Cairns looks legit!

I was pleasantly surprised with the Hawks, especially the control of the boards in both games. That is not something that you could have said in many many years.

Melbourne haven't worked on beating a zone defense at all during the preseason.

Cairns look really good, surprisingly good and not just Wilbekin.

Cedric Jackson has not missed a beat, amazing game on Friday night. Too early for MVP favouritism?

Carson and Ervin look like a good pairing for the Hawks backcourt, was wondering if they could work together and so far so good.

Bit of a personal one, how good was Rhys Carter?! Man, I love watching him play when he shows up like he did on Friday night!

Rhys Carter was a great pickup for NZ and while his outside shooting may fall away in future games, it was his passing game that most impressed me.

I agree that Cairns were great as a team, their bigs were getting great position inside and made Melbourne pay for failing to guard their pick & pop offence all night. Young Shaun Bruce didn't look at all out of place in the NBL running his team with the starters on the bench either.

Cairns are better than I thought they'd be. Wilbekin is great and the frontcourt all seem to be fitting their roles. I think Burston is key, bringing what they missed without Crosswhite previously.

Melbourne obviously still have issues.

With NZ, seems that Jackson could be enough to fix what went wrong last year.

After game two, fears over Adelaide's demise may be premature if Montreal can contribute and the rest settle. Doubt we've seen the best from Creek too. Good to see the adjustment to start Schenscher.

Montreal proved last night that he's starting to find his feet and he's super effective

Yep, credit to Wright for going more with Schenscher/Anthony at centre with the Petrie-Montreal line-up on at certain times for speed rather than being a staple.

Anthony plays a bit of centre internationally, there's no reason he can't hold that spot down the Schensch in the NBL.

Cairns were ready to roll and have certainly put the challenge down. NZ have a completely different defensive system and mindset.

Perth weren't ready to play, Townsville ran out of legs in both games, Melbourne were putrid and need Dennis to feed their array of finishes.

Sydney and Wollongong both played ok but also had some bad defensive lapses. Hard to gauge them just yet but with a lot of new players you'd expect they have a bit of improvement in them.

Sydney without Childress would be a chance for the spoon so great signing for them

Wollongong look like they have come together really well, Carson and Ervin should get better with a few more games and Nevill has probably practiced with the team 5-6 times, so expect big upside there.

Crocs looked very average, Gladness looked good at the Blitz but not in the first two games. Jury is out on them because of that.

Melbourne, what can you say ... was ugly ! Shouldn't be ugly, we'll have to wait and see.

Taipans have the consistency of returning players and a great import pick in SW.

Too hard to say about Perth, assume they fire up, their game against Wollongong this Friday will be very interesting.

NZ fired up will be hard to beat at full strength.

Perth really need to have more pre-season games included in their schedule. That was a deplorable way to turn up against a NZ team that doubtless wanted a touch of revenge for the 12/13 season opener.

Melbourne, sheesh, I would have thought they had the outside shooting to make Cairns pay but guess not.

Townsville - Was disappointed in them this weekend. Especially after their good blitz. Have a tough schedule coming up too.

Cairns - Good solid team with Wilbekin as the star. Played really well and have good chemistry. Need to take care of home court this year unlike last year.

Sydney - Will go as far as Childress takes them. Impressed with Garlepp too he has improved immensely since he's been in Sydney. They need more production out of their bench.

Wollongong - Played well both games just ran out of gas on the back to back. Nevill gives them size like they've never had. The best team on paper they've had.

New Zealand - Jackson and the depth inside is the difference from last year to this year. Looking forward to seeing them with Abercrombie and Wesley should be better soon.

Melbourne - Extremely disappointing performance for such a talented vs Cairns. Their zone offence is pathetic and they lack toughness inside. Dennis could help them though I think.

Adelaide - Disappointing first match better second. Good solid team however they lack the star power. I like the look of Wilson with Adelaide and Creek has improved.

Perth - Outside of Redhage and Hire they looked flat first match. This week could make them hungry though.

United - Major disappointment...no zone offence? Wow you'd think that in the 3 month preseason the coaching star that is Anstey might have put something in place!

Cairns - Look like a solid well rounded team. SW could be a huge find for them with Loughton looking healthy again they are dangerous!

6er's - They will be solid, DQ has shown enough early to show he could be a 18 & 8 guy at the 3.4 spot & Creeks offseason in the SEABL looks to have given him confidence to really be a focal point, its like he isn't far away from being a real force. Also I think Joey will find line ups that work so it ain't all doom & gloom.

Gong - they'll be there abouts...good coach and both imports look solid with Nev and Oscar working well. In a few more weeks and with LD later in the year they will be real tough.

I'd just like to drag attention back to Mick's statement last year which said Rusty Hinder is as good as Alex Loughton haha. Remember that one? *just playing, Mick

Not wanting to take the wind out of the Taipan's and Loughton's sail but he's only as good as his 3pt %. He makes some pretty ordinary passing decisions in games and is not a strong rebounder.