Please let United's undefeated season start with this loss.

Good write up but no mention of Landale's undefeated prediction? I think that prediction might go out the window in Game 1 of the season. I could see the Sixers jagging this one after all the training camp interruptions in Melbourne due to the lockdown etc.

Sixers by 6

Can't wait to see how Adelaide use Josh Giddy. At 6’8" he’s going to cause some major matchup problems. McCarron / Ili just won’t have the length to go with him. The Landale v Humphries head to head is also going to be interesting.

While Daniel Johnson announced Captain, today.

God no.

Not DJ.

Give it to Teys.

Co -Captain = Teys

Yeah... "United's undefeated season" I didn't want to burst their bubble too quickly

[A diet of soy latte and organic tofu burgers should see them ready to pounce.]

That's a good one.

Never heard it around here before.

Jack Toft, I missed you.

always enjoy your write ups

anon 531 obviously hasnt been here for very long...

Whats the crowd capacity 50%?

Will be interesting IF that plays a part throughout the season too

oooh, getting that NBL vibe again reading gold from Jack Toft. Love it mate

Whats the crowd capacity 50%?

75%

Pinder starting over Humphries

Is this on sbs on demand is it just me who can't find it?

yes it is keep scrolling through the options on the front page, the NBL one was about three clicks in

thanks zodiac - appreciate it

got it ....had a bloke look

Humphries is struggling a bit

I don't see a lot of spacing amongst the lower bowl.

Miss Nicola won't be impressed.

That's Saint Nicola to you!

Does this mean NBL will be big in Japan now?

Giddey is a bit good

Those snippets they showed of United's players talking the team up as if they're some type of dynasty... then McCarron admits the league does tend to humble teams that get ahead of themselves, which is followed up by Landale's infamous undefeated statement. F'in LOL, great producing there.

For a game without any structured offensive sets and pretty much run and gun it is low scoring

Pretty ugly half really.

Good to see DJ has been working in the off season on his milking fouls.... Still the best in the business!

Giddey looks awesome...Glad that Joey isnt there to stop his growth................

Even in preseason it looked like Sloan has no idea of the calibre of league he's joined. Too much showboating.

some full on coaching there for Connor

Send Crocker and Sloan home on the same flight

Yeah, Crocker too many defensive lapses. Expected more from a vet.

You've overdribbled and you haven’t even fkn played. Gold

its going to be a lonnng season

Well done to whoever it was that hit the under 13.5pts option for Sloan on Betfair.

The on-court advertising stickers must have been sourced from the Philippines.

Paul Rees has some mean front teeth.

Damn. That fourth quarter was the quietest I've ever heard a Adelaide home crowd.

If I were running the club unless I saw substantial improvement out of Sloan in the next game I would punt his ass. Crocker's a cheaper role playing import a bit like Moore was but Sloan is an ex-NBA vet his effort and body language was appalling Shea Ili was humiliating him defensively.

Unfortunately Humphries still looks like the soft, flakey and disinterested big man he was for the Kings a couple of years ago.

26 points in the second half for a team that is normally an offensive powerhouse.

Disappointed.

Hopsin? Thoughts

Hopson

65-points by @Adelaide36ers is their lowest score in any game in round one in franchise history. #NBL21

— NBLfacts (@nblfacts) January 15, 2021

How much did they pay Humphries to play 11 minutes and go 1/6 from the line?

But JvG is a genius!

Sloan 27m 3p 4a 3to 1-6 fg (1-3 3p)

Crocker 26m 5p 3s 5to 2-10 fg (1-3 3p)

Humphries 12m 5p 3r 2to 2-4 fg, 1-6 ft

DJ only Sixer in double figures scoring 27 of the team's 65 points.

I appreciate the Sixers franchise ensuring, right out of the blocks, that I won't miss our 25 years of family tickets.

Yikes.

Did we just see the worst starting five in 36ers history? Terrible on offence (DJ aside) and yet somehow even worse on defence.

I reckon just forget everyone else and run Giddey/Johnson pick and rolls for 40 minutes the rest of the season. McVeigh can stand in the corner if he likes I guess.

How much did they pay Humphries to play 11 minutes and go 1/6 from the line?

Seems there was a little bit of over-dribbling

I'll be the first to admit I love the first half, but the second half was a pedestrian performance by the Sixers. Well done to United.

Why do I feel like Trump tweeting?

A lot of people hyped up Humphries when he was signed, and yeah claimed he was on mega bucks. I didn't really believe, but if so it was a bad investment. I never really understood what he was doing in America, as I never saw him as being that Good.
I assumed that with all the hype, that we would start at 5 with DJ at 4. Lol.
He's a decent backup 5, and if that's all they're paying him as, then well and good.

Not sure how Teys still has a job, but we hired White, so can hardly throw stones.

And yeah, your imports were shit.

Great effort by DJ, but can't carry the team alone.

As for MU, well they got the job done, in a very ugly game. I guess everyone's still a bit rusty.
Not sold on McCarron at PG, looked better with Ili.
CG off to a Good start, as was Acuil. If Landale and Hopson hit their straps this could be a formidible lineup

Where are you guys getting the idea that the Sixers defence was bad? Held Melbourne to 37 points in the first half after Goulding opened up on fire. Only 89 for the game too. Most teams would feel they had a good chance of beating Melbourne if they kept them under 90.

Our imports had shockers offensively, but I think our offence could be fixed quite easily. They just need to move the ball instead of over-dribbling and running pick and roll every play. Melbourne was ready for that and swamped the ball handler every time.

Although it's just one game, good to see giddey play well, hopefully all the kids saying the typical 'he’s too young and won’t be ready’ junk before even a single game have piped down now. Also, isn’t Humphries on some big coin? If so then that performance was quite disappointing, unless there’s an injury or something else we’re not privy too then that seems like a waste of money

Also not trying to disparage the young man, but what what are the rules around length to be a dp, I swear this will be short's 3rd year as one, and obviously he’s still young so he’s got time to develop, but if I’m United I’d start to get worried that no developing is actually occurring

You anons realise Connor Henry was an NBA assistant coach a few years ago and G-League Coach of the Year too since leaving the NBL right? Aiiight.

Also not trying to disparage the young man, but what what are the rules around length to be a dp, I swear this will be short's 3rd year as one

I highly doubt Humphries is being paid anywhere near what Landale is.

It is no myth that pre-Landale Humphries was the highest paid local in the league.

Liam Santa mentioned it.

It's early days not panic stations.

So far not great signs though.

Not reading too much into one game but great to see JLA playing like that. His raw potential was obvious, this could be the year it clicks more consistently

Giddey looks like he belongs on the court, which says plenty about him when he just turned 18. NBA one day

White exactly what United needed in that spot. Hustles hard, strong defender, hits the boards.

Crocker and Sloane disappointing, Hopson too but give them time to find their legs

Not sure DJ can handle the 4 defensively so this Adelaide group will be interesting, he played great tonight though

Where are you guys getting the idea that the Sixers defence was bad?

Steady Freddy. Early days.. held United to below 90.. not all doom or gloom.. let imports get feel of comp..Henry got plenty rotations to use...

Any 10 randoms in the crowd could beat these Washington Gener.. uh Adelaide 36ers.

They were trash, are trash, and have no talent for NBL1 level let alone NBL.

Cheers Zodiac, and anon899 I never said he wouldn't become one it’s just that after all this time there doesn’t seem to be any significant signs of development, that can all change tho

And still early days but I doubt Humphries will continue to look like that

Any chance cut t h e guys some slack for first up performance. They will clearly improve on this game.. wouldn't say United were silky either... blowing cobwebs out system...

@Beantown
Defense is bad when Sixers score, your D should then be ready to go as they inbound and pressure them in backcourt, yet Ille can just go coast to coast for layup.
Nobody even going for rebounds on missed shots from United, just assuming someone else will get it. Losing players off the screen and no help D. Defense not even covering splitline.
Yeah, that was pretty bad defence.
Crocker was two seconds behind everything that was happening out there.
Why would you be calling for Teys and Dillon to go. Dillon actually looked okay compared to others and Teys should have been put on in the third qtr as needs someone who would actually hustle and get amongst it.

Ili just smothered Sloan. If Sloan can't beat his defender and get to the rim then that is a big problem. Goulding smothered Crocker, knocked ball loose quite a few times.
Sloan and Crocker as imports don't look any better then anyone else on the team which is not a good sign. Need imports who can just turn it on play a level above.

Jack White was surprising. Still has to work on his offensive game but my biggest concern was MU's ability to rebound but thats eased. I like Illi and Baba as a back court tandem. Wasn't huge on iso ball with Hopson but hopefully that changes as he learns the new system.
Take Johnson out of that game where he created his own shots from broken plays and it could of been a lot worse for them.

Humphries is carrying an injury, that was mentioned during the game. He will get better as he has not trained properly with the team since early December apparently.

Sixtiesrockstar, our transition D was poor at times for sure. And second half, our defence slipped a lot I think, because our imports ran out of legs and then some of the team lost confidence and checked out under pressure.

But, in the first half, our guys played hard and didn't give up a lot of easy baskets. I thought that was a BIG improvement on anything I've seen from most of Joey's teams. Not many teams will keep Melbourne to 37 points in a half this season.

It's tough, because we're relying on Sloan, who has been here two weeks and Giddey, who is only 18, to initiate our offence this season. I think we have enough talent, based on what I saw in pre-season, but its going to be a steep curve in these first few weeks to get everyone playing together cohesively.

PS, it wasn't me calling for Dillon and Teys to go. I'm fine with them, they're solid vets.

Need a gun import the size of Pindar but way better

He can replace the second import

Then just play Mudronja regular in the guard spot

Happy days

That is also one of the problems with the Sixers if Humphries hasn't trained with the team since early December, as neither has Sloan or Crocker and whole fresh new group of players and coaches with new system. They will need the first 6-8 games to figure everyone out but by then the season could be on it's way downhill.
Sixers giving up way too many offensive boards and at their own end they have nobody contesting on their own missed shots giving easy defensive boards to United which then leads into their offensive transition. Acuil basically had same amount of rebounds as Humphries, Johnson and Pinder combined.
They were lucky Melb shot poorly from 3pt range or it it would of been a 30+ loss.

@Beantown
apologies, I wasn't trying to refer to you regarding Teys and Dillon, that was towards an above anon poster.
I thought our defence was average all game but just got worse to where it was below NBL grade. I think a lot has to do with confidence. Offensively a lot of Sixers turnovers were just when they were second guessing themselves and not relying on their instincts, skills and training, similar to their defense which was slow and reactionary with no confidence to take someone else's space or confront things, we retreated way too much and were bullied.
1st qtr Sixers looked okay but were struggling to get stops or put pressure on Melb. In 2nd qtr it had nothing to do with defence just that both teams shot extremely bad missing wide open shots. Sixers didn't hit a bucket outside the paint, United missed so many buckets they should've actually been up at halftime by half a dozen.

Anon927, if he's not ready for this level then that’s not a good sign for the rest of this Adelaide roster, plus he’s still young, there’s a difference between star and can be a solid contributor, which is especially good considering his age as that same sentiment can’t be said for not just a lot of other youngsters but also men

Cheers John, considering that performance something had to be going on

Jack white looked the goods, yeah he might not become a superstar it appears he has all the ingredients that will make him a very good player in this league, loved his effort, defence and rebounding efforts and hopefully as time goes along he can develop and good 3 and finishing ability

You've overdribbled and you haven't even fkn played. Gold

My biggest worries are Humphries looks like the type who get down on himself when he stuffs up (which he did a lot of), the massive rebound count differential, and the seeming lack of systems or plays apart from pick and pop with DJ.

Also whoever is in charge of floor/decal management need to short that out asap, people are going to really get hurt.