Criticism of his performance since arriving in Adelaide is fair enough, but I don't think it's simplistic.

There was a mistaken belief that the unique position of finding himself as the point guard for United would automatically translate to to a similar role with Adelaide. Has he been a point guard primarily at any other club or season with United, or more of a utility type player?

Also, I think the system would challenge any point guard trying to lead the team to look a bit clueless to be honest. I think it was partly the coaching issue.

And I don't think there was enough spark or balance to compliment him either.

I still think Mitch is one of those players every team would love to have and worry about the fit later.

His scoring was non existent almost but was putting up good rebound and assist numbers most of the time.

McCaron career numbers are

9.2/5.5/3.5 49% from 2 and 33.4% from 3

@Cairns

9.2/5.3/2.1 43.8% 37.2%

@Melbourne

10/5.5/3.9 51.6% 35.3%

@Adelaide

7.7/5.9/4.4 48.8% 24.2%

He has certainly declined since coming to Adelaide and his confidence is way down. Thats as much on him as it is the coaching staff. His steals are way up in Adelaide oddly though.

If his 3 ball comes back to him he will be on par with his numbers in Melbourne where he was very much considered a premier guard in Australia.

I suspect it comes down to fit. Basketball, and any team sport is about how the pieces fit together.

McCarron's always been a spare parts guy- solid defender, good rebounder for his size. Offensively looks for others, doesn't force anything. Won't score 20 very often (or even 15) but will contribute across the board.

United was a good situation for him- surrounded by scorers, shoot first guys CG, Hopson and JLA. And Landale of course. McCarron's skill set was the perfect complement to those guys in the championship season.

He's been on top dollars for a spare parts guy. Obviously got a very good agent.

At United, MM was an Energizer Bunny, showing more passion and drive than most of his team-mates. I only see occasional glimpses of that at Adelaide these days.

At the time he was brought in to Sixers, one reason seemed to be to bring that passion and drive to raise the energy levels and contribution of those around him. Big fail in that department - he's come down to everyone else’s level, and lost his shot as well.

Sure he’s collecting the buckeroos, but I doubt if he’s enjoying the game or the circumstances.

Did you watch the Boomers game? he wasn't great against Bahrain either. He is a bench guy at best. Anyone saying he is a star is dreaming. I also dare say people don't buy tickets just to watch his boring game. Just saying

I felt that too, Hooper - apart from some good rebounding, the rest of his game was average.

I seem to recall one good game for the 36ers, this season. He gotta a lotta offensive rebounds and quite a few points. But, the rest of the season-insufficient.

Mitch McCarron is a utility guy, and asking him to be "the man" on a team is really asking too much. He can get you stats in a lot of ways but he isn't a starting point guard at this level. The only Aussie in the league I'd trust to run a team is WMW.

I often wonder what would have happened had Gliddon and MM stayed in Cairns and became Cairns legends, Gliddon seems to have completely fallen off a cliff in recent times but MM still gets lots of responsibility and court time and money...

I dare say that if both the above were on Cairns roster this season then Bul Kuol would have far more court time and yes the others would be off the bench (yes you probably don't have McCall and/or Scott too) but I think we see Kuol’s career trajectory as being more elevated than Gliddon or MM and could have a better NBL career than both of he can stop his silly fouls

Somehow in 2019 Cam Gliddon was considered good enough to make a Boomers world cup team. It's a crazy thought to mull over. Ryan Broekhoff's fall off is similarly startling.

I'm confident Mitch McCarron will have a stellar year for West Adel Bearcats in the NBL1 this season and will find plenty of form coming into the the 36ers NBL season next year. He'll have his partner in crime Drmic with him and some very talent young Bearcat players around him too. In fact, the combo of McCarron, Drmic, DeSantis & Spear in the front court and offence, will be something to watch.