Any chance Ben Madgen wants to come back?

Madgen's in Lithuania his team is 2nd on the ladder and is leading the team in scoring in EuroCup games and 2nd on his team in scoring in the local league so probably unlikely.

Maric/Khazzouh or import
Import 3-4/Garlepp/Moller
Newley/Steindl
Lisch/R Moore
Cadee/Carter

I wouldn't include Moller ahead of an import, that would be crazy, but I definitely agree that when given a chance, MDW and especially Moller performed above and beyond what would have been expected of them. Also can't fault the bench last season for sure, Gaze paid the prize for over working his starters, that's certain...

Madge seems to be loving it overseas... He's doing well on court, is a step up from last season and could be likely to take another step up next season as well... Probably wouldn't fit properly in the team as it is anyways, you'd think... Lisch and Newls would cover either of his potential positions and it's a bit of a waste having any of them coming off the bench (even though I have been complaining about bench depth)

Can't disagree with Pauls potential lineup except the PG spots... The Kings can't perform to their best without a proper PG... They looked a complete mess on the court with zero guidance at times last season, was a shambles! Before anything else, need and experienced on court leader that Gazey can trust as much as he trusts Kevin, otherwise Kev will just get burnt out (again) and we'll miss the playoffs again...

Their backcourt is fine, as early in the season showed before they hit the wall, they just need better depth on the bench.

If WMW comes back then great, for some reason I'd just assumed he'd head elsewhere but would really like to see him develop in the NBL.

Why did they hit the wall though? Wouldn't an experienced PG be able to take the leadership, ball handling and some of the defensive responsibility pressure off of Lisch?

Lisch got SERIOUSLY burnt out last season and it was detrimental to the team... I don't see how having Cadee start and bringing in Carter fixes that problem (probably makes it worse). Bringing in Sanders (for example) sets the tone from the start, can bring Cadee off the bench in either spot and it still frees Kev up to do what he does best... Bench depth, stronger defence, takes the pressure off Kev... Win/win/win...

Sanders^ / WM-W
Lisch / Cadee

Looks to be a stronger backcourt, but I fear though, it's a case of agree to disagree :)

If WM-W comes back, that would be great (could still be a dev?), but like you I assumed that he might not be back. There's the potential for him to be trying college again next season isn't there?

A concern though is if Jules isn't fit to return... Maric / Khazzouh is all well and good if everyone is healthy and fit and locked in mentally, but what if he isn't?

Does Garlepp move to a back-up 5 and we go small again with him splitting those minutes that Maric isn't on court with the starting import 4/5? I thought Trist would have been a nice pick up when he left college before he went to Spain, but now he's playing in Denmark? No clue about that league, didn't we get Duinker from there when he came back? Hopefully that's not an indication of his playing level atm :(

Sanders^ / WMW
Lisch / Cadee
Newls / Steindl
Import 4/5 / Jois / Moller
Maric / Garlepp

Has some upside... I think fans would love Jois, seems to work hard and get some nice hustle plays and doesn't seem like he'd take the foot off the gas at either end... Decent mixture of experience and youth, some growth for the future, but enough old heads to keep the ship steady. Some marquee level talent but also some more dedicated role players that should be able to be relied upon to do what they need to do for the betterment of the team...

Now if only we could get an experienced head coach... sigh...

Enough of the burnt out excuses! They play once a week,twice every now and then. Please!

Randle at pg?

"Enough of the burnt out excuses! They play once a week,twice every now and then. Please!"

You do realise they don't sit around between games! The issue is the Kings backcourt didn't have the same support as the players they were playing against, that leads to burnout.

well you can add Blanchfield to the roster now

It's official: http://www.nbl.com.au/uncategorised/sydney-bolster-back-court-blanchfield/

Massive signing. With Newley, Blanchfield, Lisch and Cadee on the perimeter, now they just need a good import guard and they are set in that department.

Blanchfield is an interesting signing. Criminally underutilized in Melbourne, but on the surface it's a strange fit in Sydney too and I guess that gives us:

Lisch/Cadee
Blanchfield/Cadee
Newley/?
?/Garlepp
?/?

So no import PG most likely. As good as Lisch is in general, I just don't think he's a floor general by nature.

Holy crap... looks like I'm on the Blanchfield bandwagon now...

Enough of the burnt out excuses! They play once a week,twice every now and then. Please!

I half expect us to go on a run of signing swingmen again now...

That's a really strange signing for both Sydney and Blanchfield. Does he play 2 or 3 there?

Lisch/????
Blanchfield/Cadee
Newley/Moller
???/Garlepp
Maric/Khazzouh

There's still room for another import in that list. Maybe a starting 5, with Maric coming off the bench if JK is not fit to play, or they simply no longer want him.

Does Blanchfield start, or come off the bench? Maybe Gaze wants to give Newley more of a rest and bring him off the bench, to provide some punch when Lisch is off the court.

Lisch/???
Cadee/???
Blanchfield/Newley
???/Garlepp
Maric/Khazzouh

I think it's all strange, because neither Lisch nor Cadee are really PGs, and now they have signed a guy whose best years in the league were as a 2 in Townsville. Maybe Gaze doesn't see his offence as requiring a true PG.

Ask Gaze and LC. Shuffle don't need PG's. After all the mighty Tigers didn't need one.

Maybe they will get out of the 70's/80's one day.

Agree with Paul, Blanchfield addresses the need for depth in terms of perimeter offense. Kings just need the usual NBL staple of a quick scoring import guard for a strong backcourt.

Even with the anticipated expanded NBA roster, there are plenty of those scoring, small guards on the market. Doesn't always have to be Randle, Ware, etc. I personally would like to see JVG nab someone like Shane Larkin or Pierre Jackson.

Also love Wookiee's idea of recruiting Jois. I reckon his Baltic league stint is a disappointment with lack of playing time. If he wants NBA scouts' attention, he would do much better back home, particularly with an offensive minded coach. He may even get to start for the Kings with that empty frontcourt.

The Kings need a facilitating PG import like a Ben Woodside type.

Mind you, teams running the shuffle won in 06, 08 and 09, and came runner up in 2011. What they did well was quick hit out of the shuffle though, not try to run too much of the intricacies.

2009 Paul? Wasn't that the Goorjian South Dragons with Donta Smith? I think that was the 5 games GF with the Tigers as runner-up. Tigers championship years are 93, 97, 06 and 08.

2011 was the first Lemanis' Breakers championship and runner-up was Taipans. Pretty sure Fearne didn't run the shuffle :).

As for how successful the Tigers/shuffle really is, it has taken them to 8 GF appearances and 4 championships out of that 8. The only team with more GF appearances and trophies in the NBL is none other than the Wildcats, 8 wins out of 13 GFs. Come to think of it, I should stop bagging the shuffle... ;p.

I think Blanchfield is a great signing as long as he comes off the bench! Although the Kings must've offered him a lot of money for him to come here as he will most likely be playing behind Newley.

Any ways I don't think he'll be starting as it's pretty clear that we need an import PG, and Lisch/Newley are not coming off the bench.

He'll be great for our depth tho, just be able to come in and hit a few shots and play some defence. I originally had the backup SF as our third import spot so not sure about the exact depth chart, but this would be an ideal team IMO.

Dillard or Ware / MDW
Lisch / Cadee
Newley / Blanchfield
Import / Garlepp / Moller
Boone / Khazzouh or Maric

I'm not really sure who we'd get as our starting PF and truthfully I don't like the idea of JVG picking our imports, however I don't like the idea of Garlepp starting either. The import selections should be very interesting... we better not fuck up and opt to keep Lisch as our starting SG again.

Starting PG you mean, Rex?

But yes, I agree with you and that lineup is pretty solid and I think now the two key focuses are Import PG who can facilitate and defend, and that 4/5 spot...

I'm not keen on Tommy starting either, I think once he sorted his role out on the team last season, it worked out ok for him...

I really home Maric is retained in the end and it's just a numbers thing, as him starting really takes a load off... All comes down to Jules and if he's fit to come back and will actually work at it and not coast... He's out of contract and I don't think that many other teams would be rating him that highly... Still injured and hasn't played in a year and a half...

If Tommy moves to back up Truck and we can squeeze in Jois between an import 4/5 and Moller, I think that would be awesome...

#DeathToTheShuffle

I think if the Kings can't land a big $ PG, Woodside would be the perfect fit!
Great general.

The NBL would have their pick of Breakers PGs from last season after the bad luck they suffered!

Woodside would have recovered by now, wouldn't he? Doesn't look like he's picked up another gig based on a quick look of eurobasket...

Yes Steve, the Dragons ran the shuffle very well in 2009 (laughed when Goorj said post-title he couldn't believe it had taken him so long to see the light after trying to defend it for so long) and Fearne ran the shuffle as his main offence for years, and still uses it at times.

Goorjian actually said that? Real cheeky of him, especially vs. Tigers too :). I didn't see much of the Dragons back then save for that GF series.

Never realized that he was running a shuffle since his imports and Jingles tend to shoot or slash early in the halfcourt sets. My memories were vague but pretty sure except for bad plays or slowing purposefully, his offense was executed very fast with only 1 or 2 passes.

He became a fan of four out offences at Sydney and then I think after what he and Gordie McLeod put together offensively at the Beijing Olympics he decided the shuffle was for him. He found a really nice balance of using the shuffle's strengths without getting bogged down in it.

^
what do you mean?

The Taipans run a shuffle set on occasion, but it's just one of a few different things they do... It's THE thing we do in Sydney. It's not so much a problem of the shuffle itself, it's using the same shuffle action on 95% of possessions, and relying on Lisch or Newley to do something once the shotclock starts ticking into single digits.

True AngusH, every team will incorporate some form of motion into their playbook that can likely trace their origin to the shuffle. But Sydney's? Well, near the back end of the season, Sydney's shuffle was so predictable you could see it starting like a slo-mo car crash.

I have the feeling that not too much will change in the new season, except Gaze will have the chance to select players that will make his shuffle looks less like a car wreck.

On his personal FB?