Most likely a.........an before a vowel

An asperate h requires "an" not "a" as the "h" is not pronounced. "an historic"

"The only thing that can stop the Kings from winning the title this season is the refs."

And a good old choke.

and a Bogut brain-fart or two

Injuries is a good one too, they aren't spring chickens, it would take multiple injuries though, would be rare for Lisch, Bogut and Newley all to go down at the same time.

Has anyone noticed how calm Will Weaver is?

FWIW, the NFL uses this metric to compare the relative strength of teams' draws in the run to the end of their season. The metric is the average winning percentage of opponents in the remaining games to be played.

Using this metric, the Kings have a relatively weak draw remaining. Their remaining opponents' winning percentages average to 45.8%. Only Brisbane (45.7%) and Adelaide (45.6%), have (slightly) weaker draws.

In contrast, Illawarra have the toughest draw remaining (55.4%), followed by Perth (54.0%) and Cairns (51.8%).

The other three teams are SE Melbourne (50.0%), Melbourne (48.7%) and NZ (48.3%).

So this metric would suggest Sydney are well placed to remain way ahead of the pack.

If Bogut and Casper stay healthy, Sydney should be the hottest favorites since...I'm not sure when.

Doesn't guarantee them victory.

But, they don't seem to have a weakness that is easily identifiable. Given we're almost halfway through the season, I'm not expecting one to emerge.

They're the real deal. The only loss they had was when Weaver and Didi missed the 2nd half, and Taylor was fresh off the plane. And they lost by 3 points.

Sydney have 2 players who are more valuable than anyone on United's roster. 2 players you'd rather take into a playoff series.

Since Cooks arrival Their roster superior to anyone's on paper. No question.

Pre season favouritism means nothing, no one knew how good Tate and Didi are or how the teams would fit together

No one knew whether Will Weaver was the next Dean Demopoulos or the next Brett Brown, or the next Goorj. We now know he can coach.

Casper and Trimble- They're both elite players. Trimble is elite at one end of the court but Casper is elite at both!

Long is a better scorer than Bogut obviously, but Bogut is better at everything else- rim protecting, defensive positioning, passing, screening, rebounding, moving without the ball

Do you take the 2 young guys,or the 2 experienced pros who've won championships in France, NBL, NBA?

Look, if United seriously had the opportunity to re- sign Casper, but chose to sign Trimble instead for the same money, then they're just bloody idiots

I don't believe that for a second though. Trimble is a kid who had one good season, he doesn't have a resume like Caspers, so he simply isn't worth the same money

And I should add, Trimble had one good season for a bottom team

#983 Ware wasn't "going that well" because he had switched off after setting up and catching Crudelli lying to him about salaries when Kennedy told him his contract amount. He wasn't going to play for Utd with Vince around.

Boone was cooked so naturally was cut.

Casper finished a close 2nd in MVP

Destroyed Sydney in semi finals

Less than stellar GF by his usual standards, although that was his D on Cotton was impressive

Not sure where you get the idea he "wasn't going well"

29 years old, first team all NBL last 3 years, elite at both ends, proven playoff performer, legend of the NBL

United lost their main man.

Melbourne's loss, Sydney's gain

Sydney clearly has the better roster and it starts with Casper, and Bogut too

LOL, the difference one round makes.

This round changed nothing

Sydney had nothing to play for, and got beaten by a couple of terms who are hungry and played great games.

They won't finish 25-3 either, they'll probably lose more games but they still look like the best team out there. Except in the eyes of a few rusted on Perth fans.

Sydney had a lot less to play for than their opponents

Theoretically every game is the same but we all know that doesn't match reality.

This is a bit like that age old debate about every minute and every referee decision being of equal importance. But, if every minute is worth the same, why does a coach rest their star player when their star has 4 fouls? (Mike Kelly notwithstanding after playing Machado in this situation vs NZ!). If the backup has 1 foul and can easily play out a quarter, why does the backup usually play, until the last 5 minutes of the game?

Some would say all the coaches are just wrong. Maybe so.

Anyway, Sydney- WIN, and you're 5 games clear on top. LOSE, and you're 3 games clear on top. Doesn't make much difference really.

Perth - Win, and solidify 2nd spot. LOSE- the immense pressure builds, the knives are out, you're only a game or 2 inside the top 4. Sydney maintains their psychological edge over you, and you start doubting whether you can actually beat them in finals.

Perth were always going to be hungry after being spanked in front of their home crowd, yet again

Sydney needed a wake up call, you learn more from losing than you do from winning. Weaver would be losing zero sleep over those losses

If you can't work out that "nothing to play for" was a shorthanded way of saying "Significantly less to play for than their respective opponents this weekend" then I really can't help you

Peak LV right here.

I love this forum

My general assumption is I'm communicating with adults who can comprehend English at a high school level, but apologies for over estimating your abilities!

You dont need to fight every fight LV, most understood you.