damn

Seems logical to me being that Bartlett is producing and McDonald is a backup PG.

Isn't McDonald just shite... I dont even remember seeing him get on! Must be doing something right to be the one not cut. Barnett owes Bailey a beer or 2!

Bailey's contract had a team option this year from memory anyway.

If they didn't exercise their team option before the season, no one bats an eyelid and it's no big deal.

The NBL is a very high quality international league. Though it's a tough pill to swallow, it's the nature of the beast at the top level.

Bailey had some opportunities this year and didn't take them (4 turnovers in 15 minutes). It's as simple as that. Plus with Abercrombie, Te Rangi, Wesley, Vukona we are covered at the 3/4 spot.

We're not covered at the PG spot hence why McDonald stays.

Well, that just made the league a more uncomfortable place.

I suspect Webster will play most of the back-up PG minutes. Breakers again loom as the team to beat, oppo sides need to kick them while they're down right now because they'll be back in the groove soon.

All starts tomorrow though- need to smash Sydney and we're rolling!

NZ need to string together some wins fast so teams like Melbourne don't get too far out of reach but it won't be panic stations quite yet.

They at least now have the cattle to do so with Corey Webster back in the fold and highly motivated and rookie import Charles Jackson finding his feet in the last couple of games. If Bartlett can keep up his outside shooting touch he will be a nice luxury off the bench to keep the scoreboard ticking over.

There will be way less pressure on Ced Jackson with Webster and Abercrombie playing the wings allowing him to play his game which will hopefully feature less outside shots and more getting to the rack.

anon, are you not familiar with the term "cover".

Who is going to run the offence when Jackson sits on the bench?
Corey can for some sure but he would have started with Jackson and will be needed to put points on the board so he won't be able to cover huge minutes on top of his heavily defended SG guard role.
Bartlett is a SG with limited handles and passing ability. Sure he'll get a few assists and he can help break a press and shoot a few off the dribble but he won't run the offence.

Hence why McDonald stays.........

Bailey is cover for positions that have the most cover, SF & PF. TeRangi and Wesley will cover Abercrombie and Vukona and Bartlett and Charles Jackson can also cover those positions if required.

Also has a lot of competition on here for "most stupid comments"!

Webster back in really is huge for this team. I dont think they were going to have much chance of success without him coming back, and he will be beaming with confidence! Probably saves Charles Jackson too, if Webster had stayed gone, sure they would've been looking to upgrade the 2nd import spot!

Will be interesting to see how Bartlett responds to becoming second fiddle with the return of Webster, actually.

This game against Sydney could tell us a lot about where the Breakers' heads are at, though.

So far their four games have been disappoint, rebound, disappoint, rebound (even if they fell short, it was still a very high-intensity performance). Hard to win Championships when you're constantly rebounding like that. (Mind you, Hawthorn started their last two years out in much the same fashion before going on to win it all, so...)

yeah fair call Nathan but it's also only been 1 home win and 3 losses on the road so if they can turn things around and win all or as many as possible of their home games and snag a few on the road they'll probably be around the mark.

other teams have only played two games or three and haven't had to travel so much but it all evens out in the end. Hopefully with the overall standard stepping up other teams will also struggle to get over the line away from home (crosses fingers).

Fair comment also re: "Will be interesting to see how Bartlett responds to becoming second fiddle with the return of Webster, actually."
I did have the same thoughts. Luckily Corey's upside should make up for what ever falls away from Bartlett's game.

Bartlett was killing us with his 3-point shooting. If he can keep that up he'll be very handy off the bench.

I like Dean Vickerman but I certainly have huge questions about the recruitment of McDonald. Hopefully Shane kicks into gear soon and shows exactly why he was signed.

Anon,

I don't always support the coach, but then again when a team has won 4 of the last 5 championships and Vickerman won a championship in just his second year as HC, why wouldn't i support the coach and the franchise?

They must be doing something right?

It's fairly simple rationale really - they have earned my support because of their success. If you can't support a team/coach who has being that successful then you probably don't deserve to support that team.

But no I am not a "Breakers choir boy" - if you go through some of my earlier posts this year you will see that i fired some criticism at Vickerman for not been harder on Ced for taking threes; I was critical of the McDonald appointment too (and felt Kenny should have been signed). I don't think McDonald is up to it, but no point going up in arms about it now as the guys we really should have got are signed elsewhere (Kenny, Carter etc).