It's only Round 3.

Why would the NBL do an article so early?

Unfortunate to see a former MVP on that list.
Brisbane's imports are shocking.
Didn't realise Hall wasn't doing well must be blinded by the stellar play of Trimble.

Wear for sure.

The David Wear and Stephen Holt signings just didnt make sense no surprise they're struggling.

Wear hit some open jumpers. Improvement for sure, but still think he's a bad fit.

AGree with anon above too - I don't think articles like this should go on the official NBL site.

Yeah tacky that the league is buying into that bullshit.

I would have said Wear before the NZ game but he bought himself some time. Looks like hed be a low maintenance guy too which helps.

Havnt seen Holts numbers but you'd think he'd be more aggressive this year considering how passive he was last year.

I think Richard has class, differently keep him and Gee is obviously out of shape.

You can't come to Australia 5-10kg over your optimal playing weight anymore and expect to have success.

The articles overlooks that many of these players are clearly budget signings, and/or are role players.
No point bagging Cedric, who is doing an ok job running the point, unless you think they can afford somebody better.

The criticism of Holt also makes no sense. The article points out that he's playing a bench role, competing for minutes with Caddee and Gibson, then labels him a waste of an import spot?

Egwu's short-term contract with Brisbane has finished and he is heading to a gig in Malaysia I think.

The fact this article is generating quite a bit of discussion on social media shows exactly why the NBL produces it. Once media shows enough interest to generate this sort of content themselves the league would step back from it, but hoops isn't at that stage yet.

Egwu is an injury replacement and it is understood that has finished.

This article is like school in January. NO CLASS

If Wear isn't first gone which I don't think he will be then I'm going with Gee for first sacked.

Good point paul. As poor form as it appears to bag your own players and potentially discourage imports from signing here, they still need to produce this type of content because the media isnt yet. They still need to provide a service to the fans that want to read about this type of stuff that you cant get anywhere.

So far majority of media interest so far is mainly about Bogut and not much else.

Actually some fair points above about bagging & discouraging imports.

Different if the guys being discussed were the super stars on big bucks, but they're not.

Can you imagine the conversation: " Look we know you're not at your peak, but you know the league, and whilst we can't offer you much, it will be more than playing for BF in the G-League.
Oh, and by the way, the league will poor shit on you, criticise you for not scoring 20 points a game, and blame you when we lose.
By the time the NBL is finished with you, the only offers you'll be fielding is if your old high school needs a janitor."

Coming from the NBL itself is pretty bush league... I'd like to see the actual stats on the traffic of the article but I seriously doubt if it's anyone other than NBL hardcores talking about it and that's not nearly enough to offset the lack of professionalism that it gives off...

I understand the league's need to get content out there, but this is pretty low class.

The Bullets are a fully league owned team are they not? So the NBL are effectively publishing content that publicly questions some of their own employees.

Yeah, I don't think these articles are necessary. There are other fan-based sites that will happily pontificate over who sucks and who doesn't so there's no need for the NBL to do it to their own employees. Imagine being one of those guys and actually reading that article. You're trying to make your new job work out, you know you're not doing all too well just yet, and the bloody league itself drops a hit piece on you. It doesn't exactly scream of a place that you're going to promote to other imports. I'm all for Homicide talking shit on broadcast, and all for Shane Heal talking about who needs to step up, but for the league itself to commission a written piece specifically targeting imports seems to be beyond the pale.

AFAIK the only player the league employs is Brian Bowen, so as long as they're not running articles about him being in the hot seat I don't see an issue. Imports being replaced is a very real part of professional basketball, if an import isn't aware of that he needs a new agent!

I'm really like the NBL's comms style of embracing good and bad, generating talk and being the driver of a lot of their own news, it's a mature approach that allows them to generate more content that people find of interest, one way of the other.

Once this all dies down we here on hoops can continue on our merry way with our sack Wear, Deleon or Gee threads.
Imports will always come under heavy scrutiny no matter what.

I just read the article. It's more constructive and positive than the comments above led me to expect. Most of the player assessments were suggesting the players should have more time to find their games or the coaches should get them more involved in the team structures.

The reference to Moore maybe being under pressure lasting was placed in the context of new owners wanting a championship, which could make them quick to pull the trigger. A reasonable assessment of the context at the Breakers, I would have thought.

I don't see a problem with the NBL paying someone to write balanced articles like this and then choosing to publish them on the NBL site. As noted above, it's much less critical or one sided than articles regularly published on the AFL site, and it generates topics for social media to debate.

paul - in your experience how much do you think imports get in the Japanese league.

Watched a (pitiful) game here in a Tokyo last night. final score was 62-61.

I saw Ryan Kelly and Rob Sacre playing for Shibuya.

Made me think why those guys arent further south in the NBL as 3rd imports. Do they get paid better in Japan we reckon?

Ryan Kelly is shit

It depends on the club, player etc, but certainly I've heard of some good money over there.

That league is where the NBL was 25+ years ago, with all the money going to imports, whereas now good Aussies get a lot of the big money. You have to be a Randle/Cotton etc level player to get really big money here, whereas the 3rd import guys you mention would possibly be the budget signings here, as opposed to good coin in Japan.

Rick Rickert set up over there at the end of his career and got himself a nice retirement next egg, as did Chris Williams in Korea. He could have kept working really hard for the big coin in Europe but chose to get paid at a lower level without as much stress.

Maybe NBL could do an article on which commentator will be the first to get the sack?

No article needed. Paige will be the first to go

Don't worry, after another 2 or 3 bad performances in a row DeLeon will have 28 points on 8/14 contested 3s and buy himself 6 more games to do the same again.

DeLeon leads Adelaide in +/- so far this season, he won't be going anywhere for a while yet.

Cairns should have put a big gap in this one, Adelaide couldn't throw a beach ball in the ocean early, Taipans doing a good job of disrupting them but didn't capitalise at the other end.

Once the sample size gets big enough it's one of the best ways to assess value, it's all about getting ahead on the scoreboard after all. He's +8 in a tied ball game at 3/4 time tonight.

Once the sample size gets big enough it's one of the best ways to assess value

I wouldn't need to eliminate the noise. As a coach you take the plus-minus and investigate the why, as you do with all stats. But I can't see any competent coach cutting the guy who clearly leads his team's plus-minus unless there were off-court issues.

DeLeon had a stinker shooting the ball tonight.

But he was responsible for putting the ball back in the Sixers hands on at least 8 occasions - 3 steals, two charges, and at least 3+ forced turnovers. He was a beast defensively.

I used to detest DeLeon's game at the Hawks but he is really useful in Adelaide. Seems very keen to contribute defensively.