Might be wrong, but I suspect that the Kings will be like those recent Melbourne teams that were stacked but couldn't quite get it together. Whereas Melbourne now have two good team-oriented pieces in Jackson and Andersen that should help bring them together.

Couple of unknown imports for either team, so it's a chance to see what level they're at.

Wish I could've made it tonite, especially as it's back in my beloved Sutherland stadium!

Are the Kings planning on signing a 3rd import?

I believe Gaze is waiting to see how their other guys go first. He mentioned (in one of Boti's stories, I think) that they wanted support in the guard ranks, but if Bryson (I think he's their guard) can handle the ball, then they might hold out for a big.

Gaze said not likely at this point, but who knows.

Hope they are streaming this one..

The danger is always there, Isaac for sure, I just hope that the players we've signed will be the difference...

Kev will be leading from the front and while he is a superstar will be the example to follow in team play and toughening up on D... With Newls and Aleks, I guess the danger is that they might sit back a bit with not much to prove, but from the few little clips I've seen of training, I don't think that will be the case, and they don't seem the sort of players that will be out to get theirs no matter what it means for the team, which is what has been the case with United in the past, even though that worked out ok for McCrae in the end...

I know imports could turn out to be like that, but the vibe I get from Bryson is that he understands the benefits that performing well in a team and having the team do well as a reflection on him, hope I'm right...

No stream for this game, but the re-badged KingsTV crew will be streaming the game in the Gong on Saturday...

They could use a pass first point guard in the mix

My query on the Kings is whether there's enough ball to go around.

Their frontcourt is already very deep.

No probs, wonder how many views the Brisbane vs UCLA game got on the Youtube stream.

If it was a decent amount, they should market preseason game streams a bit more and then get sponsors / ads in with the results from view numbers.

Might get better productions with preseason games.

Wildcats.TV, KingsTV, etc could all benefit from the potential and local businesses can get a run.

NBL and Bullets Facebook pages did a decent job in promoting the Live streams.

That being said, would rather watch near full strength NBL teams go at it than a Depleted NBL team vs College Team, but will take what we can get.

Gaze said that they weren't expecting Childress to be in the team.

Anon, the crew that did the Syd Uni game is the old KingsTV crew re-badged... The quality of their work is great and the promo and stats and replay stuff they do is awesome, so it's really mind boggling why, with other teams actually doing it now, the Kings are stopping doing it...

re: Chill, I would have really loved for him to come back this season... he put in two pretty tough seasons and worked his butt off and deserves to be on a good team for once, but I guess it's up to him (or the amount of cash the Kings want to/can spend). Either way, I would really prefer to get a solid yes or no so the team and fans can move on... Cadee keeps poking him on the social medias asking him when he's joining the team, but no bites yet...

You'd think that there wouldn't be much of a spot for Whittington if Chill came back anyways, unless we use him as a back up 3/4?

Any live stats?

Stats here

Kings won 79-64.

Were Kings missing anyone? Had two imports, Newley, Lisch and Maric at least.
Hawks sat Ogilvy and were missing White.

Cadee 18, Lisch 15, Newley 11.
Harris 18, Holyfield 10 (12 boards and 4 blocks), Forman 8.

Hawks started Martin, Norton, Coenraad, Kay, Holyfield.
Kings started Cadee, Lisch, Newley, Garlepp, Maric.

Wow, interesting that Lisch played. Would have thought he deserved a couple of weeks off.

I see Newely's long distance shot percentage hasn't changed...

Anyone at the game able to post their thoughts on the imports? Reasonable first outings for the new Hawks duo. Kings pair looked to be limited by foul trouble?

@LV - Lisch had a few days off, first day training on Tuesday, but I seriously doubt you could have kept him away longer (or should have, considering it's 5 weeks until the first tip off)

The imports from both sides were probably used a lot less than what they'd normally be used... Bryson looks SUPER quick and was throwing down some really nice dunks in warm ups, so hoping he can get out and run a lot during the season... Whittington was a bit underdone and needs to get used to how the game is called down here. Had a few wtf moments, but should settle in ok... Hopefully he can keep up the solid rebounding as the rest of the Kings sucked at it...

Holyfield was monstering down low, even Maric was having a hard time of it, but he'll need to keep his fouls in check, as he picked up a few cheapies early on, as is a bit slow and lumbering, and I hope for the Hawks sake, his warm up shooting isn't indicative of what he'll be like as he struggled to make the hoop on some of his shots... The Rot was in warm up mode most of the game and didn't force things too much, but you just know that he will be a huge factor for them... Harris was nice to watch and when he settles in I think will be a great find for them... Had some really nice finishes around the basket...

Thanks guys.

Sounds like the Hawks might have found three solid imports?

Hammer, who was in attendance, tweeted that he liked 2/3 of the Hawks imports, so predictably random Hawks fans have been tweeting him back saying how much they love them all...

Hammer said 2/3 impressed him.

Harris top scored, and Holyfield was a huge presence on the glass and changing shots.

So that leaves out Rotnei, perhaps Hammer forgot the buckets Rotty gave him and the Kings a couple of years back. Maybe he doesn't think he'll be able to reproduce that.

So you'd kind of have to agree with those random fans.

No, Hammer said:

Hawks need work but I like 2/3 of their imports

So that could have been independent of what their effort was on the night, OR it could have been just related to that night... What Rotty has done in the past doesn't need to have any impact on that comment whatsoever...

For what it's worth, I don't think Rotnei got out of second gear that game, so he wasn't really very impressive, but we all know that when he DOES turn it on, he can rip a team to shreds (as a Kings fan I well remember) but maybe he didn't get an overall good feel from Holyfield (or was watching him shoot in the warm ups)

I think the surprise of the night was the player who snuck an Oscar mask on and threw down a very nice slammajam...

2nd Hawks Kings game on youtube now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03PAQOi-T3g&feature=youtu.be

Good stream.

Kings struggling for front court scoring with Khazzouh.

Luke Schenscher's love child playing for the Kings.

It's going to be a long season...

When Maric signed and there was a lot of hype (because Euro leagues are strong yatta yatta)I made I remark that he would be about as good as say Tom Jervis in the NBL.

Well I am one who readily admits it when I am wrong and how wrong I was.


Jervis is way way better.

Rotnei Clarke last played in the NBL in Shane Heal's final season coaching Sydney.

Rotnei averaged 27p on 44% 3p shooting as the Hawks swept their series with the Kings 4-0. Sydney missed the playoffs by one game.

I wouldn't be all that impressed with Clarke if I was Heal either!

3rd import couldnt come soon enough

When Maric signed and there was a lot of hype (because Euro leagues are strong yatta yatta)I made I remark that he would be about as good as say Tom Jervis in the NBL.

Yeah, I'll put my hand up for being excited when Maric signed and also for being underwhelmed so far... Not in red flag territory at the moment, as it seems everyone is still finding their feet and nothing seems to being run for the bigs (this is more of a concern) and with Jules still out, but when you're too close to having more fouls than points in both games (I can't go back to the livestats as they've reset) and way more than rebounds, then there's something wrong... Sure he was up against a half man, half mountain hybrid in Holyfield, but still seemed out of sorts...

There has been some talk of the imports not quite doing that much, but they've only been here a week and I think have picked things up well and look pretty comfortable... Whittington stepped it up in the 2nd half on Saturday and looked like the guy we need, Bryson as well looked to handle the ball a bit more and got his eye in a little bit more...

I think more should be being asked of our local players... Tommy, while not a superstar, has been pretty reliable to at least make those medium range jump shots, but absolutely nothing was dropping... Worse still was Newley who seemed more concerned with complaining to anyone who would listen than staying in front of his defensive assignment or scoring any of the points... Newls and Maric would be big ticket players and if nothing else, should be showing the hustle even if their shots aren't dropping...

To their credit, Cadee and Lisch have been the standouts in the two pre-season games so far and have stepped up... Watching #AussieKev especially is a joy... His hustle is awesome (nearly got taken out due to him chasing down a loose ball yet again late in the game on Sat) I just hope that he's got some help...

Hopefully the lack of anything resembling a plan at the offensive end is just a result of them trying to get their heads around the shuffle and it will improve with the concentrated 5 games in 11 days in China and be much better come the ABC, but it still didn't look good in the 2nd half on Saturday... Being in a nest of Hawks fans heckling Kev didn't make things easier to watch on the night, even a Rotnei airball couldn't have the favour returned as I didn't want to get beer tipped on me lol...

Looks like the Hawks recruitment is dynamic including Kay & Norton from Townsville and add the 3 Americans 2013 NBL MVP Rotnie Clark, ad athletic big Holyfield and super quick 2 or 3 Harris.
Martin in the second game at the Snakepit continued to show why he is one of Australia's best on court General.
Hawk fans are in for an exciting year

Looks like the Hawks recruitment is dynamic including Kay & Norton from Townsville and add the 3 Americans 2013 NBL MVP Rotnie Clark, ad athletic big Holyfield and super quick 2 or 3 Harris.
Martin in the second game at the Snakepit continued to show why he is one of Australia's best on court General.
Hawk fans are in for an exciting year

I didn't expect Maric to be a dominant player in the NBL mainly due to the difference in styles between our league and the European leagues, which tend to have a lot more skilled size on the roster. Maric is going to be at a disadvantage on D a whole lot when matched up against quicker players and is really going to struggle guarding the pick and roll.

I'd expect he's going to be in a reserve role anyway when Khazzouh is healthy, so I'm not too worried about it. Hopefully the China trip gives the imports a chance to gel, too, because I'd love Whittington to dislodge Tommy from the starting 5, and roll out something like: Khazzouh-Whittington-Newley-Lisch-Bryson(or Cadee).

I didn't expect Maric to be a superstar, but he's played all over the world in different leagues with different styles and was the first reserve for the Boomers behind Bogues, so it's not like he shouldn't be smart enough to adapt.

I was looking forward to a bit of toughness up front this season, as Jules is great, but it's almost like he's too nice and just doesn't have that killer instinct. Holyfield can't make a jump shot outside of the charge circle, but he's got that hunger to get to the basket either to throw it down or to grab the rebound... We need some of that intensity/hunger otherwise it will be much of the same as last year and the year before that...

Hopefully it all falls into place, but there needs to be a lot of work over in China pre-ABC...

Aleks is a role player who is a capable of playing a very specific role and not a lot else. That's all he's ever been in his pro career. He made All-Euroleague team back in 2010ish on d-boards and rolling to the hoop from on-balls for dump-offs and o-boards.

He hasn't done it nearly as well since, but I think he can still do it well enough to be a good NBL back-up. He'll need to be in a defensive system that keeps him close to the basket though.

So where does Maric sit on the list of NBL backup 5's.

Be closer to the bottom than the top I would think.

Says a lot for the strength of the league this year.

Seems like returning Australians from Europe towards the end of their career tend to disappoint while earning a high salary (especially the 1st year back).

Barlow
Helliwell
Damian Ryan


Kickert has probably been the best I can recall although I'm sure I'm missing many


It will be interesting to see how Newley, Andersen and Maric go this year.