If feel like the grind it out, low scoring playing style of the NBL in the early 2010s suited him more. Game has speed up too much for him and a reliable outside shot is essential.

To me he doesn't seem engaged or interested.

Age, poor attitude/lack of effort, change of game style.

I thought Dean D got a bit too much blame for Cedric's fall from grace at United and that has been confirmed with every Hawks game I've watched this season. He was by far the worst of the Hawks three imports in that tournament in Malaysia. The guy genuinely looks like he couldn't give a rats about basketball anymore and I've noticed the lack of interaction with his teammates too.

I know the Hawks have limited funds but I think Bevo needs to cut him before his poor attitude spreads to the rest of the group. If they can't afford a replacement so be it addition by subtraction they'll be better off for it I think.

Cedric was always one player I never bought the "hype" about he played in a championship winning group that did it's best to hide his deficiencies in NZ whilst also benefitting from playing in perhaps the worst period of talent in the NBL in recent memory when the league had almost folded, was taken over by BA and the spending severely tightened.

Hawks need to cut him and bring in an athletic forward who can score, Jett, Naar and White can handle the PG duties.

Thought Joey would've had the best shot at appealing to him and getting his head right. Bevo a few years back might’ve had a shot too. You can wonder about age and the like, but if the attitude and effort aren’t there, what’s the point. I’d try a sports psychologist first, then a couple of other personal things with teammates, etc then cut him if all that failed. If the attitude was poor in a pre-season and initial games with no improvement, they might as well bite the bullet immediately.

Even if he can’t shoot, he should still be able to contain on D and rack up assists as a role player.

MHI....

He seems to have lost the eye of the tiger

The league got better and he didn't. Simple as that. You can't have a big glaring weakness and be an impact player here anymore. There are guys quick enough to contain his drive now. He has literally nothing to offer in this league and should be moved on while we can still remember the good times.

I'll start by saying that nobody in NBL history has been boo'd and jeered by me more than Cedric Jackson (I didn't see enough of Tim Morrissey) because I find it truly embarrassing to have your best player air balling free throws and 3 pointers on a regular basis but Cedric is a bloody legend and he is top shelf in terms of rebounding point guards and a tremendous passer, he will win Illawarra multiple games this season as he is on triple double watch and Emmett Naar will learn a lot from him, give Cedric until Christmas at worst.

People here are saying he can't shoot and he takes ill advised shots but he always has, he has also gone for intercepts and steals and tried leading fast breaks even when the opposition still had the ball (but he doesn't have a Dillon Boucher to pick up his opponent. So his gameplay has issues that have been successful and trying to post up other point guards being something he tried doing too much in Melbourne but he has a tricks bag as good as almost anyone in the league and as someone very fond of the Hawks, I hope that he delivers them outstanding performances here on out.

"Interesting question on Bevo, this season will show if he is under or overrated ... if his recruiting ability is any good or not. People rate him highly but I don't think he has impressed that much since returning to the NBL."

He's made semi-final and grand final in three years at one of the lowest budget clubs in the competition. Seems pretty impressive to me.

I wouldn't say its an age issue 32 isn't old but looking at where he has been for last two years playing in a minor league should be a cause for concern.

If the Hawks end up letting him go I think Naar could step up and they would have better team balance bringing in an import big even if he comes off the bench.

Why a few years back, but not now? Are you suggesting Bevo has lost the touch?

I'm sorry, have any of those touting Jett actually had a good look at the guy?
He's carrying a gut, his ass jiggles when he moves, and he literally shuffles around the court.
Now yes, yes, I understand they were all tired and needed a nap, but I guess that's the point. When you are obese and unfit you're going to struggle back after for a 2 game weekend.

People get spoilt looking at PGs who carry half the coring and forget that's not really their role.

Jackson and Elbows looked like the two sharpest Hawks on court. Yes he's older, but he's still sharp, and well able to play the role of backcourt general.
But he needs someone more dynamic to partner with.

Jett isn't obese for starters he was pretty much the same size perhaps a touch bigger now then when he played for the Crocs in 2015/16 when he won the team MVP & best defensive awards and he's looked much better than Cedric so far this season.

A lot of people underestimate Jett by how chunky he looks but he has no problem getting past defenders in his bursts to the hoop. Deceptively fast.

A poster above said Ced excelled a few years ago when the game was a grind out & slower - and that he can't play to the new faster style.

But I think the opposite - he thrived in NZ because they played an up-tempo style which allowed him to get easy buckets in transition or on primary offence (when the ball-handler would always get an OB screen to start the offence) and get easy assists by pushing the ball.

I remember him getting a lot of easy baskets in transition/primary offence.

He is IMO a lot worse in a slow tempo style of game because he doesn't have an outside shot, and he doesn't have the moves and reportiore of scoring when the lane is clugged.

Wait, why so much hate for Jett?

He averaged 14.5ppg across round 1 on 12/24 from the FG.

Played great defence on Ware in the Melbourne game and didn't get burned in the Perth game either.

I'd be inclined to be more critical of those players who had a stinker in the Perth game - Jett actually had 13 points on 5/7 shooting and 2/3 from 3.

The rest of the team (i.e. the whole other 10 who played had 48 points. Finger point them IMO.

NZ played both styles well, that's why they were so good, and Cedric was very effective in both, a great decision maker in the open floor and expert at using the ball screen to create for others. He was a superstar talent who could do pretty much everything but shoot from outside.

Since his knee troubles he's barely played pro ball, so time will tell whether he can get back to a good level at age 32, but I think after that amount of time it's unrealistic to think he can get back to his best, which was often just plain dominant, even against Martin and Perth.

Was like the modern version of D-Mac. A pleasure to watch him play, I hope he can at least get back to some solid form this year. We won't know for a month or two I reckon, he's been away from this level a while so it will take time to get his groove on.

paul,

I miss that 2012-13 season. We went 24-4! and as noted above, Ced was virtually unstoppable.

Funnily enough, 3 of the 4 regular season losses were to Perth. Even more astonishing is that Perth absolutely clapped us in those 3 games (margins of 21, 25 and 15 points!). The one game we won against them in the regular season we wont by 17. Could never believe how much the margins were for what was two evenly matched teams.

That year, NZB went 23-1 against everyone but Perth.

Nostalgic!

Two of those three years they beat Wildcats teams missing a top-three player, both times coming within a few seconds of dropping a game - and in 2011 they got absolutely smashed in game one.

The only year NZ played Perth in the playoffs and Perth were fully healthy, the Wildcats won the series.

Perth dickz would have been bigger than NZ dickz for sure if only they were 3 inchez longer!

Didn't mean to turn it into a Perth vs NZB argument - its been rehashed too many times on this forum.

My simple point was to talk about how good he was (Ced) and how good the team was that year - and also to point out how damn good the Wildcats were. End of.

How is he different from the great NBL guards - Randle, Cotton - the ability to shoot. His handles and athleticism is on par, if not better.

Yet to see full games, so going on second hand info, but enough people have mentioned that he looks disinterested. If you don't have a shot and you're a step slower, you can still, easily look interested and put in the effort.

I suspect skull at the top might be somewhat right, which is why I'd have been throwing offcourt support at him from the beginning of pre-season.

Yeah I wouldn't say he is disinterested. "Frustrated" is probably a better term i.e. he actually takes pride in his performance and is itching that its not working out as of now.

Having a guy go to the bench and throw his towel on the ground and shake his head, look angry etc is not a bad thing (which is what he was doing in that Melbourne game when he was subbed out) - just proves his own frustration/disappointment with his performance leading to him being subbed out [not necessarily that he is pissed off with the club etc]

I think that reaction from Cedric was after he picked up his fourth foul, forcing him out of the game. You'd hope to get that sort of reaction.

"Jett, Naar and White can handle the PG duties."

Thanks for laugh Yarra Lad!

Thunder Jam, not such a silly suggestion. Have a listen to the Basketball Blokes podcast they are thinking along exactly the same lines.

Ultimately all the Cedric haters need a good dose of common sense.
Relative to the rest of the league, Hawks are clearly being run on an even smaller shoestring than usual. Do you think they'd have Cedric if they had the money for anyone better?

At 32, he's obviously not the same player he was 5 years ago. But he was always a PG, not an SG or combo. At his best he lead the league in steals and assists, but never points.

What even is a shoestring anyway?
I hope I find out before my wristclock indicates that it is bed time

Smaller, or Shorter shoestring???

Did the 6ers have a Shorter shoestring last season???

So many questions

Now the league is full of quality players instead of the shambles it was in when he was with NZ Jackson is being shown up.

^^ Sorry, that was me, not sure why name didn't show up.