In Cairns over weekend so went to Sunday game.
Gong at full strength(?), Taipans 7/11: no Trice, Weigh, Jawai or Wortho.
Eggwu must be a signing worry for Fearne. Not just hapless in unfamiliar circumstances, Nnanna is seriously ill-equipped for the game. Footwork and reaction speed awful. Candidate for first import back on the plane.
Gliddon held the show together, McCarron looks very useful, Loughton terrific and Edwin a good replacement for Craig.
Harder to gauge Hawks. Unless they were just cruising, they were far from dominant. Not huge minutes from Clarke, and he looked busy rather than commanding. Other imports uninspirational. Ogilvy used sparingly, even when on court. Martin and Forman quietly efficient.
Pretty blahh kind of game for spectators but coaches and knowledgeable fans might have seen something.

I know what you mean about Clarke, the couple of games I've seen him play, he's sort of coasted a little bit, but then it's like he flicks a switch and it's the MVP Clarke just like that... I guess pre-season, not wanting to show everything they've got...

What was the impression of Holyfield? Did he make any jump shots in warm ups? Clanged so many down here, and really needs to be in dunking range to actually have any chance of making a shot... Still, he provides something that the Hawks have been lacking in that seriously huge body... I think Harris has a lot more to give that we will see as the season goes on, will be keen to watch more of their games going forward, no matter how much that hurts as a Kings fan to say...

Harris must have impressed Bevo enough to have been hired. Whatever he has wasn't on display at The Fishtank.
Can't assess Holyfield either: Egwu would make KingPodge look good.

Taipans missed Bruce, no question.

Where did Harris fall short?

Greybouy the Taipans missed 4 out of their normal starting 5..... I don't know how you can assess that they missed Bruce given they were missing 60% of their payroll.

Eggs looked fine, especially considering the role he will be playing. He's still coming to terms with the game style but I didn't see anything that would be making me book plane tickets....

I know you enjoy your profound prognostications Greybouy, but it's the preseason... don't peak too soon.

Don't give Weeks structure.

Let Weeks be Weeks.

You make good points as usual Kingpodge, especially about it being the preseason. But that was my simple point re Weeks. Cairns would have looked tougher with Bruce in the lineup yesterday. Nothing more profound.
If I understand correctly, Taipans are doing a lot of their training on the road, minus the physically challenged, and Weeks has been late joining the squad. Always better when everyone is coordinated, and so I accept Weeks may prove a great replacement at point but Bruce would be handy right now.
Back before you became King, back when you were just a little Podgy, we used to try and hammer the basics into you. Like footwork. Egwu missed having a Ben Johnson in his early youth. It shows. I stand by this prognostication: he''ll prove a dud. Maybe a very nice human, as you might say, and a great team man, but for import money Kay would have been a better signing.

Import money ranges from $50K to $300K and maybe more. I don't know, of course, but I'd be surprised if Egwu is earning as much as Kay.

With respect, I've got to say that 'not peaking too soon' is a massive cop out. Teams and players need to show they can actually execute, the season is two and a half weeks away. Rebounding killed us yesterday and while there was no Wortho or Jawai, we could've been better. From memory we've done okay thus far in the pre-season, but we need to be consistent. And constant engagement from Egwu is a must. He is a bit of a worry, for mine.

Apart from half of the United game a couple weeks ago, I haven't seen any of the Snakes' pre-season games, but I will say that Weeks is nowhere near the basketball brain/point guard that Shaun Bruce is. Bruce's ability to run the show kept Markel Starks from receiving even more heat than he did last year, and SB was our only player last year who could run offence. Indisputable loss.

Isaac, Harris held my attention for so little time I can't reasonably comment.
Probably fair to say he didn't worry too many Taipans either.
Edwin looked athletic and assured by comparison, but apples and pears perhaps.
I did only see that one game, after all.

Eggs isn't meant to be the post threat that I dreamed I would be Grey, or the dynamic shooting guard that I also dreamed i would be..... his footwork in the post isn't that important, that's no the role he's there to play. He's part of the puzzle and, hopefully, when the entire roster is on the court he fits into that. He might not, you might be right... but.....

ABC is 4 days away, let's again talk then :)

I'm on the Sunshine Coast next weekend. So close but still too far to catch any of my United games,
So I depend on Paul/Podge, Manu, et al, to keep up comment on what they see.

Funny about personal bias. I've been mostly wrong about the home team but almost prescient about Cairns, that team abandoned so long ago.
Something about the culture, still familiar, still predictable.
As I said in an earlier thread, I hope they go on an early season rip like they did 14/15,
Won't hurt the League in the least!

I still remember your declaration that Wilbekin was a bust.... ;)

Games-specific King, when he had his mid season slump.
And there wasn't enough in him at the end to take his team past NZ.
Nor in Craig.

haha whatever helps your sleep at night brother:)

I'll be there, Grey. Got your back

And Podge, man without Nate, Egwu needs to produce or we're toast. It's a non-negotiable. If you're happy with your team being mediocre then you're a one-of-a-kind sports fan and all the power to you haha. But man, there should certainly be some accountability if you're an invested fan

I agree, i'm just not keen on writing the guy off 4 games into the preseason without a full roster.

Plus I've seen him play twice, as well as traing, and I don't think he's he didn't looked that bad. He's got work to do, but that's what pre-season is for.

plus he's not a back to the basket scorer, so he's not there to replace Nate.

I'm with Manu. I thought that Bruce was a loss for Cairns. And I wasn't overly bothered to see the Hawks lose Weeks - he seemed to lose his effectiveness with time.

I'd say come the season proper, given Nate is healthy, Eggs will come off the Bench with Trice, Gliddon, Foo, Wortho and Jawai starting.

Isaac, I think he started losing effectiveness when Martin came back when he had to adjust to a slightly different role. He's a totally different player to SB, where Bruce is a calculated high IQ baller, Weeks seems to be a whirling dervish of energy.

Weeks off the bench with McCarron - that's a great tempo changer to throw out and scare 2nd units. But, if you're looking for someone to run the team, Brucey is the better pick by far. With Trice and Gliddon (and McCarron's ball work) I think the piece are there to make up for SB's loss.

Yeah that's my thought as well. But you could say with the form AL is showing, he may sneak into the five depending on how much potency Fearne wants on the perimeter/how much space he wants to give Nate.

Then again, one of Wortho's best traits last year was the energy he brought, and it's probably something that's going to be needed in this starting 5. Loughton is an emotive guy but he's not exactly going to be playing lockdown defence or scrambling for a loose ball.

^I don't think we have any genuine PG in the second unit. Gliddon's less of a floor general than he's given credit for imo.

McCarron can run a unit, I wouldn't call him a 'genuine' but he's a solid combo. On the other end of the court though, defensively, Weeks and McCarron will be a nightmare on the perimeter.

Yeah they'll be busy as worker bees defensively, will be fun. With Egwu and Nate, and hopefully Trice, we should get our mojo back.

Another thing to note though is that there are 'floor generals' who can play point within simple systems, then there are floor generals who can play point in Fearne's system.

McCarron would have seen plenty of shuffle and flow at Metro State

That's what they run over there? Damn that's handy

So when is Nate expected back? All well and good to say with a complete roster, but if Eggy will be required to actually fill in for Nate for a decent length of time, there will be a reasonable expectation that he raises his output, surely?

It's hard to compare Bruce and Weeks as they are completely different types of players and I don't think Weeksy, with all his enthusiasm and hustle, can really be relied upon to run the team, so I sort of have to agree that the second unit is a bit lacking in the floor general department...

They're one of the teams I'm most keen to check out at the ABC this weekend though, will be overdosing on basketball for sure...

Agree with posters that say Bruce is a loss. I also feel Craig will be missed as well particularly for his rebounding.

Wookiee, Jawai may not be ready until Taipans first home game in Rd 4 although there is a possibility he could be ready sooner.

Wookie, fill in yes, but he's a different kind of player.

Twinkle, I think they'd keep him on ice until rd 1 to be honest. As much as getting him game time would be good, making sure he's 100% for those first weeks on the road would be a priority. Start the season slow but healthy?

My info is there's not really any thought of Nate being on the floor before Oct 27. He's too important a player for the team to risk him coming back a few games early.

Bruce will be missed as a cool head to control the flow, but he lacked a lot in terms of his (in)ability to get to the hoop. Weeks was brought in for that and his 3-pt shooting. Hopefully those things, along with his defence, will more than make up for his lack of "floor general" skills at the moment. Fearne has two years to get him where he wants him to be.

The other thing to take into account is that all of Gliddon, McCarron and Heuir are combo guards, and the Taipans offence relies more heavily on ball and player movement than one guy in particular to run the offence. So Weeks will always be on the court with at least one other guy with pretty good handles.

Egwu's tapes showed him to be most effective in broken plays around the basket, and shooting from the elbow. While I hate to have an offence revolving around jump shooting the ball, does anyone recall if they have played any offence featuring him in the high post?

Freethrows - I can't remember seeing a lot of that so far, but he's been playing lower with the lack of Jawai and Wortho. Given Eggy's mid range ability compared to his post ability, I imagine the optimal plan is to play him higher.

100% spot on that the combo situation, the more ball handlers the better with the shuffle.

One thing that hasn't really been touched on is the Gliddon/McCarron dynamic. With those 2 pushing each other in practice, I reckon we'll see Gliddon have his best season yet and McCarron is ROTY. (that's my obligatory verbose pre-season prediction).

Curious to see if we play small much with Weigh or Wortho at 5, Taipan's are in a much better position to play with a faster tempo (at least the 2nd unit) than last year.

@KingPodge - I'm with you on the Gliddon/McCarron enthusiasm, but unfortunately, McCarrno has already played a pro season in Spain, so isn't a valid ROTY chance, otherwise I think he'd romp it in...

ahhhhhhh I forgot all about that Wook. Lucky i hadn't called my bookie.........

Majok Deng is my pick for rookie of the year

I'll take the cut he would have taken :)

Isn't ROTY just a three horse race? Drmic, Deng (ADL) and Kenyon (BRI)?

Kernich-Drew looks the darkhorse then

The NBL wrote a yarn a couple weeks ago on Jawai's status.

http://www.nbl.com.au/featured-news/jawai-counting-down/

And it'd be nice if Egwu has the ability to pass. Potential high-low combo with Nate. Would be another string to the bow. And from memory, there were one or two passing highlights on an Egwu YouTube vid.