Unfortunately there were warning signs with Humphries like him pulling out of Boomers camp beforehand and talk he still wouldn't be right by the start of the season.

Bad news for him his stock will have plummeted to almost zero come the off-season and he'll likely have to do a 'Bairstow' with some team at least for the Sixers he kinda never played this season and with Bairstow's play we aren't losing a great deal assuming Cam doesn't go down at some point too.

Dreadful outcome for the Humph. Promising future, full of potential. Get back soon, healthy and strong.

Can he still sing at the home games?

Yeah....Dear Sixers Front Office.

Now is the time you use that Import card you've been keeping up your sleeve.

They should have used the import slot in the first instance!

The risk was always there, and they were always going to have a start of the season without him which was always too risky that it'd become a a hole too deep to get out of.

Add in the lack of defence next to the basket, and you have to ask what the thinking was?

Bairstow has managed to paper over the cracks big time all things considered. Without Bairstow, where would Adelaide be right now? Nobody planned for him to be this valuable, but geez things would be awful he wasn’t in the team!

Now is time to get on the Sotto train!!! Next stop: THE NBA!

Sorry what was the official injury?

That's not good! Humphries only had a one year deal right? Or was there an option for the second?

I hope the Sixers can find the money for a good import 4 or its going to be yet another unwatchable season for us fans.

Thoughts are with IH - it's obviously a tough time for him. I’m sure he can come back stronger and better - it makes sense to do recovery properly even if it’s a slow frustrating process. He deserves a good dose of luck that’s for sure.

For Adelaide, 4-6 isn’t disastrous but it’s a bit of a hole. By the time any hypothetical import comes in and has an impact, I imagine it’s probably too late. So anon is right, not sure it’s worth wasting the money. Save it for next year... Wasteful spending isn’t going to help deliver good rosters down the track.

Wish IH all the best... at his full powers he was dominant both ends .. and team barometer... energy Man...take the tine and get super healthy and return to be immense presence big Humpty..

They should have used the import slot in the first instance!

For Adelaide, 4-6 isn't disastrous but it’s a bit of a hole. By the time any hypothetical import comes in and has an impact, I imagine it’s probably too late. So anon is right, not sure it’s worth wasting the money. Save it for next year... Wasteful spending isn’t going to help deliver good rosters down the track.

Some players just seem to be more injury prone than others and there's no rhyme or reason for it, and that's Isaac Humphries. Time to either move on from him or offer him a much reduced contract and sign a dominant import big alongside him for next season. But Humphries being out is the least of this team's worries. They've dropped the ball at every selection and that wont change until there's new management and no JVG lingering around to make his brain farts reality.

We have tried talented injury prone people before (Childress), it doesn't work.

Let him go to NBL1 or Cairns where underachievement is the standard.

"The alternative view is we have kept this insurance policy for when we know for sure we have a pressing need."

We knew for sure what the pressing need was - a defensive big. It was clear as day and hammered home from day 1.

It was also clear that that Withers was an odd fit for a choice - but hard to optimise what he can provide. They needed a 3&D athletic wing type.

Hannahs there were questions about whether he could be a reliable one-two punch import which they needed from that position.

And it was clear that on those basis, if Hannahs and Withers can't deliver the obvious needs on the 2/3 spots, that it’d be ridiculous to sign another import in front of them, particularly when you also have Dech and the PG slot filled. So the answer would have been to replace one of them, not fill it with the third import spot. Doing that would be, frankly, ridiculous.

Whilst IH being out exacerbates the situation, the needs and holes are the same as they were at day 1.

Maybe if they had signed a third import as a PF at the start of the season, they’d be able to turn their attention to replacing one of the current imports with the supposed money freed up from IH and find themselves in a more balanced situation.

“ No we are very much still in the hunt thanks to Illawarra, SEM and Sydney being inconsistent.”

Let’s be real here, 4-7 isn’t in the hunt let alone very much so. How convincing were the 4 wins?

They beat a bottom NZ side that had suffered the rocky start of actually getting covid plus spending their lives playing away the entire season - after being down by like 20. At home.

They only just got over the line against Tasmania, in overtime I think? Another, despite the recent run, probably lower side.

Faced a covid wrecked Perth at home, and a Melbourne side at home that shot so badly the reality is Melbourne lost it, not Adelaide won it. Melbourne shot so so badly, we can’t even call it decent defence for the job done on Adelaide’s part.

And the fact is, Melbourne won’t consistently play that badly, Perth won’t consistently be that wrecked by covid, Tasmania won’t be as bad as they were at the start of the season...

But Adelaide are consistently playing bad basketball. They’ve consistently had a hole in obvious spots that were obvious at the start of the season, and they failed to risk mitigate.

Nothing about Adelaide’s roster looked anywhere near top 4 before the season, and nothing about how Adelaide has played looks anywhere near top 4.

They don’t have continuity thanks to injuries and covid protocols. Another obvious likely thing to occur and another reason to be prepared at the start of the season and not have to do fixes midway through the year.

Whatever time it takes to get a replacement and get chemistry will be too late. And that will have been entirely predictable too.

I dare say the “alternative view” looks pretty damn strange, all things given.

“ You are wasting a year of 4K McCarron (who is expensive), and you are wasting a year of a healthy and beasting Bairstow @ rock bottom prices (that won't happen again).”

That’s where I do agree with you - and lament the fact that Adelaide made some good signings and followed up with ones that clearly didn’t provide any semblance of balance or risk mitigation.

36ers are a laughing stick

A laughing stick?

Must have meant "laughing stack"?

Supporters can't even spell such us the plight of the club.