He was a massive body that liked shooting the three ball, his inside work wasn't great. Forde rebuilding.

Do the Breakers still sign NZ nationals?

Mennenga showed some flashes, I'm a bit surprised Cairns dropped him, I wonder if there's more to it.

Those big guys that only want to shoot the 3 ball must be frustrating for the coach and the playmakers unless they are exceptional. Daniel Kickert was one of those, very good shooter but just didn't offer enough inside to build a team around. Jonah Bolden seems similar, I wonder what happens in junior ball with these guys to stop working on their inside game?

Kickett is a good example, played for a few quality teams, I don't believe any won championships. Big men got grab rebounds and have inside presence.

There's a few reasons why junior bigs are reluctant to go inside.

First, there’s not many junior coaches at all that know how to actually teach bigs how to play inside. Then you have the issue that coaches don’t actually push their teams to throw the ball inside to the bigs (because they’re not confident in them, which stems from not knowing how to teach them), so as they never get the ball inside they get frustrated, and either quit or start playing on the outside where they can get the ball. Then you have the issue that nearly all programs (and state bodies) don’t give any opportunities to actually post up inside at all. Victoria’s state system is a great example of this, where their bigs jobs is just to give handoffs or high post catches to give it back to the guards in the gets and delay stuff they run. So why and how would a big work on an inside game if they don’t get the opportunity to.

He has signed with NZ on a 2x year deal

Has free agency started?

Really strange

Good signing for NZ. Solid player.

I'm a bit surprised Cairns dropped him

@koberulz free agency never stops

A friend who has who has worked with Forde, say's he's not everyone's cup of tea, can be hard to work with, some would say he's a 'bully', and not all players will like his approach, not sure what Mennenga's relationship with him was like, but obviously McCall and Miller's relationship with him had seemingly deteriorated? Maybe Mennenga's falls into the category of not liking Fordes approach?

Interesting to see the Breakers bought out the 2nd year of Mennenga's Taipans contract which obviously was appealing to the Taipans. Mennenga is only 22 so has plenty of upside. Perhaps he will go better under Maor.

Interesting, it'll be interesting to see how he goes under Maor, I’m certainly not convinced. So breakers have Pineau and Mennenga in the fives, total opposite type players. Pineau didn’t get lot time under Maor, maybe they are looking to release him.

Mennenga is a good signing for the breakers.

Cairns definitely had too much depth this season and it is a balancing act with young players and promising minutes.

Pineau would be a good mentor for Sam.

Great signing, was gutted Wardenburg & Mennenga went to Cairns so it's great to get one in a Breakers uniform.

It appeared as though Mennenga was caught in the Cairns frontcourt depth, which included an import who showed his wares but got less playing time than Mennenga.

Sam also fills a critical gap for NZ that they missed last season by undercutting Rob Loe's salary - shooting from the perimeter. I suspect Pineau will stay on the team as the 11th man who has proven to be helpful in spot minutes against certain bigs in the NBL. It would then be a question of what happens to Delany (is he a starter in this NBL?) or Dan Fotu (what is his NBL role?)

Why is Pineau being so underutilised?

Who knows PW, very good blue collar worker. Would be great fit at JJs if Lee doesn't return. Lee would be great at Sixers.

I like the way menninga plays but it's hard to say if it's a good signing without knowing how much cap he's taking up.

But also mody doesn't appear to like perimeter shooting 5's so one of the two has to change