CJ giving it to his team at 1/4 time. They just don't play to their strengths and are selfish.

Home cooking already prevalent. DJ D is horrible on D.

I think that's because CJ is starting to panic a bit maybe? Just picked up on his body language.

Adelaide just can't defend anything.

Marshal showing some fight. Hopefully cj keeps him on.

I don't know how DJ can sit through a film session after the games. Surely watching himself move out of the way and allow lay up after lay up would make someone reassess their career. If I sent shit emails consistently I reckon my boss would tell me to look elsewhere.

Surely watching himself move out of the way and allow lay up after lay up would make someone reassess their career.

This Sixers team is just so hard to watch we give up so many points defensively and unbelievably despite all the offensive weapons on our team manage to routinely to struggle scoring. That's on the coach.

Do the Sixers practice rotating on defence? They don't communicate and give up wide open threes like it’s a layup drill

They just don't look happy, Sixers, the score probably isn’t a true indication, Sixers have been better than-13. Need more of Marshal and Galloway. Creek had his way, surely someone can at least try and defend him. Pineau hasn’t seen the floor but has 7 double, double this season, now Sixers should get him to back up Johnson, punt Sotto, lost all confidence.
Game not done but SEM would be unlucky to lose from hear.

Pineau hasn't seen the floor but has 7 double, double this season, now Sixers should get him to back up Johnson, punt Sotto, lost all confidence.

I think a goodbye to DJ before anyone else. In the past his offence kept him from copping too much flak for his attempts at defence. But even his offence is horrid at the moment, can't blame him for that really as the team is playing horrendously bad offensively and there is no semblance of a set being run or anything vaguely looking like a basketball play. There is too much wrong with the team as a whole to fix it quickly, no effort which usually indicates the players have lost respect for the coach.
100% need more Nick Marshall out there.

At games start they said he had 7 this season, he plays something called D, something Sixers are very short of. Johnson can't even score now.

At games start they said he had 7 this season

I do feel for CJ because I want him to do well, but Adelaide should be better than this.

I think the players respect him enough as a person & he doesn't strike me as the kind of coach you'd be unhappy to put up with even when losing, but I do think the players seem to doubt what he's trying to do a bit...just body language and a feeling...

@ zodiac, you are right , I actually went and checked and it certainly hasn't happed. I still think he’s the sort work horse that Sixers need off the bench, defence, box outs, screens. To many pretty boys at Sixers and the ones that think they play hard are not that hard.

Just such a shit team the 6ers. Feel like it's just such an effort to score and there’s no system to the way they score. Then defensively they’re just a joke, Friday night the Wildcats could just walk it in under the basket every possession. The run the 6ers had late was due only to mistakes from the Wildcats.
They need a PG but also need a big fella who can defend ffs. I actually liked the look of the team a little more when it appears as if McCarron is playing the 3 and Marshall at point.
Cleveland is a really crisp and natural player offensively but he doesn’t seem to get enough shots, weird

Stuff this team, i give up. Pay good money year after year and they just deliver nothing. Team has all the tools but regardless of year its the same damn result.

Sixers got enough guards, they need a beast of a 5 man and urgent, one that can play D, rebound and score. These are as rare as hens teeth.

Do you really think that CJ is in control as a coach? If so, he would (or should) have benched DJ and other 'reluctant' defenders early in the season and kept benching them until they shaped up.

I don’t think he’s tough enough for this group. I’m also not convinced he has the power to force them to adopt his way of playing. Coaching 101 - it’s not what I say, it’s what I enforce. Giving them a spray isn’t enough - he needs to enforce it through bench time. Unless he’s ‘been instructed’ otherwise.

As a replacement for Acuoth maybe but I certainly wouldn't play Pineau ahead of Sotto. Aside from Sotto being a better player than him he's got a lot more upside too.

CJ has to go this is becoming untenable now.

I did think one we signed guys like Franks & Cleveland that we should've fired CJ. A young inexperienced coach being handed a "championship calibre" roster was unlikely to work.

Even though CJ showed some flashes with a poor roster last season he has been shown up badly this season, not only is the defence bad despite having guys like Cleveland & McCarron out there but unforgivably this team somehow struggles to score too. No new import can alter this trajectory CJ needs to go ASAP.

SEM are my tip to challenge Sydney though.

Is junior contracted for next year?

Sixers atrocious, SEM very good.

Championship or bust?

Joke of a club the 36ers. Had no soul since the owner ditched creek. CJ and owner need to go.

None of the guards can create anything, whether that's a poor offensive structure or not no one in the back court is capable of creating a good look. Dech is a corner 3 guy, McCarron tries to orchestrate but isn't aggressive, Cleveland can score inside but doesn't get the ball in good spots, Drmic is a spot up shooter. No one makes the defence work you contain the half hearted on ball and then it's just a crap iso with 6 on the shot clock.

"SEM are my tip to challenge Sydney though."

How?
7th ranked defence.
played 10 of 15 games in Melbourne.

Only team to beat Sydney is Cairns - they the only ones so far who have actually challenged Sydney.

Watch this space, southeast will go 0-3 against Sydney in the reg season.

"Sixers atrocious, SEM very good."

Yep.


"How? 7th ranked defence."

In which games? It's not wise to take the full body of work as a whole for Phoenix given the disruption they've had.

Their defence at its best is good. We'll find out more in the next three weeks when they play Sydney (twice), Tassie and Cairns.

"Pineau hasn't had a double-double in years his last one was in the 2019-20 season. He's fortunate to even still be in the league."


Say you only watch one side of the ball without saying you only watch one side of the ball!

"In which games? It's not wise to take the full body of work as a whole for Phoenix given the disruption they've had."

Fair call, but looking at it as Southeast in general. Maybe it's a personnel based thing? But Southeast never been good defensively during the Mitchell era.

22/23 (Currently) 7th.
21/22 8th
20/21 6th
19/20 9th

So assuming the trend continues they won't be much better.

On the flip side, still hopeful the 6ers can turn it around with an import. Hopefully the bad run now pushes the need for an import and that happens sooner than later. If 6ers were winning some games here and there maybe they would hold off? but the fact they are losing might move it along a little?

Regardless if Adelaide were not rushing an import decision on the basis of finding the right guy, they should have still pulled something off by now. Reminds me of last seasons incompetence when trying to sign Ware and Hopson.

And again, they were never in a position to have that luxury anyway, despite the foolish suggestions that they either didn't need one, or could afford to take their time.

In any case, imports don't have signs on them that indicate good team player and bad team player, eventually you've got to take a chance on someone.

Please tell me if I'm being harsh??

'Pushes the need'? How long has it been since they released Randall? There was also a break which presented a perfect opportunity.

Who knows what goes on at Sixers , so many changes last few seasons still same results.

"Please tell me if I'm being harsh??"

No you're right. I remember watching 7 news and CJ spoke about the chemistry being great since Randal left and not wanting to rock the boat. Maybe that wasn't as much of the case as they originally thought.

Thank NBL for top 6!! still a chance. What is the minimum games need to play finals? 9 games?

It all comes down to a crappy owner who got found out recently in the corporate world.

I think now that their best chance is to bring in a stud (Any position) because I don't think a glue gut type matters in a system that won't allow that role to flourish anyway.

At least I got free Daniels Donuts after the typically dismal 36ers display.

Dismantled in the interior as usual. 36ers too slow to get their third import.

36ers fans can consider our team like a badly designed expensive vehicle that's basically combusted before it ever began.

Chemistry imploded today. The effort to help each other defensively was below G League levels. Danger signs. They need a vet in that third import spot who isn't afraid to pull some people into line and demand effort.

Isn't that meant to be MM

Really? I would never have thought of McCarron as being that.

As being the effective captain?

To many players that just need the ball, Johnson was 0-5 from the 3, it leads to rest thinking I'll have a go, you get Dech, Drimic then just chucking up rubbish. Add to that how woeful defensively they are, Franks, Johnson and the rest team thinks why am I defending, no one else cares. Harris started season as team guy, now he like the rest. Great players win premiership but not with out the team, from Jordan, lebron, through to Cotton. There is no team in Adelaide. It should start at coaching but what if players been told come over play for us, you are the main man, two, three players think that and you are up shit creek.

Adelaide Sixers should be rebranded as the P76ers

I do feel for CJ though. I really hope he can turn it around because you can see how much it means to him to do well. But I just get the feeling now that the players don't believe in what they're trying to do. Have noticed it with body language.

If Adelaide miss the playoffs, would it be even more of failure than the Marty Clarke coached team that finished bottom in his final year?

I am not trying to be sulky or overly pessimistic as I think there is still hope, but more so just a hypothetical in the similarities that could play out.

I think it's starting to become clearer that the presence of Randall and his effect on the group overshadowed CJ's coaching performance. Perhaps it wasn't all Randall after all?

Other than that brief flourish after he was cut the team has now gone back to playing the same way when Randall was there low scores, general disinterest and noticeably poor body language. Which means the real problem was always the coach. It's clear what needs to be done now just give the job to Pearlman or Downer and hope they can salvage the season.

If Adelaide miss the playoffs, would it be even more of failure than the Marty Clarke coached team that finished bottom in his final year?

"To many players that just need the ball"

Yep 100%, and not enough guys who actually draw defence to create shots for others.

Clarke always was and always will be a juniors coach. That was the mistake hiring him for a senior role

Agreed but to be fair he brought Creek with him and lured DJ over at the same time so no matter what you think of Marty Clarke's coaching his recruitment left an indelible mark on the history of the club.

Good point

Sad to say but would appear CJ out of his depth, blamed the schedule in his presser. Team, lacks effort and team cohesion. Brisbane have signed import and will be playing next round. Strong possibility that no one wants to sign with Adelaide

Maybe BTeys needs to return.. glue Man locker room gel on court do it all man
Team man handi man
Missing

"overshadowed CJ's coaching performance. Perhaps it wasn't all Randall after all?"

The decision to remove Randall due to culture was correct but even Sydney and JJ's started slow last season so I don't think we are better off without him (Probably better off without him if we get a decent import). However yes, it did overshadow CJ. CJ and coaching staff are way too slow to make the right changes

1. Started the season with some stupid idea to go small ball with Franks at 5 and Cleveland playing 4 before finally working it out.

2. Had DJ and Franks for some reason not allowed to post up for probably 6 games before finally working it out that, that is a high percentage shot for them both. Like how could they not work that out when DJ had been doing it for 10 years and Franks was a beast at it the previous year.

3. They had Marshall glued to the bench for 8 games. Even though last year he was servicable and had showed some great promise in the off season and MM was in desperate need of someone to help bring the ball up.

4. After 14 games he still has no clue which line ups work and everyone (besides Fiston) gets a turn every night it seems.

5. With Drmic out against Cairns the team needed someone with energy and a good defensive player to start. Instead they went with Marshall who looked like a deer in head lights. Thanks to MM's nose, Dech comes on and turned that game around. You would think he would get rewarded for that effort and the effort of the previous year by starting next game against Sydney but instead they went for the deer in headlights again. Unfortunately because of that it looks like Dech's confidence is shot now with 3 bad games in a row. We will lose him next season when he could have been a valuable asset.

6. No matter how bad MM is, CJ will always play him big minutes.

7. We need defense so our best defensive player Cleveland is only getting 27 minutes. Should be closer to 35 every game in this team.

8. Taking so long to get a new import!


" It's clear what needs to be done now just give the job to Pearlman or Downer and hope they can salvage the season."

No way, there was odd decisions in the Conner Henry days and odd decisions the last two years and Pearlman has been there for all 3 seasons.


"Clarke wasn't a great coach but he was dealing with a fraction of the budget under the Save Our Sixers group compared to this roster."

Different times so it is hard to compare (up to 3 imports now compared with 2 and a bigger salary cap) however for the time our spending would have been high with the following players.

Schenscher, Johnson, Gibson, Petrie, Weigh, Cadee, Creek

Clarke will always go down as the worst Sixers coach in my opinion.

Dech re-signed to a 3 year deal in the off-season and so far especially given the talent he's had to work with I think CJ has been a worse coach than Clarke.

I disagree. Bruton has had one completed season with below average talent and injury interruptions. I don't think a decent judgement can be made until the end of this season.

However, we do know that Clarke was a poor professional coach who didn't get the best out of his players because of his controlling style. He was a big underachiever.

Zodiac, yes I know that. But Adelaide were still highly fancied to finish top 4 at least that season and ended up bottom. I am just saying that it feels like a similar season thus far, and depending on how it turns out, it could be a similar level of coaching incompetence that is the main reason for severely underachieving.

Regarding Randall again, it was too simplistic to say it was all his fault in the first place anyway. And when I say fault, It's not like Adelaide were in complete disarray or anything. I've accepted you were spot on about his attitude and selfish mentality but the trade off of it all was that they probably wouldn't have won games without him either, and that likely involved him ignoring the system and CJ, so was kind of a catch-22 when the system is dysfunctional anyway. So yes, I think he was only part of the problem but like you say was the common denominator when considering all the feedback.

But then Adelaide showed some mild improvement and suddenly the coaching staff had convinced themselves they had the luxury of time or even the luxury of not using the spot at all. Now they look as poor and disorganised as they did before Randall left and they still don't have a new import.

I think this team was far too revered from the start, and for some reason no one ever seems to learn that you need to have defensive bigs to balance out DJ.

I also don't think our roster is as great as we want to think and its been hyped to be

Look at yesterdays starting 5

Williams
Creek
Broekhoff
Kell
Browne

Vs

Johnson
Franks
Cleveland
Dech
McCarron

I think SEM have the better player in atleast 4 of the 5 spots, the only one potentially in Adelaide's favour is Cleveland and Broekhoff and even then you could easily argue it as Broekhoff, so its by a slim margin either way.

So we desperately need a high level import Point/combo guard imo, and even then we still losing atleast 3 spots to SEM and the real top teams. This talk of the sixers dont need a 3rd import or just a guy off the bench I keep hearing in the media is crazy imo.

So we may need to reassess how we rate this roster, and then you add to that the other issues spoken about above then we should see why in reality we are fighting to make the top 6, not win the championship.

Yes agreed, re Randall getting too much blame

Reality is we were 3-3 with him and are 3-5 without him,

I was fine with replacing him but we needed to get an equivalent level player in ASAP, preferably would have had someone by the end of the FIBA break and we just havent done that after getting a bit too excited with a couple of wins early without Randall thinking 'oh we dont need anyone' or 'we can take our time'

Before he was cut Randall missed a game with injury that we won, we went 2-4 with Randall and 4-4 without him, technically 3-4 since he was cut.

Dench trying be scorer is hard to watch. He struggles badly to create his own shot

Even if true, but Axel shouldn't be getting anywhere near an NBL court.

Ah very true Zodiac, I forgot about the game he missed which we won.

Hopefully we get a quality import scoring guard in very quickly before we fall too far behind the top 6.

Good post Jonno! Comparing those starting lineups is pretty stark! SEM is clearly stronger. The reality is that we have a lot of average at best players.

McCarron has again disappointed after good stints with the Boomers. Dech is good defensively, but has really struggled offensively because he's been asked to be a ball-handler, when he should really be mainly a catch and shoot guy.

Drmic gave us great energy and hustle when he replaced Randall in the starting lineup, but then he hurt his back and you can see he isn't back at 100% yet. Even when he is, he's a solid player, but not the lights out shooter you ideally want as a starter.

DJ is still a useful player, but he's no longer a big minutes player. He can't play with the level of intensity required game in game out anymore.

I like Cleveland and think he has been pretty good. Franks does some good things, but the reality is, he's not winning his matchup often enough. I think part of the problem is that he is being forced to do to much of the physical work under the basket and that is taking away his legs, so his 3 point shooting has really suffered.

We really need a physical centre who can do the grunt work and a playmaker. Not gonna get both, so I hope they splash the cash for a high level guard and then CJ has to demand his bigs play hard and then sub them regularly for a breather. Let them play through mistakes (especially Sotto), but drag their asses when they are lazy or allow soft baskets at the rim.

Was the general fan angle of "DJ needs to come off the bench" proven to be miles off? Maybe I over-imagine it, but less-than-defensive scoring X-factors often get used for bench impact - Christian Wood, Kevin Love, etc.

Isaac, I think it's a good idea or worth a try, but also got to remember that DJ is the incumbent local who can still put up import like numbers. I can see issues there is all.

I liked that idea with a spark plug type import to come off the bench with DJ and form a kind of duo.

But it still doesn't change the poor interior defense at all. Is Acouth worth a go just for balance reasons? Even if just to play 10 minutes and see what impact that has.

Hindsight is a great knowledge, lots of punters on here had Adelaide right in the mix for championship, talk was of, best three imports in one team. As it turns out, Franks has been average and went to Johnson school of D. Cleveland hasn't been outstanding, better than ok, Randall, well was gone before you had time to tell. Most of the Australian players are good at certain parts game but try and play outside there limitations.

I was looking forward to watching my team, the 36ers.
The desolutory performance surprised me.
They broke a heart that loved them.