What is a troll? Someone who disagrees with you or says things you don't want to hear? Unlucky. Stupid title.

Hill and Garlepp have almost identical on/off plus minus this season - actually metrics across the board are pretty similar (including rebounding) regardless of which one is on.

[Garlepp on Kings are +7, Garlepp off Kings are +35]
[Hill on Kings are +8, Garlepp on Kings are +34]

Garlepp's played about 3 times as many possessions though. I don't know if it'd be any great advantage playing Hill more, but I definitely agree signs indicate it wouldn't be a bad thing either.

I think Blake has to just try and lead the second unit without lisch being on the court. I've noticed Gaze trying to use him in the off guard role that doesn't seem to suit him. There's been evidence of his NBA level play making and court vision so i think he needs to focus on running the point more.

It's interesting how much our league has changed and how much harder it seems to be for imports to adjust to it.

I'm a big Hill fan too. I'd like to see him go elsewhere if he doesn't get a go this year as i think he has promise.

Hill may well end up back in Cairns, next year. The Taipans will be without Worthington, who will retire, and possibley Loughton, although his contract extends to 2017/18, so he may cling on for another season.

"It's interesting how much our league has changed and how much harder it seems to be for imports to adjust to it."

Over what period of time are you talking? To me it looks like Blake is playing very rushed, which is what a lot of NBL defences try to do to you. Dave Andersen is suffering a bit the same way.

No nonanon, I'm happy to hear differing views. I believe that is the point of a discussion forum. If I was only interested in my own views I wouldn't post on a public forum.

But I expect some basic manners and something vaguely constructive or literate, so something unlike your useless whining.

@ andrewbprice Where did you source the plus minus stats from? Or did you do them yourself.

I don't think it is a move which will blow games open for the Kings, but I think it could allow them to squeeze a little more out of their offence, especially when Khazzouh is back in the lineup. Worth experimenting worth imo.

Paul, I can't give you an exact timeline but there's no doubt the grinding defensive style has been the most successful lately. Historically i think many imports have found a home in this league when given the freedom to take over and be let loose. Maybe it's harder to do that now in some teams ?

Disagree ?

"no trolls"
The perfect way to attract a troll

@Master CHief: "many imports have found a home in this league when given the freedom to take over and be let loose. Maybe it's harder to do that now in some teams ?"

Torrey Craig is a good example. He has freedom to move in Lemonass' system and his numbers are showing how much better he can be. Whether this is helping his team any more is a different question.

Perth have really brought the smothering defence style into vogue over the last five or six seasons, and it's something Aaron Fearne has always attempted to achieve.

@Master Chief, why do you put a space between the end of your sentences and the question mark? You don't do it with full stops. It makes it harder to read what you've written, and I do enjoy most of your thoughts, so please stop.

No, I definitely agree, I'm just always interested to see other people's views on how the league has ebbed and flowed over the years.

When the league went to eight teams and 40 minutes things definitely changed, more teams started taking defence very seriously, benches got deeper allowing higher intensity of D and, with less teams to scout, coaches could have more of an impact with good defensive planning.

Now with the depth of talent added to the mix over the past three-four years it has made teams very capable defensively.

A similar thing happened in the late 90s, the league dropped to 11 clubs, our first big waves of talented youngsters came through and all of a sudden we went from effectively a league mixed of pro and semi-pro teams to a mostly high standard of teams across the league.

Games became more intense and scoring tumbled as teams had more players capable of playing D at a high level and deeper benches to keep defensive pressure higher throughout the game.

The thing with Blake is, although he's viewed as an NBA talent, he doesn't possess the athletic advantage other NBA guys like Childress, Ennis, Young etc have had here.

So to me I think he comes in like any other import PG, and at his age he is certainly finding the league tough to keep up with at this point. It will be a while before we can really judge though, he has to find his feet.

Paul, the other obvious thing is that there's more of an emphasis on securing Australian talent with less teams. Imports now find themselves more as role players and balancing minutes with the equally capable Australian players. Not in all cases, and maybe not as much this season, but certainly over recent times.

The quality of player is still there and perhaps even better but it just feels different than it did with the old combos of Farley & Rychart or Franklyn & Williams with they kings, just to name a couple that come to mind.

I don't think Blake is too far off the pace. Even in as long a career as he had in the NBA he would've seen very few trapping D's. Teams just don't play it that often. Out here its prevalent. He needs to make some adjustments to the pace that makes a PG play at for sure.
His shot hasn't been disgusting. I've heard he's putting in the work. Different balls/smaller stadiums etc. All takes time for a shooter to get adjusted to. I can see someone paying big time real soon when he goes off one night.
Overall still very happy with the Kings imports. Poster above is right about the inside game and I think Powell could be featured more in the post.

@Master Chief, I agree. I think the standard now is the best it has ever been, equal with the period around the late 90s, early 2000s because in both periods you have quality local talent and quality imports but many of the imports are brought in to play roles (probably only Randle, Prather, Jackson, Clarke, Harris and eventually Trice are more than that).

When imports aren't above the level of local talent it means they have to fit well in the team system before they can have an impact.

@keenobserver i have software that scrapes the fiba stats. There's a bunch of the data on my website, but the lineup +/- has been bought by a team this season so it's not free to share the full dataset sorry

Kings have played 9 games now, that's roughly 1/3rd of the regular season. Pretty clear by now, the 'stars' of the team are Lisch, Newley and Whittington.

Gaze needs to start being a bit ruthless with everyone else's playing time outside those three, especially with the 'problem' he's having now of not enough time for so much talented, deserving guys. Stop trying to stroke egos and start demanding consistent performances from the core rotation of Maric, Cadee, Powell, Blake and Garlepp if they want greater share of the available playing time.

Prewster and Hill pretty much are just 'afterthoughts' atm, with Khazzouh coming back real soon as well. If Gaze wants to give everyone their fair share of opportunity then start benching the core rotation if they don't deliver within one half of a quarter or they start doing bonehead plays. With over-abundance of supposed talents then why not take advantage of it?

Take that last game vs. the Bullets, Powell was having a stinker of a game but Gaze didn't put in Hill until they ran into foul trouble with the bigs. IMO that was a good chance to give Hill more playing time and inserted into the game earlier.

@andrew certainly an interesting website, well done. It seems the NBL is moving towards the advanced analytics which are now so vital in the NBA.

On Blake, he seems to have had quite a few shots rim out. His mechanics look good. He shot above 38% in over 800 games and was still shooting well in the NBA last year so I think it is very likely his shooting in the NBL will improve markedly from what he has done so far.

What's the ETA for Khazzouh? Looking forward to him back in the league.

Late November was the last ETA I heard Wilson