This JJs roster has insane amounts of depth and talent, Scott Roth sure knows how to build a team

NBL announced this at 7am AEST

JJ's the envy of every NBL team leading into season 24/25.

Be interesting to see how much opportunity he gets.

Jack Jumpers looking like
Crawford/MacDonald
Doyle/Sword/Brown
Drmic/Steindl/Siulepa
McVeigh/Deng
Magnay/Gak/Krslovic

Wouldn't shock me if Siulepa came off the bench ahead of Steindl, we'll see

This guy's getting a lot of hype, hope he lives up to it.

If Sword is as good as advertised, I expect Doyle/Sword to be on the court together for the majority of minutes (whether Sword starts or not), which puts Siulepa up against Steindl/Drmic for minutes. He looks promising and it's probably a good spot for him - if he's too raw, the JJs have more than enough depth. If he comes out the gate firing, Drmic/Steindl will lose minutes.

Selfishly, wanted him at the 36ers, because we just need any talent we can get, but this will be excellent for his development. Part of an outstanding culture. JJs the envy of the competition at the moment.

Just give the Jackies the trophy

Great work from the JJ's. Was really hoping the Taipans would’ve made a play for him. Could’ve been a nice addition with the departure of Bul Kuol. Congrats to Roman, hope it works well for both him and the JJ’s!

As someone who hasnt watched him play only seeing the dunk highlights, can someone describe his game? What elite skills has he got beyond his athleticism?
Just noting the comments above that he could be in the rotation at NBL level perhaps over Stiendl. What will he bring?

Bored roman is extremely explosive the way he moves drives to the hoop can play in the post a good rebounder, his 6,7 and still growing comes from a elite rugby background so not afraid of contact, still trying to develop a consistent jump shot at only 17 has a huge ceiling

He's a wrecking ball, will already be an elite transition finisher which the Jackie's lacked last year (10th in transition points).

Elite slasher. Underrated passer and playmaker. 6'6/6'7 with strength and speed so a very versatile defender. Jumpshot is the area of improvement but by no means is he a poor shooter.

Glad he's going to be in the league.

Being a local boy, bummer it's not a Brisbane signing. Obvs Roman didn't want to wait another year for Rocco to leave, which is fair.

Jacks are a good place for him. He won't be under any pressure and is in a great team environment.

"Obvs Roman didn't want to wait another year for Rocco to leave, which is fair."
Why so, Ben? What has Rocco got to do with him coming to Bris this year or next?

Oooops, don't answer. NS! Sorry Ben.

You're only allowed one next star.

Brisbane already have Rocco so would’ve had to have signed him to a full roster spot and have him count against the cap.

It's great for Australian basketball to have kids this age in the pros. We may not see much for it in the immediate term, but in 5 years when Rocco, Toohey and Suilepa are basically veterans at pro level, they'll be the same age as NBA rookies. You look at guys like Ricky Rubio in Spain, or Luka Doncic, or countless other Euro players that are made pro early, and the kind of maturity in their game at an early age. The younger you can get a kid like Suilepa into the pros, the better long term. Even Travers, who many of us feel is a bit overrated, is way younger than he initially seems at 22 years old as of now, and probably has even reason to 'still' feel like an NBA career is ahead of him. This is the right direction for our development.

As for what he brings, he's a good size, his athleticism and speed is off the charts, and he's gutsy. So he has attributes off the bat that cant be taught. He still has some growth ahead of him, and he's putting his game together nicely. He has NBA and Boomers upside and could well steal minutes from Drmic and Steindl, in fact I'd be surprised if he didn't.

Glad to see Next Stars applied to Australians with real upside.

Slightly off-topic, but still have a giggle remembering when Lemonass cracked the shits with the league because they wouldn't approve Brisbane’s desire to sign Wigness as a NS. Thankful that didn’t eventuate.

What's Wigness up to these days?

Good question. No idea. Last sighting was last year for North Gold Coast in NBL1.

Yeah alright, crazy how the guy just disappeared

Crazy how Wigness had so much hype in the first place.

Getting back to the JJs they look like they have a very strong lineup. Issues are that they do not have an elite point guard with Crawford and McDonald not overly strong at that position. Along with no backup for Magnay if injured or recruited and no player that can defend Xavier Cooks or Jack White and there is no guarantee they will be in the final again.

They actually struggled defending Travers last season so I agree there, don't agree on the point guards though, and yes Magnay is a key but they could cover that loss if it happens.

Did Jack White all of a sudden become an elite scorer overnight?

Jack White is an elite offensive rebounder.

Only averaged 1.9 in 27 mins at SB Lakers. Compare that with leading rebounders in the NBL last season with similar or less mins and it's not really elite

Doyle played a lot of notable elite point last season anyway and Macdonald whatever was asked of him from 1 through 3. Now they have Sword as well freeing up the more offensive guards with reportedly elite fierce defence. If there is one thing we have learnt about the JJs in the past 3 years is that this team is much greater than the sum of its parts. You can't buy their chemistry and culture. No team can stop everyone all of the time but team defence can go a very long way.

Aussie Pride being Aussie Pride.

Yep Jack White is a class act - no need to bag others demeans yourself.

@Scout - Where did I bag others? The fact is that Crawford and MacDonald are not quality point guards. They are very skilled players but just saying that this affects the structure of the team and limits Doyle's game in that he does not have someone getting him the ball in good position.

Ok AussiePride I'll bite: the championship winning backcourt has been further improved with the addition of Sword!

MacDonald has proven his worth...watch the last couple minutes of game 5. Crawford while inconsistent brings x factor. And Doyle is Doyle a class act. With Sword's defensive prowess being brought in along with his ability to slash to the basket I argue that this will further open the court up for Doyle and Crawford.

Name me a NBL team that would not want a backcourt rotation of MacDonald, Doyle, Crawford and Sword. Unlike his first year it is not all about Milton but he will still have the ability as he does to hit the big shot when it is needed. The improvement of MacDonald has been phenomenal

It is not the JJs backcourt I am concerned about and at the 3 / 4 with McVeigh, Drmic, Deng and Siulepa coming in they are strong there as well (Sword can also play the 3).

The JJs are currently vulnerable at the 5 with Magnay (potentially NBA bound), Krslovic and Gak. If you want to critique the JJs it is at the 5 not the backcourt I would argue they have a very strong backcourt with multiple options.

The JJs really missed Kenyon's D last year and that was the gaping whole for improvement for the coming season. They have got that in spades with Sword and much better offence to boot although I think Kenyon would have eventually got there if he stayed. Would love to know why he left his best mates and missed the chip. Magnay was the key to the JJs finding their D when he came back from injury last season and if he goes to the NBA that will be huge but they do have Gak and Sword who D in different ways but both do add blocking to the JJs tool kit. Word is Mags is very focussed on making the boomers and may only get to the Atlanta practice. Most suspect he will be back with his mates and if so it will be look out with other teams really struggling to score against this roster. No doubt that is Roth’s goal.

"Would love to know why he left his best mates and missed the chip. Magnay was the key to the JJs finding their D when he came back from injury last season and if he goes to the NBA that will be huge but they do have Gak and Sword who D in different ways but both do add blocking to the JJs tool kit".

I believe kenyon leaving was purely a simple contract reason. SEM offered 2 years while jj's offered 1 year. As a pro with a small amount of time to maximise your earnings(especially as a roleplayer) it was the right call. I loved his hustle, Defense, rebounding ability and underrated 3pt shooting(I feel he couldve had a higher 3pt % with more opportunities/rep, he had a close 3pt % to M.Dolye albeit on a lot less attempts). Sword should be able to come in and offer at the very least a step above defensively, 3pt shooting and slashing compared to kenyon. Thats if he isn't cut to make way for a 5 man to cover the potential magnay loss

The JJs could really do with making one of their last 2 DPs a 5 man. Would add a bit more insurance at that spot for injuries or Magnay leaving. What's Jock Perry up to at the moment?

Don't think there is any chance they would cut Sword. Roth really rates Krislovic and how he did the job in year 1 and Deng is very capable of playing minutes at the 5 too. Think Krislovic could really flourish with more minutes. Really dominating for the Bearcats at the moment. Wouldn’t be a dollar thing with a buyout and what Magnay is being paid as a Marquee. The issue as we all know is there is just no local available in the same league as Magnay so not sure what they would do with that spend were it to happen.

"Don't think there is any chance they would cut Sword. Roth really rates Krislovic and how he did the job in year 1 and Deng is very capable of playing minutes at the 5 too. Think Krislovic could really flourish with more minutes. Really dominating for the Bearcats at the moment. Wouldn't be a dollar thing with a buyout and what Magnay is being paid as a Marquee. The issue as we all know is there is just no local available in the same league as Magnay so not sure what they would do with that spend were it to happen".

No i dont think it happens either and I agree about Fab, he is criminally underrated in the league. What he produced for the JJ's in the 2nd half of their first season to help them into the finals was amazing as an undersized five against some really good centres in the league(JLA, pinder, reath, landale, jarrell martin etc.). He is another i feel should be given more 3pt attempts, at least 3-4 per game every game would not hurt. He can pick and pop, corner threes and hit them coming off a screen at the 45. Makes smart passes, hustles and plays straight up D. I also agree that a DP spot would be wisely used on a 5, deng can play some 5 for us and even mcveigh in a small ball unit. Would Daniel Johnson be worth placing a call to if Magnay did leave? no defense but can hit a shot, is a no BS type of player which Roth loves and could chip in with 7-10mins per game if needed

The Sixers fans would have a coronary if the JJs grabbed another of their own they really rate.

DJ's cry baby sulky nature would not fly with Roth so that would be a definite no.

cry baby nature might dissipate under a winning regime?

DJ looked well past it in his few games with SEM last season and then went to the lowly Taiwanese league and only averaged 9 points and 4 or 5 boards a game and is 36 now.

DJ has only ever been about DJ. No regime, good, bad, successful is going to alter that. Let him float off into the sunset. His time is over.

Apparently Roman has a couple of decisions to make re: commitment to pre season training.
If Roth loses patience with him (likely) the he will make a decision for him.

Juicy. Keep us updated.