.

Think this season will be more even this year. Cairns, Adelaide and Melbourne have clearly improved but both have their flaws like everyone else. Only teams I can't see making the four are Townsville and Sydney.
Townsville just aren't talented enough I think and Madgen will miss too much time for Sydney.
Breakers have regressed slightly I think though and Wollongong it comes down to their imports.
All speculation though. Lets just wait and see!

Sydney have the worst team by far but hammer gets his guys to over achieve.

1. Melbourne.
2. Perth.
3. Adelaide.
4. NZ
5. Cairns
6. Wollongong
7. Townsville
8. Sydney

NZ won't be top 2, but the road trip will still be hard. They might win say 20% on road, but 70% at home? Meaning they could end up 5th or 6th.

My money is Townsville to get the spoon.

Perth
Adelaide
Melbourne
NZ

Cairns
Wollongong
Sydney
Townsville

I'm going with...

Perth
Cairns
Melbourne
Wollongong

Adelaide
New Zealand
Sydney
Townsville

The biggest question for me is who will finish 2nd between taipans and snakes and if Wollongong can rebound then I think they will make the playoffs but if they struggle on the boards again then I expect to see an Adelaide vs. Perth finals series to begin playoffs.
I think NZ are shot ducks and need a massive season from Abercrombie, which he just may give and Sydney and Townsville will be painful to watch for the most part unless they have injuries and are able to replace with better players... I'm expecting Kevin White to come close to Most Improved Player and Cairns to be on top of the table going into the all-star break. I won't make any predictions as to MVP maybe Goulding, Abercrombie or Rotnei Clarke

NZ go more than 7 deep.

They have Webster, Bruton, Te Rangi, Lazare and Trueman on the bench.

So 1 NBL legend, 2 Tall Blacks, a player who knew his role at Perth and an import PF who is of starting quality or thereabouts.

NZ is just as deep as Adelaide.

Cadee v Bruton
Teys v Webster
Te Rangi v Creek
Lazare v BJ
Trueman v Schensher

Webster beats out Teys and Lazare beats out BJ.
Schensher probably beats out Trueman.
Creek and Te Rangi cancel themselevs out IMO.

Yeah melbourne will be terrible.... I have them in the running for the spoon. Shitty roster and terrible coaching. Contenders are everyone except townsville, sydney and melbourne imo...

Also people are discounting the step down in coaching level from Bevo to Gleeson. Perth wont be as good as people think.

I think those putting Sydney and Townsville towards the bottom with Wollongong just above might be right. Gordie surprises people, but missing Sav is going to hurt and Clarke will need to really step up in the next Blitz games to convince me he can adjust enough. Many other teams have stepped up too. Sydney have a weakish frontcourt and will miss Madgen as everyone has said. Townsville have an even weaker frontcourt, Crawford's injury and Markovic is yet to show his hand.

Most of the rest of the teams have been covered already. But I do think Melbourne could be OK for the following reasons:

- the import guard sounds decent, going by pre-season games (which is all we have to go on)
- Worthington can still play and his defensive smarts and some clutch play is the sort of thing that turns a team around (smart or brilliant defenders change teams IMO - Wortho, Boucher, Vukona, Martin, Saville, even Davidson; I think Gibson and Petrie will start to change things in Adelaide now)
- another year of improvement for Goulding; not many other teams have someone that can get on a hot-streak and be cocky enough to run it to a 30+ game. Bruton can, Webster might get there. Madgen? Hopefully Clarke will be that sort for the Hawks.

Sydney are light frontcourt wise. Oglivy isn't known for his d. Garlepp is ok and Brad Hill playing the 4 fulltime too.
I have faith Ben Allen will do the job! Lol

Goulding will shoot Melbourne out of as many games as he shoots them into..

"Surely Geordie's magic will run out one day"

Not so sure its magic or luck.

I think he has done what he has done in the past due to his coaching ability, hands down.

You can say he has had some really good imports and you can call that luck, but really recruitment is all part of the ability to coach.

He has picked up gems usually/guys that fit well with Forman, Davidson, Martin etc. purely because he is a good recruiter.

I agree with you Re: NZ. I could see them coming 3rd or 4th, but not top 2.

Don't think it will be because of not been used to Vickerman's style though, because he was AC and he will run all the same stuff and they will still play up-tempo.
Don't think it will be because of a lack of depth.

I can see them having a few bad offensive nights, and that's probably not a good thing because there is a lot of teams out there that will be quite high scoring. Don't think we will out-shoot as many teams as we have in the past. Especially given the offensive power of teams like ADE, MEL and PER

Chumps on here never learn, Sydney are going to win it all!

Also the big unknown is how good high volume scoring perimeter guys like Gary Ervin will be under the new offensive rules and how much of an effect that has on their team's standings

#366

Dont mean to nitpick but you forgot C.Webster.;)

I think he will be their 3rd leading scorer this year maybe 2nd.
After the Ocenia series there should be no doubt about his scoring ability.
Just hope Vickerman plays him the minutes he deserves.

I think he should be first cab off the rank ahead of Bruton. He can play 1 or 2

No clear cut favourite imo 4 teams could win the title (Perth,NZ,Adelaide or melb).

I think it would be fair to say guys like Ervin would benefit the most from rule clarifications.

The real question is; when will the sack Joey threads start? I predict during the Blitz.

1. Perth
2. New Zealand
3. Adelaide
4. Melbourne

5. Sydney
6. Cairns
7. Wollongong
8. Townsville

I concur about Caddee, love the potential the bloke has and would love to see him succeed but if he doesn't blossom this season then you wonder if he ever will

He was blossoming pretty damn well last season until he got injured! He was one of our very few bright spots

1.Breakers
2.Wildcats
3.36ers
4.Tigers
-----------------------
5.Kings
6.Hawks
7.Taipans
8.Crocs

I have no idea why everyone is doubting the Breakers, Vickerman was the assistant to Lemanis so his coaching surely won't be that different. The loss of Cedric isn't that bad considering that Johnson is a stud coming out of college. Their bench has improved by heaps! With the addition of Lazare and the development of Webster and Te Rangi. Also are you forgetting that this team has the best 2 bigs in the league with Pledger and Vukona? I honestly can't believe that some of you have them 5 or even 6th.

As for Perth, Ennis is still very young I honestly don't think he will dominate this league yet. Knight will be great for them as long as he can stay healthy and Redhage will always be good.

Finally the 36ers aren't going to win this year. Sure they got a great coach in Joey Wright but he will be the only difference. Gary Ervin could even make this team worse, as one less person on the team will be feeding it to their most dependable scorer, Daniel Johnson.

So for me. my beloved Breakers are the cream of the crop once again!

The bagging of Cadee and Creek is a bit harsh, they would still be in college had they gone over there. Give them time to develop, especially given they have both been set back by injury.

If the Kiwi team wins four in a row, does that mean they're allowed to rename it the ANBL?

If you picked Sydney in your top 4 oops.
I only got 5 of the 8 correct.