What happened to Randle?!

LOL

KINGS by 10.

only 1 import????

Yeet, Yees. David Wear is not even as good as our local Aussie/NZ players, therefore the Kings really only have Randle.

Would any other team in the NBL sign Wear as an import if he was released today? If the answer is no - then Kings only have 1 import in Randle.

Only Gaze and JVG would keep this guy.

Lisch not playing, was he injured v Adelaide?

Injured at training yesterday

"I don't understand why players continue to do unsportsmanlike fouls on fast breaks "

I reckon it's the nature of high level basketball. Players are trained to routinely foul opponents in an 'easy' scoring situation. In the heat of the moment, with time only to react, many revert to that conditioning.

Replace wear before it is too late for the new guy to learn everything.

Kings looking much better now Bogut is coach.....

Sydney still look fragile under pressure but I think it is finally coming together. Bogut should be given every accolade for this!!

If Sydney succeed, could the fans give Coach of the Year to Bogut?

The more I watch Bogut and I admit to being a sceptic prior to the season the more I see him as a darkhorse MVP candidate.

Am I the only one who sees this?

I want Sydney to make the GF, but that will make JVG look like a genius.

Is there any way for Sydney to do well but JVG to get the boot?

Hogwash, I don't think there is anything darkhorse about Bogut, he is a superstar!

@ paul - I think with the voting the way it is, Randle and Bogues will be taking votes off each other, compared to say someone like Cotton who is 3pts then daylight pretty much every game...

Is there any way for Sydney to do well but JVG to get the boot?

100% this... Hopefully people with half a brain will understand that just signing Bogues isn't enough to save his job, but it probably will... I just hope it doesn't save Gaze's... Although, to be fair, unless Bogues was calling the subs as well, I can't remember any time yesterday wondering wtf Gaze was doing...

Was my first game of the season and was a decent crowd (just over 8500 and looked it) but jeez, the CA really has to work to get them motivated unless something big is happening (or crappy cheeseburgers are on the line) - it's just Sit-on-your-hands Central...

I think that's got the be the most cohesive I've seen the Kings this season... Breakers just looked off, but boy, when those Bogut passes come off, they come off nicely... Was a really great spread of effort for the most part, and when Randle, Newls and Bogut are all on form, the others just have to hold their roles... Adnam held his own, Bowen obviously plays well against NZ and at the time, it felt like Wear actually did ok...

It seems like the players have sort of rallied around Wear a bit when he was hustling at times, perhaps for some sort of solidarity with all the talk outside of their circle of him needing to be replaced, which is all well and good, but both he and Kickert had 1 rebound each... Kicks didn't get his until he'd played nearly 16mins of game time... This won't wash against better quality teams... I'm not sure if it's just the style of the team or just a disorganised mess, but when Randle is your next highest rebounder behind Bogues, you've got issues...

All in all, a pretty enjoyable game to watch... Some great highlights, a couple of plays that if they were pulled off (that nearly full court pass from Bogues to maybe Adnam? and a missed Alley at the end of the game) would have been HUGE, but that Deng Deng 180 oop... wowsa...

I think the same Paul. He has exceeded my expectations but I still feel the MVP buzz is mostly centred on Cotton or Ware.

"It seems like the players have sort of rallied around Wear a bit when he was hustling at times, perhaps for some sort of solidarity with all the talk outside of their circle of him needing to be replaced, which is all well and good, but both he and Kickert had 1 rebound each... Kicks didn't get his until he'd played nearly 16mins of game time... This won't wash against better quality teams... I'm not sure if it's just the style of the team or just a disorganised mess, but when Randle is your next highest rebounder behind Bogues, you've got issues..."

Agreed. With Wear it is difficult to see them beat Melbourne and Perth.

Fair point Hogwash, Cotton started very well, is struggling a little at the moment having to carry so much of the load, but will still be picking up votes because he makes key plays the hurt the oppo, and coaches remember that!

Cotton is struggling a little at the moment?
He is the focus of the opposition defence and he's still leading us to wins. I don't know what is more MVP-worthy than that.

Shooting 12-of-36 in his past two games is struggling by his standards whichever way you look at it, losing key men around him was always going to impact, but as I said he's still making some big plays at the right time.

12-36 is far from bad considering the difficulty factor of many of the shots he's been taking, and more to the point, in the context of MVP voting that is being discussed here, he will have still polled serious MVP votes over whatever period you're defining as at the moment. (if that period is 2 games then that's being deliberately over-selective considering just 2 days before that period he put up league high 37)

Do we even know how MVP voting works this year? It's apparently different to last year, but that's all the information that's out there AFAIK.

Yeah I saw that mentioned too.
If votes are no longer being collected after each game then maybe we're going to a more NBA-like system ... which I would have mixed feelings about.

I don't mind the post-game votes, but I'd like to see it weighted towards players from the winning team somehow. Maybe a 1/2/3 point system, where the 3 point player comes from the winning team.

If it's the old system Trimble is probably a lock I would think, although with the NBA system I'd vote for Bogut (although admit my bias...).

Bogut sure looked like MVP here...... gets a few votes off him by other kings players ....as does ware .... while cotton got it to himself ...

If it's the NBA system it's pointless speculating because nobody is going to remember the October/November games come voting time anyway.

Yeah, and that's my main beef with it. That voters will naturally get lazy and just look at some lists of averages when voting, while also having the last 2 or 3 weeks worth of top performances fresh in their minds.

"12-36 is far from bad considering the difficulty factor of many of the shots he's been taking, and more to the point, in the context of MVP voting that is being discussed here, he will have still polled serious MVP votes over whatever period you're defining as at the moment. (if that period is 2 games then that's being deliberately over-selective considering just 2 days before that period he put up league high 37)"


Luuuc, I'm wondering if you actually read my comment, or just saw the word struggling and started typing.

I wrote that Cotton "is struggling a little at the moment having to carry so much of the load, but will still be picking up votes because he makes key plays that hurt the oppo", which is pretty close to what you've said above.

For mine it's a 3-way between Trimble, Bogut, and Cotton.
But Cotton is better allround than Trimble, and those clutch plays would have the votes going his way.

Will the Cringe factor count against Bogut?

At this point, I can't see Sydney getting past Melbourne. Be interesting to see how they fare against a fully fit Perth.
However Melbourne's Achilles is Ware. If he goes down they're fucked, and how long can they keep flogging him?

But I am still expecting Sydney to fade towards the end of the season

I really like how Cotton has improved defensively. He's gone from being an ok defender other teams would go at, to the point now where he's really embraced Perth's defensive culture and takes the lead. Definitely can't accuse him of being a one-way player now. Trimble on the other hand is really just an offensive force at this stage of his career.