If you're the Serbian national team assistant coach...why would you want to be an assistant of a domestic club let alone Adelaide? Super confusing!

Good get then, I assume?

I actually like the move, now we have quality NBA experience, international experience and euro experience on the bench, Id hope this can only strengthen the staff.. and let's not forget that the nbl now isn't just a pathway for players but also for coaches from around the globe, plus a relatively short season and great lifestyle.

We already signed the lead assistant coach Mike Wells.

Adelaide 36ers are excited to announce the signing of Mike Wells as lead assistant coach for the NBL25 season.

Wells has three decades of coaching experience in the US, including 26 years in the NBA and Team USA.

It also raises the question as to how much money they're spending on assitants that could have been used on players?

Looks a good signing, should get on well with Vasiljevic. Smart head coaches rely a lot on good assistants, I like it.

If I am Ninnis my seat is not feeling very comfortable

"If I am Ninnis my seat is not feeling very comfortable"

Yep, agree.

the mantra has been sign local players, develop local players...
and the local coach that they are developing is .. Ninnis?

particularly important now that the two lead assistants coming in have their roles clearly defined,
this I suspect was part of the problem that CJ had.

Sure you can see it as Ninnis feeling uncomfortable with all the experience and talent around him, but you can also see it as, if you're going to go into battle, who are you going to want have in your corner? the best strongest and most experienced coaches who can help you get the W or a couple nbl1 coaches with no experience at the highest level and take L just to save your ego? I know what I'd prefer.

If you're the Serbian national team assistant coach...why would you want to be an assistant of a domestic club let alone Adelaide? Super confusing!

Yeah, I agree Perthworld, NBL is a step up from where he has been coaching. National teams usually have several assistants and not all of them are accomplished head coaches. Sometimes they are young coaches who are being given an opportunity to learn.

I don't get all the negative assumptions in this thread? Why does he have to be a threat to Ninnis? He has probably been brought in knowing full well this is just an assistant gig. Unless I hear otherwise, I am going to assume Ninnis has been consulted and is fine with it.

The other assumption is that spending money on coaching staff and not players is a bad thing. Given what has happened at the Sixers with all the coaching changes since Joey left, I think the absolute first priority is to get a stable, high quality coaching team that can build a winning culture over several years.

Perth under Gleeson and now Melbourne and Tassie have shown the way. Its no coincidence that players go there and improve, giving them a constant pipeline of new talent. Contrast that with the Sixers who have consistently blown big $$ on players who just come and go, leaving the club with no growth from year to year at all.

The club has been saying since last year they want to build a strong team culture and everything they have been doing since replacing CJ with Ninnis suggests its not just talk. We now have an experienced coach, and a GM and two assistant coaches with decent credentials in place.

I think a decent coaching structure will pay much bigger dividends over time than a third import or a deeper bench. So I'm going to be positive about this move unless he proves otherwise!

Beantown, I think it is more so just an ambigious situation for some.

Ninnis deserved an oppotunity to continue, and did a great job with Kubank. I think the concern is that scouting the globe for high level assistants might have the capacity to destablilse before even properly starting. There should be enough quality assistants in Australia already, and it is not necessary to seek these kind of assistants. Like many have also said, you have to question the motivation for international coaches to completely relocate to the other side of the world for an assistant role only, unless it was seen as a stepping stone. Most were questioning the idea of Joyce being here, and it seemed like Ninnis and Kubank were working well together.

In saying that though, coaches like Roth, Tatum, Maor all came to the league as assistants and were influential before going on the be successful head coaches.

Hopefully, the intention is to just surround Ninnis with some great assistants and that it works out for the best.

Think they're focussed on surrounding Ninnis with X’s and O’s guys with being the head figure/culture guy.

36ers fans have become so conditioned to poor performance and management that they are perceiving genuine investment and sound basketball decision making as some grand conspiracy.

What happened to Brandan Joyce? Didn't we sign him as a lead assistant early on in the piece???

The person paying the bills changed

As in the owner changed or inserting the GM changed it?

Achtung Baby - Boti Nagy massively jumped the gun announcing we signed him. Talked to him yes, but I don't think he ever got offered the role. He was interested in coming over though.

Joyce was definitely in the frame back in April but as mentioned above, situation changed