Wooden spoon preview, should be a cracker.

Let's see if the "point guard" Flowers actually runs the point, or simply just brings the ball up and hands off to anybody else.

Refs call a lot more than they do in World Cup

Sixers defence is awesome!

Franklin looks like he should be an early cut. Wiley still hasn't learn to pass.

Bullets lead 59-42 at H/T

The 36ers could do with a coach.

Flowers is no more a point guard than Baynes is

Bruton gone by the end of season?

Brisbane are going to be a lot better than most people think, Adelaide, early days but imports do look very budget conscious. Coaches that learned from Vickerman, Gleeson understand defence and implement it.

Probably earlier Weedy

36ers again like last season
look like they have no plan for their entry passes ( to start the offense ) Against extended pressure defence.
Defensively again also
low energy
like last year ...
And too much fouling.
But …..
it's only half time in a preseason game…

How have we completely rebuilt the entire roster but nothing at all has changed? Is CJ that bad a coach?

I know this is pre-season and the coach is trailing / observing but this is horrible.

Bullets up 79-56 at 3QT.

Rupert giving CJ a shout out for his youth development!

Smith- Milner looking a lot fitter and do ok, could be a surprise packet.

They did look a lot better against SE Melbourne last week, but Brisbane have been playing much better defence and Sixers haven't dealt with it.

Same old trouble with turnovers and inability to run a decent offence.

McCarron looking awful as usual. Cadee should absolutely start at point guard over him. Either that or start Kell at point guard.

Flowers has ability as a forward, but CJ should end his talk of playing point guard right now.

Its pretty obvious that without Humphries out there we have no interior defence or rebounding as well. It was a layup line as soon as Galloway sat.

Bullets win 103-78

Is Humphries currently injured?

Well that was a rough watch, abysmal perimeter shooting from both teams. 36ers don't seem to know whose running the offense, just a my turn your turn AAU type feel to it.

Flowers is not a point guard, he's a slashing wing who can push in transition which is helped by his rebounding ability.

McCarron looked awful, long been a big fan, but he's become so sloppy in possession. Cadee looked more suitable to run the show.

Rocco needs a lot of time, was struggling to rebound against undersized opponents, his footwork in particular needs work, always hard for a young big who hasn't quite grown into his body. Had a nice late block on Flowers, who had managed to evade most challenges at the rim.

Isaac White lead all scorers. There's an SA guy we should’ve brought home. Instead we’re stuck with McCarron.

Franklin looked good in the first game, bit seemed very passive today. Just passed it off most of the game without even trying to beat his man off the dribble.

Might’ve been he was sticking to the game plan, but I would’ve liked to see him attack the paint a bit more to try to get himself going.

Bullets

White 19p, 5r, 2s, 6-9 FG (2-3 3p)
Harrison 14p, 8r, 6-8 FG
McDaniel 14p, 5r, 4-8 FG (0-2 3p)
Sobey 14p, 2r, 2a, 2s, 5-11 FG (1-5 3p)

Baynes 4p, 2r, 2b, 0-3 FG (0-3 3p), 4-4 FT

Sixers

Wiley 16p, 4r, 5-7 FG (1-2 3p)
Kell 14p, 2r, 2a, 6-14 FG (0-4 3p)
McCarron 12p, 2a, 4t, 3-6 FG (1-2 3p)

Flowers 9p, 6r, 1a, 4-12 FG (0-2 3p)
Franklin 0p, 2r, 3t, 0-3 FG (0-3 3p)
Smith-Milner 5p, 3r, 3t, 2-7 FG (1-4 3p), 0-2 FT

Lovebroker, the commentators said Isaac was being rested I think. Just has a little niggle. I guess he would've played if it was a regular season game.

No import Chris Smith or Josh Bannan for the Bullets too.

Surprised by the size of the crowd, I've been to past pre-season games with a fifth of the crowd at best.

That’s the good.

The bad? Everything we saw on the floor from the 36ers.

Still don’t have a PG.
Still don’t have shooting.
Still don’t have decent defence.

Have to love the experts on here

Game 1 pre-season - Sixers win by 36 - "Preseason doesn't mean anything!!!"

G2 pre-season - Sixers without Humphries, Starling, Dech lose by 25 - "This team is trash, everything is completely wrong. It is going to be a long season!!"

So when they win it doesn't mean anything but when they lose it means everything. Okay I understand the logic now. It makes plenty of sense

Sixersfan, do you think the 36ers are a top 6 team?

I think people here are acutely aware of the warning signs of what's a problem and understand what to take with a pinch of salt, given it has been hope many years since finals?

How* many years since finals

Other than United, kings and breakers, all other sides could miss finals

Bruton gone by the end of season?

I think United/Breakers are slightly overrated, neither have enough shooting

Perthworld: Ninnis or Simpson? If CJ is replaced, surely the latter has the better resume now? Ninnis was last a head coach at NBL level about 2008!

I'm assuming they'd go with the name/favourite son?

It is bizarre seeing a former head coach from years ago back as an assistant at the same club.

KET, I put them as 6th in the prediction thread. The league is competitive so it is very hard to predict. They could finish as high as 3rd or as low as second to bottom. Somewhere in the middle is most likely.

Getting back to the point, in the previous game they had fantastic defense, great shooting and point guards looked fine so why is everyone putting their head in the sand about that game but this game is the one that defines the team?

If we are going by pre-season logic then United don't look very good as Sixers pumped Phoenix but United only won by 3 (We will ignore the players that were out for united CG43, JLA, Delly because apparently that isn't important when deciding how a team will go for the season)...

The reality is both Sixers games don't mean much because neither team had their full line ups, the coaches are rotating everyone and not caring about the result.

I just don't get people that have been on here for years and still don't understand pre-season. Nor how they select which game that suits their argument, ignoring the players out and ignoring any previous success like it never happened.

Flowers isn't a PG , he cant dribble the ball against decent defence. Shannon Scott had him flustered and anytime anyone put a slight bit of pressure on him he went to water. Delly and the likes will eat him for breakfast.

Yes he is 18 BUT if he has been promised the starting PG spot the 36ers are in a spot.

2 assist 4 turnovers v Phoenix in 17 minutes.
1 assist 2 turnovers v Brisbane in 18 minutes. I had him for 4 turnovers v Brisbane.

He looks much more comfortable as a slashing wing which the 36ers are in need of.

In the words of AI "it's only practise" and that is what preseason games are about. Only practise. Gives coaches chance to show players what they cannot do more than what they can. Better to give players enough rope to hang themselves or prove they are capable. There are heaps of player getting court time now, that possible won’t make court once season proper starts.

SixersFan, one would be delusional if they thought Adelaide have any chance of placing third. Too many other teams have far more going for them such as better rosters, rotations and coaching.

Predicting sixth is a stretch I reckon. If they get their shit together they *might* beat out Brisbane and Cairns. Might. Who else would you reasonably foresee performing poorly enough for Adelaide to place above them?

None of this is predicated on pre season results, simply previous form of other teams and how much of an absolute basket case the Sixers have been. Blind Freddy would tell you the same thing.

Well said Ben but keep in mind SixersFan has always been a Sixers happy clapper always defending DJ to the hilt. No one in their right mind would think this Sixers team has any hope of finishing 3rd but of course he does.

He talks about Sixers not being full strength missing Humphries but no mention of the Bullets missing their best import and Bannan too. Going by his logic this Bullets team when full strength must be a potential juggernaut, they're not.

Keep in mind too the Sixers are the pre-season kings having won the Blitz the last two years in a row and have missed the playoffs five years straight. A flogging at home against an under manned lowly Bullets team doesn't suggest a 3-6 th place finish ahead for the Sixers, if anything they'll likely be battling it out with the Bullets for the spoon.

Sixersfan, you're trying to argue it’s black & white when everyone else is navigating the grey.

People can look at that SEM match and know to take it with a grain of salt and we have seen 36ers tear it up past pre-seasons and understand it doesn’t always translate to the season.

At the same time, people can see Flowers play PG against the Bullets and go "well that might be a problem" because an 18 year old having issues getting the ball up the court due to physicality is an issue that’s likely to translate into the season.

Remember we saw a 36ers import last pre-season have attitude issues and we went “that’s going to be an issue” and it then translated into an issue?

Or the “geez we will need a defensive big” issue that we still saw in the pre-season that validly translated into the season proper.

So you can navigate the wins and losses and rationalise what might translate and what might not translate.

It’s the same way how scouts navigate how certain players may translate better into NBA level and style vs others by understanding what can translate and can’t translate across.

Do you understand how people aren’t fitting arguments to their proposition but just simply having an understanding of what can and can’t translate particularly based on past 36ers warning signs?

I would not be selling cairns or Brisbane short, Sixers still in the mix, it's all guesswork at present.

Dunkman is correct it is a guesswork at present.

KET, so you are still ignoring the Phoenix game but think the bullets game is relevant regardless of the key outs. The point you keep missing is it is the pre-season with players out, coaches rotating players. None of it is an accurate reflection on the season.

Zodiac I am just glad you don't cry about Creek on every post these days.

Ben, you might want to have a look at what a distributed graph is to understand why I gave them a low chance at 3rd. No one would have said Cairns would finish 3rd last season, everything is a possibly regardless if the chances are low or not. I had SEM, Illawarra, Brisbane, Cairns all below Sixers. Is that likely probably not but it is a guess like everyone else at this early stage.

Most people have said Sixers have done well in the past in the pre-season in recent years. This time it looks like they are going a different approach by sitting players out, rotating the bench and not caring about the result. Yet the mindset is "We are even worse now since we are losing (ignoring the Phoenix win and players out)". This team could do worse than last season or better, no one can tell at this early stage. All I know is this team is better than last season with defense, chemistry, athleticism, balance and coaching (assistant coaches are better and hopefully CJ grew a brain after his first two years). As a fan that is all I could ask for

" KET, so you are still ignoring the Phoenix game but think the bullets game is relevant regardless of the key outs. The point you keep missing is it is the pre-season with players out, coaches rotating players. None of it is an accurate reflection on the season."

You're not really listening are you?
You’re treating it black and white when it’s not that.
You’re testing it as a contradiction when it’s not that.

You’re living in an oversimplified mindset that can’t fathom people understanding what 1) can be gleaned, what 2) can’t be gleaned, and what 3) are warning signs to be aware of.

You can’t seriously say absolutely nothing can be gleaned from pre-season and we all know and are aware that it’s very easy to make incorrect takeaways from pre-season as well.

The ins/outs yada yada isn’t the stuff anyone is gleaning from the bullets game.

It’s things like the intention to start Flowers at PG. regardless of ins and outs, that’s one thing that will likely be unaffected.

Do you think the Flowers at PG struggling against defensive physicality that is central to criticism in the Bullets match is something you don’t think will be an accurate reflection of the season, especially the first half of it?

https://twitter.com/jordanmcnbl/status/1701058862219243729?s=20

Yikes.

I am not suggesting Flowers as starting PG won't work, I remain hopeful he will.

However, IF it doesn't work out, would the Sixers pivot their approach and put MM back as starting PG and put Flowers as an SF or SG instead?

Or would they be bound by some agreement to stick with the PG experiment?

Surely Flowers would prefer to move to a different position rather than sticking to his guns if he consistently had problems bringing the ball down like in AngusH link.

If he didn't, that would hurt his stock.

CJ already hedging his bets with that one as he said in his first presser with Flowers that a point guard doesn't necessarily need to bring the ball down or run the offence, he needs to be aware of where everyone is on the court.....sounds like BS to me

What's a PG if not bringing up the ball anyway? Just a "leader"? Why would we have a rookie being a leader?

Don’t get me wrong, he looks like an absolute talent, but there will need to be a lot of planning to maximise how he can help the team whilst he develops strength to avoid risk of excessive turnovers.

I feel like it would be beneficial having him work as a wingy off-guard type that can slash and drive. I could see him being exciting in that type of role.

Bit of a stretch, but they can still point to Ferguson as a success story to some extent in that he got opportunities in Adelaide, didn't look like much,then did get some time as a starter in the NBA. Did better there than any Adelaide fan might've expected. Didn't stick after that though.

Currently playing in Poland.

To be honest I thought Ferguson was crap and was a bit disappointed Joey stuck with him as a starter until late in the season when he finally benched him.

30 games - 4.6p, 1.1r, 0.6a, 38.1% FG (31.3% 3p), 60% FT

Yes, I thought he was well off the pace too. But going from that to starting at OKC was something. Pointless keeping him there as a chemistry 3&D guy if Teys was already in the team.

That roster was something like:

Randle/Doyle
Sobey/Drmic
Creek/Ferguson/Teys
DJ/Deng
Jacobsen/Hodgson

Someone must've missed games or signed late or been underdeveloped because otherwise I don't know how Ferguson gets minutes there.

17/28 regular season games he started, I thought it was more than that.

I remember him getting starting time towards the end of the season I think?

I get Ferguson vibes from him in the sense that the raw talent and athleticism is no doubt there, but there are things that will take time for him to get used to:

Speed of the game
Physicality of the defence
Lack of space
Navigating strategies

I remember Ferguson used to have forced turnovers whilst getting used to it and would get sucked into committing fouls. These were things his raw talent and athleticism couldn't counteract and I feel like it’s similar for Flowers.

Could say "well he’s young and he will get there by the end of the season" like I feel Ferguson did, but the answer would be “isn’t that too little too late in such an important stacked position?”.

It’s important if he does have that teething process, the blame wouldn’t be on the player. It would be on the team putting him in that position or promising it if they indeed did.

Ferguson was basically a role player - didn't force much, rare for a young pro - and played D. He was basically a replacement level player the way I remember it. Would hit a three or string together some good defensive possessions in a row, but most games that was about it.

Even though his minutes fell away towards the end of the season the problem with Ferguson was he was taking up an import spot, his signing was pretty much the genesis for the NBL creating the Next Star initiative.

It didn't get much better when the Sixers forgot to pick up his option for the following season so when he was drafted by OKC the club missed out on the $400K buy-out money!

Were they permitted three imports though? They had Randle and Jacobsen, right?

Season recap from Wikipedia:

While most experts predicted the young and relatively inexperienced 36ers to finish last, the 2016-17 NBL season saw the 36ers emerge as the team to beat. After a slow start which saw the team with a 3–6 record by Round 7 where they took a 105–87 mauling at home by the Brisbane Bullets (who returned to the NBL for the first time since 2008), plus early season injuries to captain Mitch Creek (ankle) and Daniel Johnson (hamstring), the 36ers turned their season around from Round 8 with a 101–83 away win over Brisbane, highlighted by a monster Terrance Ferguson dunk. With Creek and Johnson back on deck as well as the MVP form of Randle and Nathan Sobey looking a strong candidate for the NBL's Most Improved Player award, the team went on a charge, winning 14 of their next 15 games and by the end of Round 16 of the 19 round season had been confirmed as minor premiers for the first time since the 1999–2000, being an incredible 5 games ahead of the chasing pack. Despite being so far in front, Adelaide lost their final four games of the regular season and still finished two games ahead of the top. Their loss of momentum proved costly in the NBL Final Series, with the 36ers bundled out in a three-game series against the Illawarra Hawks.

Ferguson took up the third import slot which existed at the time

Pretty sure it was the first season of the change to allow three imports.

I remember it being frustrating having him start and doing very little. Had forgotten they could have three imports then.