No thank you

Let's go JJs route and understand that talent isn't everything. Culture and fit is important and I'd have my doubts on these guys

Parker would be worth a dice roll. Beasley's most recent numbers in China do not look promising.

That's something the Kings got right, whilst United went the Real Madrid route previously and suffered for it until eventually getting it right (even a broken clock is right twice a day)

36ers’ risk is also the Real Madrid scenario

Smush Parker would be great. Exactly what they need.

Jabari Parker doesn't play defence.

Beasley is cooked.

United would be better off keeping Caroline and hoping he improves than signing these two. Adelaide and Kings are clearly the best two teams, then you have a group of teams who can all beat each other: Breakers, Cairns, JJs, and SEM. All 4 of these teams would benefit from United signing Parker or Beasley.

Adelaide hasnt proven they're a top 2 team. Potential is nothing in reality.

I think it's fair to say that Sydney and Adelaide are, on paper, the two best teams. Although, surprisingly, if the Breakers can go 2-0 this weekend then maybe they’re the second best team in the league. Heck, if that XRM 3 in OT was disallowed they’d be leading the league right now. Wtf.

Sometimes a coach can light a fire under a player by calling them out in the media. But that normally is about lack of effort, defence etc. But if someone is trying and battling, what effect does it do? They may go and get some extra shots up to improve shooting, but that can be handled in house. The only thing apart from throwing him under the bus is there's underlying attitude problems that we can't see, only his play in games.
The Pacific shrink happened years ago when teams couldn't do their research. But in today's age all of a players specs are published for years. Only thing you may not tell is weight and conditioning like in Patterson's situation at Breakers.
Looks big time like Deano is playing the blame game and Caroline is the biggest target.

[United went the Real Madrid route previously and suffered for it until eventually getting it right (even a broken clock is right twice a day)]

United "suffered" fitting Prather into the lineup (2017/18), and later Trimble and Long (2019/20) but on both occasions worked it out beautifully by season's end

That Trimble and Long team was unbelievable in the Sydney semi-final series. How they lost Game 3 is beyond me. Scary team right at the end.

They lost game 3 due to the refs- 27 fouls called on United from memory (and about 16 or 17 on the Kings), every time a United player laid a finger on a King, foul. It was a netball game

And that's the great irony of Paul Smith's incessant whining about the 2020 GF- Sydney didn't even deserve to be there!

United also lost Game 1 in an all-time choke. Giving up a sizeable lead in the closing minutes, partly by throwing up bricks early in the shot clock.

Definitely a huge missed opportunity and the most frustrating series I've witnessed as an NBL fan

And, from memory we had won the previous two encounters with Perth. And had lost to Perth twice earlier in the season when jetlagged and/or missing players.

So I think would've beaten Perth in the GF, given we had them covered in the matchup and were in great form

Just looked up all the stats

Matchups vs Perth

Lost 94-93 in Perth, missing Barlow and Goulding after leading all game

Lost 95-93 4 or 5 days after returning from USA

Later in the season beat them twice by double digits- 77-67 and 87-74 (and the final score in that one flattered Perth, it was a smashing)

Semi final game 1- Lost 86-80. Realgm doesnt give play-by-play but United was leading 69-60 at 3quarter time, and I'm sure increased that 9 point lead early in the last

Semi final game 3- 27 fouls to 15. Sydney 15 from 25 from the line. Of course a foul discrepancy doesnt mean it was unfairly reffed. But it clearly was, and I recall many neutral fans on this forum saying United got robbed

So yeah, denied a grand Final berth by the refs- and that (along with last season's Semi final loss after CG was injured on the day) the only two times United has missed the GF in Vickerman's 5 seasons.

Not looking likely that record will continue in the 6th

And of course, the best thing about that United team was the absolutely annihilation of Sydney in Game 2 of that series

What did the lead get out to? 59 I think during the 3rd quarter? Simply astounding

You sound like you're writing an erotic novel

I can some similarities with 2019/20 in this season's team

They had talent but the balance was out of whack.

Trimble, CG and Long- 3 big time scorers in the starting 5, but a lack of defense (which wasn’t Trimble’s strength).

Trimble was moved to the bench and Ili into the starting 5. That revitalised Trimble’s season and restructured the balance of the team. Trimble could dominate 2nd units, and Ili strengthened the balance and defense in the starting 5.

In Trimble’s last 7 games as a starter, he shot 11.7ppg at 29% from the field. United went 2-5 over that stretch, and were sitting at 12-12 with 4 games left in the regular season.

After moving to the bench, 7 games (including the SF series) Trimble averaged 22.9ppg (including a 36 point game and a 34 point game) shooting 53% from the field. As discussed above, United should’ve been in the GF (and would’ve liked their chances, given they had the better of the matchup with Perth).

This year’s team isn’t as talented, and has deeper structural issues with the current roster caused partially by absences and partially by poor recruiting.

But nonetheless, the 19/20 case study illustrates the improvements possible in basketball, by one or two moves.

NBL history is full of examples of mid-season adjustments changing the course of seasons- two of the most famous being the 1997 Tigers recruitment of Marcus Timmons, and the 16-17 Wildcats bringing in Cotton. Tigers were 3-9 in 1997 and Perth were 7-9 in 16-17 before sacking Jaron Johnson (which was bad enough for last on the ladder).

In other words, United fans should remain optimistic despite the current situation looking incredibly crappy.

In fact fans of any NBL team can remain optimistic in this environment where imports come and go

Does jabari parker count as an oceania local due to having a tongan parent?

I think Oceania players don't count as locals anymore. Remember Wesley (Guam) was a local for a couple of seasons. Then the league changed their rules and now it’s only eastern Asian countries. The league need to come out and explain if players from Oceania can play as locals or not, it’s very confusing.

"The league need to come out and explain if players from Oceania can play as locals or not, it's very confusing."

Here you go: "Lastly, there is what is called a Special Restricted Player.
These are players from a select number of Asian countries that the NBL has selected as possible areas to market the NBL and bring more supporters in from outside of the Australian or New Zealand market.
Those countries have changed slightly over time but are currently China, Philippines, Taiwan, India, South Korea, Singapore and Japan.
If a club signs a player from one of these countries, they are exempt from the Salary Cap and are generally treated in the same way as a local player."

https://nbl.com.au/news/explaining-the-nbl-salary-cap-system

You sound like you're writing an erotic novel

My work is wasted on you lot

"And of course, the best thing about that United team was the absolutely annihilation of Sydney in Game 2 of that series

What did the lead get out to? 59 I think during the 3rd quarter? Simply astounding "

I was trying to remember why I'd erased that game from memory, and then it came to me - we won game 3!

Yeah, and you lost the Grand Final after your players were scared of Covid, and your owner spent the next few years whinging about it

The basketball public would've been better served by fair reffing in Game 3 and a Perth vs United GF

Settle down, children.

Yeah tbh I'd have enjoyed seeing Perth sweep United more than Kings

"Yeah, and you lost the Grand Final after your players were scared of Covid, and your owner spent the next few years whinging about it

The basketball public would've been better served by fair reffing in Game 3 and a Perth vs United GF"

My guess is the same scenario (minus Smith whinging) would have played out in either case.

[Yeah tbh I'd have enjoyed seeing Perth sweep United more than Kings]

Given how the head-to-head matchup had played out in 2019-20, a United sweep (like 20-21) would've been a more likely result than a Perth sweep (or a comfortable Perth win like 18-19)

I've been to a few games and I’m sick how biased the refereeing is in the NBL. Sick of the soft calls on one side then the other side it’s like a World Cup game.

I'm sick of 1 or 2 obvious fouls being ignored or weak calls being made by one ref, followed by deafening boos from the crowd, followed by another ref calling a consolation foul to appease the boos. It happens a lot at RAC arena and while I like to see calls go the cats way overall the reffing is so inconsistent and there areo no consequences or reviews because we are stuck with the shitty refs we are stuck with. Can we get some high paid import refs next year please and bring these hacks into line?

Can we get some high paid import refs next year please and bring these hacks into line?