So that's Brisbanes roster just about complete

PG: Batemon/Norton/Devers
SG: Cook/White/Savage
SF: Prather/McDaniel
PF: Bannan/Adel/Bairstow/Kunen
C: Harrison/Zikarsky/Smith-Milner

Thoughts? Not great on paper but everyone said the same about the NBL22 JJs. My prediction is they'll fight for a play-in spot but not much more than that.

I feel like hes not MVP level but keen to see him and Cook

I'd say
PG Batemon / Norton / Savage * DP
SG Cook / White / Devers * DP
SF McDaniel / Prather / Adel
PF Bannan / Smith-Milner / Kunen * DP
C Harrison / Zikarsky ** NS / Bairstow

Both Cook and Batemon can shoot at a good clips but my worry is who is going to run the team.

It's a solid team, could fight for playoffs if things go well, on the other side coin all players can’t afford bad days, there isn’t enough talent to carry any player. Harrison, Prather, Bannan need good consistent seasons. I think they will need McDaniel in the starting five or at least play big minutes.

Certainly looks a very solid European player standard, normally settle into nbl very nicely.

Would you say Batemon, Cook, healthy Prather, Adel, Smith-Milner, Bairstow is an upgrade on Sobey, Smith, Scott, Baynes, Mitchell

I'd like to think so. That was a very, very poor import trio last season.

Being honest, another lacklustre off-season from the Bullets.

Ownership group wants to keep roster spend at minimum and is comfortable seeing an average team on the floor. So long as franchise value goes up, they're happy. Certainly not an obvious playoff contender, staring at a bottom four finish.

Batemon appears 'ok’ but is NOT the All-NBL point guard Brisbane has been screaming for since they re-entered the league. Another middling signing in a looooong line of middling signings.

Going to be another ‘meh’ season for local fans. If the team comes out of the gate poorly, will be interesting to see what crowds they get in to BEC which seats 10k.

I think many are overestimating Prather's prospects btw.

He looked cooked last season. Cooked. Coming off injury, hadn’t played in three years, yeah I get it.

Aside from a 2020 stint in Israel, he hasn’t performed at a high level in seven years though.

Good dude sure, but he’s not winding the clock back and will be a meek to modest import here this season, which is disappointing when Brisbane need all the firepower they can scrape together. It’s all about (not spending) the money in Brisbane though.

Is he Jamaican?

I'm not sold on prather because he just gets banged up easy but I wanna be proven wrong

Locals just aren't good enough. I rate Bannan long-term but unless he takes a pretty considerable step forward this team is going to have to hope Batemon and/or Cook are MVP-level.

Would Batemon/Cook be better than Sobey/Smith?

@Basket 91

Yes

Batemon and Cook played for the same German team, one in 22/23 and the other 23/24, wonder if that's just coincidence.

Both are 27 which is when basketballers often reach their peak. Both look like strong scorers based on their recent numbers in Germany (and Israel too for Batemon).

You never know, best case scenario is those guys are strong, Prather is better than last year after a pre-season and the young frontcourt of Bannan/Harrison/Zikarsky takes a big step forward.

Hang on, did we release Scott?
I thought he was contracted again this year...

Yep, mutually agreed to part ways, or so the press release goes.

@Bullets - easy to miss the press release when it was only two sentences :)

Roth is on record that the JJs won't be signing any high end local to fill McVeigh’s roster spot. That was however before Creek announced his departure from SEM. So that might give Roth some wriggle room. He is perhaps the only high end local I could see fitting with Roth and the JJs. They will have an absolute war chest if Magnay goes too and I can’t envisage they would not add someone on big $$ if that happens. Roth has known about the McVeigh situation since March and this thing with Creek has been going on for just as long. He knows what is going on with Magnay too. The timing of the Creek announcement does add a little smoke to the whispers but it may all be just coincidence and as Dunkman says is not consistent with the messaging out of SEM on Creek’s departure. Time will tell.

Sorry, wrong thread with previous post.