Was meant to be why arent foreign teams trying to sign him. Damn auto correct

He moves like a geriatric compared with Adams

Adams is stronger, faster & more athletic.

Because he isnt as good as your description portrays him. Adams has already proven he is worthy at the 12 pick.

Good to know others ideas. I personally rate the pledge no.1 centre in the nbl.

The knock on him from an international scouting standpoint would be: because he bobbles entry passes, can't score, isn't very strong or athletic on the international level, and has terrible footwork offensively.

There are obviously things he does well, as he's one of the top big men in this league, but the game is just getting smaller and smaller and bigs who can't shoot need to have a HUGE inside game to warrant a look-in in this day and age at the top level/s.

The pledge hammer is great!
Was only really last season that his injury greatly affected his game, he had been fairly injury free up until then.
He's still young for a Centre and still developing his game so really the best is yet to come.

still not good enough
needs to harden up & stay off the playstation & put in work . always injured , so what hes 7ft - 7ft1?

cant coach height

@ Mystro before anyone critiques his game, is the big fella over his injury yet mate?

I think he has the talent to be the best big man in the league but he hasn't been that yet but I think he will get there.

I hate the breakers as much as any wildcats fan but I enjoy the work of the big fella and think he will destroy many teams throughout the season

Pledger is outstanding for a 7'1 centre (or any big centre) at hedging and switching pick-and-rolls, which today is one of the most important jobs for a centre.

He is a solid low-post defender, good defensive rebounding, excellent offensive rebounder, good shot-blocker, ok mid-range shooter and decent at executing the high-pick-and-roll offensively, though the Breakers didn't utilise that last season as they did the previous year with less passing talent.

He doesn't have a good offensive low-post game, which is probably why some casual observers think he's useless. I don't see him ever being dominant in that area, few big men are, rather he is a guy you hit on seals or dives.

He needs to improve his touch around the basket, and he needs to be mentally tougher, if he develops a mean streak he will be a real defensive force, which we saw in patches the past two seasons.

Overall, he is a very good defensive presence and offensive rebounder, which makes he a very good centre when fit. Hopefully the toe injury isn't too serious.

"@ Mystro before anyone critiques his game, is the big fella over his injury yet mate?"

spent the last few months recovering from surgery on his ankle hence why he looked so rusty against Korea in game 1.
I don't think his ankle is 100% but good enough to train & play on and very unfortunate that he picked up that toe injury which is going to hamper his preparation for Spain. He just needed some time to ease back into his role and log some minutes on the court.

Totally agree with Pauls comments above.

Any Kiwi's remember when we had to rely on Tony Rampton or Ed Book to guard the paint?
Serviceable players for sure and represented NZ well on the International stage but they have nothing on Alex Pledger.
If NZ had an Alex Pledger back in 02 that WC's team (and a healthy Sean Marks down the stretch) they would have been scary.

It's easy to forget Pledger took up the game in his mid-late teens, a basketball coach from another school pulled over when he saw Alex walking in the street and told him he should to his own school basketball tryouts which were coming up!

Thank god for that guy. Now if only he could find us a couple of serviceable PG's.

Absolutely Anon, Cedric Jacksons passing game (especially his accurate lobs) to Abercrombie & Pledger will have the Auckland crowds out of their seats.

After last seasons disappointing results, getting Jackson back is huge. He will def have a huge effect on ticket sales and fan confidence heading into the season.