west select squad

https://scontent-fco2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/456519263_1002235175032110_582069659461173256_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=127cfc&_nc_ohc=aB3YJB_F9NIQ7kNvgHUy_Zs&_nc_ht=scontent-fco2-1.xx&oh=00_AYAMQKhu3VhJ-wGIkNcPgNACMhnqNG4bXYT23QVg1ealyw&oe=66CCF3F9

Bullets by 10 1/4 time. Adel can't miss a shot. Not lot D being played. Refs been good.

Harrison been very good.

Yeah some nice looking players at HT. Neither Cook or Batemon has looked great so far but incredibly early days

Harrison been the pick to the half, Adel got more pace than I realised. Hard to say who's been good due to sharks been poor, certainly on D.

Cooks and Bateman been very average, early days. Smith Milner looking as fit as I've seen him, doing fine. Side looks better at present with Norton at point.

Prather looking good, Brisbane look very fit. Hard to say how good they are, Shanghai not looking great.

Smith-Milner with a couple of impressive triples in that 3rd

Harrison, Smith Milner, Norton, Adel, Prather best for Brisbane in no order. Bullets by 19, hard to gauge much on that game.

Smith-Milner impressed me, obviously not great opposition but very solid off the bench

No coverage on cats game, not certain why.

Great job Morley Rec centre

It came on eventually but unwatchable.

The livestream is only for the hardcore fans...distorted audio and jerky video from a cameraman that must be multitasking

Pepper 5 threes, 22 points.

Henshall 18 points.

Cotton never got out of first gear, 19 points.

Every Wildcats player scored.

Makes sense because anything out of Mordor... err I mean Morley is unwatchable.

The whole team looked good, Almansa and Wagstaff sat it out. Unless I am mistaken Duop was in the building. Shame they can't organise a livestream in 2024 pretty poxy.

Tickets to the Cats vs NBL1 Select Sunday game have been/are still being resold on the intix webpage for over 3 times the original price. Either intix are charging ~$50 resale fee on top of the original ~$20 ticket price or they are allowing existing ticket sellers to scalp them for ~$70? Poor form either way if so.

Yep Duop was there. Watching younger brother Sebit.

36ers have cancelled both their preseason games against Tassie, scheduled for tonight and tuesday night

Wildcats with another win over the NBL1 West Select last night, 131-108. 24 and 9 for Okwera, 22 for Cotton, 21 for Pepper.

Melbourne up 27-20 against Brisbane at quarter time.

Remaining fixtures
Thursday 29th- SEM vs Brisbane @7:30pm
Friday 30th- Sydney vs NZB @7:30pm
Saturday 31st- SEM vs Melbourne @7pm
Wednesday 4th- Adelaide vs Brisbane @7pm

Hunter and Majok both on 2 fouls 6 minutes in. Wisecamp certainly can shoot early days and Sobey still knows how to flop, plus refs back to continuously blowing the whistle.

SEM can't buy a bucket, bullets played a few more games so look more officiant. Adel keeps going like this he’ll be the buy of the year, and I was never a fan previously.

Malique Lewis looks like he can play, certainly better than Vodanovich.

Vadonavic, he must be absolute budget, he's making smith Milner look like a champ. Wise camp can shoot, not certain much else.

Refs certainly didn't watch how fiba refs refed.

Wieskamp and Lewis look the goods

Meanwhile Cook more T/O's than points so far

Bullets by 5 at the half, Lewis the next star looks ok, Glover, Hunter Walton look good addition, Adel looking the goods, Bateman getting better, Cook doesn't look the scorer he’s supposed to be. Harrison and Rocko a good pairing. Very early days

No Bannan, Prather, McDaniel for bullets, or Hunt for SEM.

Wisecamp is stool on defence, Glover, Hunter, Lewis been great Walton really a great addition. Bullets just don't have the talent, I like their bigs and Adel has looked good but not certain what else they got

We will obviously have to wait til the Blitz to get a better gauge on where teams stand but great to be able to get a taste of the year ahead with these practice games. Really enjoying the competitiveness and seeing some new and returning players to the league.

Nice to see games again, even practice matches, yes very early days.

Bullets, Harrison looks great, Adel as well and very team first, Rocco is getting there. Still not sold on either import guards, very early though, Bairstow looks a great addition real glue guy, White still to iso. Prather when at united played about 1/3 season, injuries and been injured last two seasons, a lot riding on him as an import. Brisbane looking better but don't see top 4, things go there way a small chance top 6.

SEM additions of Hunter, Glover, Walton, look great, Wieskamp will be a favourite of commentary, he’s a scorer, didn’t see a lot else, Sobey only half a game, they still might need a second ball to keep all their shot takers happy though Walton at the point might solve this. I’m not convinced on championship contenders but should get top 4.

Harrison and Rocco beasting this pre-season.

Wildcats exhibition games in Japan starting tomorrow

Live on Wildcats app & youtube channel;

Friday August 30th vs. Nagoya Diamond Dolphins - 10am WST
Monday September 2nd vs. Chiba Jets - 1pm WST
Wednesday September 4th vs. Yokohama B-Corsairs - 11am WST

repeat from other thread.

So far for the Bullets.

Won both exhib/pre-season games v Shanghai Sharks so no big deal there.
Also won v Melb U and now SEM, both very highly rated.
All with 4 of their top players missing. Yeah, everyone has some players missing. In Bullets case, it's been Prather, Macdanial, Norton and Bannan, 3 of whom will prob be starters and a 6th man. Not world's best players but for the Bullets they are all very significant pieces.

From what I have seen so far the Bullets biggest problem, right now, is that they are winning...in pre-season. Never been a good sign for this league.

Poor coverage from the training gym in Japan, cats in black and hard to pick who is who. Perth by 8@1/4 time.

Perth looking great, there next star been great at both ends.

I can't find any stats, hard to follow who’s who, cats certainly looking great though. Cotton doesn’t seem to be playing, not certain who is out for Nagoya. Cat just kicking arse though. Cyclone making game at this early time.

59 to 23 at halftime. I'm done.

Unless the Wildcats are making some money out of going to Japan these games against Asian opponents are truly a waste of time. 87-36 3/4 time

Gillespie on two fouls in less two minutes.

Cooks already kicking and hit a three. NZ very rusty. Goorj got kings rolling already.

Oliver looks good

29-16@ 1/4. Other than PJC they look very average.

Forgot how good Cooks was.

Gillespie just shaking his head as Cooks goes by him. Oliver, yes looking very good. Defence is a dirty word for breakers. Got a few quality players but lot junk as well.

Long season ahead but nz are spoon bound, to many players that wish they were players.
Rosen called Galloway an nba player. Kings are a machine, nz bargain basement. It's going to be a long season PJC.

Dunkman your prediction record is woeful at best

Completely new team with new Coach and first hit out in a meaningless pre season game on the road against a team with a ton of roster continuity and a Coach with one of the better records in this league.

Kings couldn't have been much more impressive than that. Obviously won’t be like that against a big front Court and proper D or a stacked Cats at RAC Arena but enough to make me question my chip predictions.

Possibly mystro, time will tell, I just don't see it and you are right, it’s a nothing game but Anticevich, Mennenga, King just don’t excite me and a few others.

And all 3 players are playing their first time in a Breakers jersey and probably haven't played an actual game in weeks.
NZ have stemmed the tide a little and are slowly finding some flow, hitting some shots and the Coach is playing with combinations.
Sydney are also playing well.

89-56 at 3/4. Tide slowed but still flowing fast. PJC is great though.

120 to 76, Cooks played less than 13 minutes, kings bench were on court more than starters. Yes early days for nz but they do look short in true quality.

Don't know about your call on king, dunkman. I thought he was very good. Bolden on the other hand absolutely embarrassing to the point where he's got to be a favorite for first import to be released.

But the kings look very good. Sure the defence was woeful but they still created very well, great ball rotation and knocked down most of the open shots they created. No one's gonna touch them this season without a doubt

Plan A, Plan B and Plan C for Vickerman and Roth will be a half court grind. United and the JJs have the D but not sure about the others. Rillie will need to have the Cats absolutely purring but doubt any team can go toe to toe in a shoot out with the Kings. An absolutely mouth watering season in the making.

United trail by 7, 30-23. Walton jnr might not win the mvp but he's makes so much difference. Glover, Hunter as well. Hunt still not playing, early days for Wieskamp but hasn’t shown much yet. United look old and White is a good player I’m not convinced he’s as good as Travers.

Barlow coaching united today and looking good, :::))) united turned it around and lead by 10, 51 to 41. SEM still struggling on defensive end, Glover , Lewis the next star looking good. Clarke and Illi stand outs. Walton jnr needs players that play D with him, he's-12 and Wieskamp-18 and none from six.
Early days but has Greer done it again, I don’t know but as talk around here, g league is not always the answer. In all that it’s practice games.

Hunter looking great. Sobey playing a lot more team, also looking good

69-66 to United at 3/4. SEM locals all been good, Ayre, Vadonavic as well. Lots of rotations so hard to who is going to be better.

Lee looking pretty good

Glover buy of the year.

WOW

OT, both these sides are going to play finals, very good game. SEM locals and next star all good, United probably used their starters a bit more but still good. Lot starters sitting in OT. If SEM imports stand up they going to be good side.

double OT, one of the best throwdowns ever and it's the damn preseason!!

Double OT, Glover to be SEM new captain. Mitch who. I'm not certain players should be playing this long in an early friendly.

great game, plenty of players involved who will have big impacts come the regular season

Yes, 1 point win to united. Lots players used but both sides look very solid. SEM imports Hunt hasn't played and Wieskamp needs to be a scorer as defensively doesn’t look great. Early days.

Don't think wieskamp will last the season. If you’re going to be such a liability on defence you have to be an obscenely talented offensive player and at the moment I just don’t see that from him. I’ve only seen him look to score when he has the ball and even then not in particular creative ways. Enjoy what I’m seeing from the rest of SEM for the most part and of course it is just preseason. Glover looks like a great buy, hopefully with more playing time/responsibility he matures a bit in terms of the arguments/techs he has sometimes gotten involved in previously as the talent is clearly there.

Hey Dunkman, how is that statement Vodanovich making Smith-Milner look like a champion? His 32 at a great clip makes you look like a goose

A week is a long time in sport, lol, Vadonavic was very good tonight, not so much last game. SEM locals looked very good.

Was at the Game last night good view as well.
SEM notes
Wieskamp might've not the best shooting night or strongest on D but I'll let him settle in for a bit longer he's not the no1 person on the team yet so I think he can last season and has a nice stroke as we saw against Brisbane

Vodnavich offers SEM so much a much better back up 4/5 the Vague was. Small concerns would be the bigs but I guess Hurt would help to an extent but if your a SEM you'd be happy with theirs now a bench production.

Glover probably will be coming off the bench most of the season but playing starter minutes.

Their was a play late before OT where Lewis guarded Delly and thought Delly would outclass him but he held his own.

If Ayre Lewis Vodnanvich and Glover can combing for 30 + I think that would be good for the team. Like we haven't seen Hurt but he can score some with Sobes Walton Jr and Wieskamp it'd be that nice bench production

Mu notes
Lee looks great and cobwebs off hopefully doesn't foul as much when the regular season starts because he was a great presence on both ends. Delly and Ili did their stuff and looked good. Jack White looked good defensively probably still trying to find he's feet but looked good. Loe did his thing.

I expect Clark and Loe off the bench if they can have Clark Loe Krebs combining for 30 points + between them I'd say they'd win most of their games this year united.

Not a negative but Flynn Cameron just needs to be more aware of how he feels and positions himself on defense but he's only young.

Kings pump the breakers again in a private scrimmage, 111-76. Mooney played for NZ.

Did you see it Angus? If so any report on nz players.

I didn't, only know what Olgun has posted - Mooney had 14, Mennenga 11. 5/32 from deep for NZ. Hopefully Gillespie did something or else he might be the first import gone considering how game 1 went for him as well.

NZ have some work to do for sure but that's what these games are about.

With so many new players to not only the organisation but the league as well they were always going to be on the back foot. It will take a few rounds in the regular season to get it to click but once they do they’ll be right.
Rather peak when it matters than do an Adelaide and play your best basketball at the Blitz each season.

Geez Sebastian I hope you're ready to take it on the chin when vodanovic's performances revert back to his standard output! Are you picking his season stats to be better than TSM??!!

The point was Tommy V is a far better player than TSM. When TV concentrates in just playing rather than being a thug, he can contribute in this league. Is he going to average 32? Hell no. But if simply plays he has worth.

That's right. Tommy V has had periods with the Kings and Breakers where he played quite well especially when he didn't fall too in love with his 3pt shot and stopped the thug stuff. But he seems a knucklehead at heart, his own worst enemy, seems to lose focus and reverts back to cheap fouls and jacking 3's the moment he steps on the court. The guy can genuinely play when focused.

Comparing him to TSM is an insult, TSM only keeps getting contracts because of mates bailing him out like with Schuller at Brissie and Craig Simpson at the Sixers last season. At SEM he was thrown a lifeline after being out of the NBL for a season first season there he was on the roster, second season he got demoted to being an NRP and only played 4 or 5 games.

These last couple of pre-season games TSM's started for the Bullets, inexplicably, and he's what 0/10 from the field, pretty much all 3pt attempts and racking up turnovers galore. He dreams of having a 32 point game like Tommy V just did.

Cats vs. Chiba Jets today won't be streamed due to unforseen blah blah. If you are having issues with technology in Japan someone needs to be sacked!

It's probably got more to do with Perth winning the first game by 60+. Nothing to be gained other than potential humiliation for these two other Japanese clubs so pull the pin on the broadcast to protect the integrity of their league, keep sponsors etc.

Yes, why commit commercial hara-kiri on livestream!

Could it be to do with the cyclone, that's why previous game started early. If Chiba imports play they have an excellent team and I think their coach is a cut above. :::))))

Imagine how much Perth would win by if they played Cotton & Windler too.

Is the Japanese standard really that low?

Why do guys like Nick Kay and Xavier Cooks not dominate over there?

The standard's a bit crook yeah. Higher paying than NBL so pretty good imports but the locals not much chop. Kay's more a system type guy he wouldn't really dominate no matter how low a league he played in and I dare say Cooks probably didn't get out of second gear over there because he was being paid a million dollars by the Wizards anyway and was probably not wanting to a serious injury given he was going to be signing the largest NBL history with the Kings.

largest contract

I've watched a fair bit of b league, when their teams have their imports playing it’s not far behind nbl, some of there top sides would match nbl teams. They mostly import talls and lots of former nba players. Don’t be fooled by a few practice games.

Coverage horrible again, I've seen training coverage better than this.

My coverage is so bad and Hooley just won't stop talking. Gary Clarke playing for them. Are they doing this off a mobile phone. Cats by six @1/2.

Slightly better viewing in third quarter. No one is learning anything from this game, so lacking in D on both sides. Scores mean nothing. One thing though never changes Cotton is a gun.

Dunkman, are the Cats showing more intent with their rebounding? Bit of a worry if they are not playing any D. Just a practice game but you play as you train.

Re rebounds, nothing to be gained from what I just saw, it was like walk through basketball but the next star, Almunsa, (spelling) certainly looks better than Sarr did, I think he'll fit in better. Cats won by six but lost three quarters only winning the first. To be fair the opposition looked like it’s their first get together, b league starts later and plays 3 times as many games. Cats probably still top four, hopefully the blitz can start to give us an indication. Cats got very tough start to the season.

Cotton had 36 points, per the Wildcats press release. Has looked in elite nick this pre-season.

How's Brisbane? Going on a tour of the Australian countryside then straight into the Blitz

wangaratta last week, Mt Gambier this week

Well, we are about to find out a bit more about the 36ers. The Bullets will give a genuine contest. One of the more intriguing pre season contests now we have seen what the Kings have in store for the rest.

Davis, Dech, Vasiljevic, Mayen and Humphries the Sixers starting 5. Not sure if Martin is playing

Humphries looking very fit, slow start by both sides. Commentary, oh my.

Davis looking nice early.

drinking game: take a shot every time the commentator calls Smith-Milner 'Smith-Tolner' 3 times now already lol

Davis looking the goods early.

Brisbane missing two starters, they look horrible, Sixers slightly better.

The commentary bantz

Mate, even my missus is laughing at the commentary. Early days but neither side look like contesting finals. Coaches haven't realised yet that Cadee doesn’t play D.

36ers badly need another big - too many mid size players even allowing for Martin not playing

Luck comes into it with injuries

Clearly, based on that 1st half, 36ers need Martin and Humphries to stay healthy and they need one of them on court at all times

Davis can flat out score. Which we knew from his highlights and stats, but great to see it in a legit pre-seaaon game against Batemon and White

Smith Tolner getting word14 totally pissed.
Rocco got lot work to do imo, needs core strengthening. Bannan, McDaniel, Prather, does he ever play, Harrison all out. Martin out for Sixers. While I'm getting a laugh at the commentary, can't really judge anything from this game.

Sixers getting smashed on the boards.

I see Adelaide's free throws have somehow actually gotten worse

Sixers getting smashed on fouls as well. Mayern defends like Cadee. Davis does look good though.

Nice to get a win, even if it's preseason

Sixers seven deep, back end bench is not good enough. Bullets could surprise, four out tonight, Adel been very good so far. Refs nursed the bullets though.

36ers just had to win that. Would not have been a good narrative if they lost to that Bullets team with the players they had out. As we keep saying you can't really judge much based on preseason but that did seem a fair way off regular season performance for both teams (like the commentators). Also a fair way off what we have seen from SEM, United and the Kings this preseason. But that is the nature of preseason. You bring your A game when it matters in the regular season.

Decent first showing from Sixers. Davis looking the goods so far, but perhaps ran out of legs late? Really nice to see Dech get the game winner. He played a perfect three and D role, keeping Deng Adel quiet most of the game and nailing the threes when they came. Agree that there is a lack of depth, especially in the frontcourt with Martin out. If he isn't ready to play soon, they should cut Rigoni and bring in another big. Its a shame they didn’t hang on to Aliir from last season. I wonder if they’d give Greg Mays (Forestville import) a try out as an injury replacement?

Definitely agree. Glaring hole at the moment looks like size off the bench as gristci did not look the goods albeit in limited sample size. Rocco and Smith Milner are far from the leagues best bigs and they looked a cut above gristci tonight so think perhaps signing a big as their third import will have to be the move. If Martin or Humphries get injured this year with how thin our bench front court is we'll be cooked. Davis looked really good and liked how vasilijevic had his late scoring run, think the way he scores he looks like a mini doncic out there using his big frame. Marshall looked improved on last year and Dech too but they obviously wont shoot that well all year. Some good signs though hopefully Martin is back soon and at full strength.

Rucker's top 5 in the league:

5. Goulding.
4. Jarrell Martin (wtf)
3. PJC
2. Cotton.
1. Cooks

Ah yes, you know the NBL season is approaching when analysts start trying to convince that Cooks' 14 pts/7 rebs is better than Cotton. Just stop making lists Derek.

Anyone else got a better top 5 to share?

Jarrel Martin lmao.

Martin was up there, last stint.

Lets revisit this after the blitz for now it's just Rucker waffle

Sixers got three players in top 15, that's going to be interesting. Better make up for their lack of bench.

Martin played a full season of Euroleague in 22-23, 38 games and playing 19 minutes a game. Very few players have ever come to NBL after playing a full season of major minutes there

His team made the playoffs too

But in 2023-24 he played in Turkey and only played 14 games the entire year- assume he was injured?

MaxM - cooks was clearly the best player in 2023 and won mvp scoring 15ppg while cotton scored 23ppg... so I think it's prob a reasonable pick

You can't expect bigs to be scoring the same as guards in order to be the best player or to win mvp

I'd have Cotton #1 after 4 MVPs's in 7.5 seasons.

But having Cooks 2nd is totally reasonable given he was All-NBL 2nd and GF MVP in 2022, and MVP in 2023.

I think they're the obvious top 2. Purely based on their NBL achievements over multiple years.

After them, there's plenty of places you could go.

Saw in my feed on X the game between Cats & Chiba Jets was filmed, someone in Japan put it on youtube i started watching at work but when I went to watch at home its now private see link below. Anyone got an alternative link?

https://x.com/intoU12U/status/1835953608434872542?s=19