Considering there is no lowry or khawai, then yeah it's surprising how little attention their performance its getting.

Score?

No Lowry, Leonard, Miles, OG and Van Fleet and Melb getting blown out by 40?!? Yeh that's a way worse result than the Perth one.

Goulding and Ware will prove once again they are hard to play with, both gotta get theirs. McCarron like Blanchfield better suited to a Fearne/Bevo style system.

No ball movement and shit offense!

Perth were playing against a far better team, in their first ever NBLxNBA game, straight off the plane.

Melbourne were playing in their third game, having already had one under their belt on this trip (which was similarly lopsided).

Not that "but Perth!" is a particularly good argument anyway.

It wasn't a great performance BUT United WILL start the season as favourites. Very good and balanced team. I have finishing on top at the end of the regular season

If Prather was on that team they would have performed much better in both games. Kennedy's poor performance in Philly and absence in Toronto left a big hole, they need him to be a top-end NBL SF or they'll be up against it to win the title IMO.

They need to get rid of DJ Kennedy pretty quickly anything I've seen of him in games he's looked out of his league and United could do worse than try and coax Carrick Felix out of retirement.

That's some good insights from Anonymous! Moller is a far better NBL 4 than 3 & would have the speed to cause a few 4s havoc through that middle third. Let McCarron & DJ (or replacement Felix-like import) play the 3. Veterans Barlow backs up the 4, or anywhere as he's a legend! Boone & Pledger your main men at the 5.

But ultimately their O has to improve & not just be about getting Ware & CG43 the ball... ALL the other players need to be given a bit of a licence to attack!

On positive had been Pledger.. he's been huge & real strong on the pick & roll.

You forgot to mention that Toronto were missing all their stars.

"They were the champs, though?"

Yes they were, with Prather on their team. My point is the big question mark over Melbourne is whether Kennedy can replace what Prather and Felix provided. In the two NBA games they missed a quality presence at SF for differing reasons (injury and poor form) and they can't have that through the season.

Haven't seen much of United yet. But obviously, Wesley is a huge loss and if Kennedy isn't a stud then yes, United will struggle to repeat.

On this game, Toroto outscored United 52-38 in the paint and 28-18 from the line. Toronto shot well from outside.

Boone played limited minutes compared to what he will in the regular season (half the game- just under 24 mins in a 48 minute game), while McDaniel (11) and Smith-Milner (15) got lengthy stints on court.

So with Boone limited and Kennedy out, United was bound to have a tough time of it.

Yes, Kawhi, Lowry and others were out, but Ibaka, Valanciunus, Danny Green, Greg Monroe- those are seasoned NBA players while Siakam, Wright, Powell, are no slouches.

I think most people agree United appear likely for top 4- alongside Sydney, Perth and maybe NZ. But anything can happen- it's a competitive comp, and if anything goes wrong then United will be right back with the pack.

And by anything goes wrong, I mean: Boone struggles to recapture last season's form (he's 34 next month, looked proppy and sore at times last season but always played through it, just did a hammy), Kennedy isn't as good as billed, any of Ware/CG/McCarron get injured (Suddenly United's backcourt would look very thin with Hooley essentially the only guard off the bench), the chemistry just doesn't work with any of McCarron, Kennedy struggling to find their fit next to Ware and CG who take plenty of shots

etc etc etc

It's going to be an exciting season. Sit back and enjoy it. I expect United to be very good but there's so many variables and plenty of talented teams ready to take down the reigning champs. NBL 2018-19. Bring. It. On!

How was McCarron's pre-season? I only checked stats in one game and it was pretty weak off the bench. Any chance Vickerman grabbed him and now isn't sure what to do with him?

You can be confident that Ware and CG will play 30 minutes each. Kennedy or whoever his replacement is (if he doesn't work out) will play the Lion's share of the minutes at small forward.

So this leaves McCarron being a utility.