1. Sydney
2. Perth
3. Melbourne
4. Tasmania
5. South East Melbourne
6. Illawarra
7. Brisbane
8. New Zealand
9. Adelaide
10. Cairns

MVP: Cotton
Next Generation: Olbrich
Defensive: Ili
Most Improved: Armstrong or Olbrich
Sixth Man: Clark
Coach: Goorjian
First Team: Adams, Cotton, Goulding, Cooks, Magnay
Second Team: PJC, Walton Jr, Doyle, Froling, Humphries
First import cut:
Next coach fired:

1. Sydney
2. Melbourne
3. Perf
4. Tassie
5. Brisbane
6. Illawarra
7. Adelaide
8. South East Melbourne
9. NZ
10. Cairns

MVP: Xavier Cooks
Next Generation: Deng Adel
Defensive: Shea Illi
Most Improved: Tyrell Harrison
Sixth Man: Ian Clark
Coach of the Year: Justin Schueller
First Team: Cotton, Cooks, Adams, Goulding, Magnay
Champions: best bet is Sydney, right?

Yeah, I am a Bullets fan, come at me! Except you Ben, you be quiet!!! Lol

Re: Adel can you win the Next Gen award if you've already played in the NBL before and played in the NBA too?

I think Cooks will be the favourite for MVP he's going to want to stick it up Goorj for leaving him off of the Olympic team.

I have said this before on another thread but gee, wait til you see Craig Sword play. He is a huge chance of being defensive player of the year and at least at all NBL 2nd team level. I can see any of maybe 5 teams winning the chip but this might be one of those years where the favourite doesn't win again and shear scoring firepower will be enough without having the best D. Could be SEM’s year. Going to be an amazing season once again and perhaps this year the NBL takes that giant step back towards a tier 1 sport.

I'm waiting till at least preseason is over, there will be surprises. Some sides haven’t even had a hit out yet.

So,
MVP Cotton
Next Gen: Armstrong
D: Sword
Most Improved: Armstrong
6th man: MacDonald
Coach: Tatum
Champs SEM over JJs or Sydney
First Team. Walton Junior, Cotton, Doyle, Cooks, Magnay

But all bets are off if McVeigh returns to JJs.

Still surprises me the amount of people tipping Taipans for the spoon

Why's that. the Taipans have gone backwards in a big way.

Returning: Waardenburg, Armstrong, Gak, Antonio

In: Bradshaw*, Edwards*, Groves*, Galloway, Adnam, Makoi, Stith

Out: Miller*, McCall*, Roberts*, Klintman (NS), Kuol, Mennenga, Mayen, Anderson

Sure, on paper they're worse. And maybe they will suck. I just think they could really surprise a lot of people

KL - on what basis are you bullish on Sword, or just from Youtube?

MVP: Bryce Cotton
Next Gen: Lachie Olbrich
Defensive Player: Freddie Gillespie
Most Improved: Taran Armstrong
Sixth Man: Elijah Pepper
Coach of the Year: Brian Goorjian

Champions: Sydney over Tassie.
Wooden Spoon: Brisbane

All-NBL 1st team: Cotton, Walton Jr, PJC, Doyle, Cooks

All-NBL 2nd team: Jaylen Adams, Sam Froling, Jack White, Dylan Windler, DJ Vasiljevic

Deng Adel is 27 years old, he is not eligible for Next Gen

Ant Ant Ant, what Sword does on the D is just spectacular and special. When he starts swatting the ball away from behind as PJC, Goulding, Adams et al are trying to their shot off will have the media drooling. Then the blocking, helping Mags with rim protection, deflections, steals, getting on the fast break and making his 3s. I don't know what more you can say. I haven’t seen someone quite like him in the NBL. Milton Doyle says he is perhaps the best on ball defender he has ever seen in basketball. Like Milton and JC before him there is enough online scout to make a sound judgement. You don’t sit on NBA rosters for most of your career as a specialist D guy and play and for Team USA if you don’t have something special about you. If I am wrong I will stand corrected. As we all know Roth is no fool and Sword has been brought in to shut down the leagues superstars, simple as that.

Sword only played 3 games in the NBA with one team. He's 30 and played virtually his whole career in the G-League which is a big concern. Let's wait to see how he goes guarding real players first before declaring him the best defender of all-time.

The G-League is crook Andre Ingram was meant to be some gun 3pt shooter there and struggled with Perth, Dusty Hannahs was said to be the best 3pt shooter in the world outside the NBA and couldn't hit a 3 with the 36ers even Ron Howard before him was meant to be some great scorer from the G-League and struggled with the 36ers too.

Zodiac, entirely Agee. The proof will be in the pudding. But this thread is about predictions and that is my prediction. Happy to fall flat on my face but it will be a first if Roth has got this wrong. I do think it is instructive though that NBA teams would not give up on him even if he spent nearly all his time in the G league.

NBA teams barely bothered with him. Are you confusing the G-League with the NBA?

He averaged just 4 ppg in Poland and has only played in the lowly Mexican and Venezuelan leagues. He's fortunate an NBL team was willing to take a chance on him.

Roth's a great coach but coaching and scouting are two different things MiKyle McIntosh wasn't much chop for the JJ's. Rashard Kelly and Josh Magette who's now retired weren't great either.

Zodiac, he signed a $1.8M contract with the Pacers last year. No-one ever thought either of those 4s were going to be stars. They were budget signings while McVeigh developed. Bit harsh on Magette. He was great in 2022 as was Josh Adams. Most didn't rate them either when they were signed and the same with Doyle. JC arguably was the difference in Game 5 but again there were lots of doubters at the start of the season. McVeigh, MacDonald were never rated by most either in 2022. Roth is getting it right a high % of the time. We will see.

The Pacers cut him two days later, that's what they do to get their G-League rights. It's very common Dallas did the same thing with Jerome Randle. It's just atactic to they play for their G-League team.

Here we go, Zodiac criticising the G league again, bit bizarre really

Loves mentioning Dusty Hannah.

What about Rayjon Tucker, DJ Hogg, Antonius Cleveland, Vic Law, Shawn Long and countless others who spent most of their careers in G League before starring in the NBL.

Meanwhile some players with Euro resumes don't succeed as expected in the NBL.

I trust Roth- the only team to make semi finals the last 3 years

Sword's selection however, in hindsight maybe not what they needed given Macdonald's success in the GF, and with McVeigh's and Lee's departure they're thin in the front court and reliant on Magnay staying healthy. Still, in Roth we trust. Has earned the mantle of best current coach in the league. And all imports have played their roles (even Macintosh who flourished late after struggling early)

Long was average, couldn't play D, Law didn’t achieve much, had him and Patterson and didn’t play finals, Hogg great in Cairns, achieved nothing in Sydney. Zero championships out of them. Tucker did finish the season well but hardly the mvp he told everyone he was going to be.

Hogg missed half of year 2 with injury? The Abdelfatteh Kings were a mess but he wasn't the main problem

Every one of those guys made All-NBL teams- except Tucker who was borderline but missed out, with his team mate CG43 pipping him

They all played playoffs too (Cleveland, Long and Hogg anyway) with Law missing the last couple of games allowing JJs to take Perths spot, and Tucker's United missing by literally one basket after an injury riddled season and a 13-15 record despite Tucker killing it down the stretch

With JJs I think they in the identical position to United- lost an elite scorer, will be defensively strong but not enough fire power. Roth and Vickerman run strong programs that succeed year in year out, so they can't be written off but I'm placing Sydney and Perth ahead of them.

I agree with you on Vickerman and Roth re strong programs, I'll stick with my opinion on my description on those players, each to their own though.

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.

Dunkman you're welcome to your opinions but its a fact that most of those guys made All-NBL and most of them played playoffs (with the others coming close)

Why's that. the Taipans have gone backwards in a big way.

Returning: Waardenburg, Armstrong, Gak, Antonio

In: Bradshaw*, Edwards*, Groves*, Galloway, Adnam, Makoi, Stith

Out: Miller*, McCall*, Roberts*, Klintman (NS), Kuol, Mennenga, Mayen, Anderson



I'm not sure they've gone backwards in a big way?

Klintmann and Kuol big losses, but aside from that I think we have potential to go better than many expect. As always will depend on imports, but Bradshaw/Edwards could easily equal or exceed Miller/McCall and the same with Groves for Roberts. Armstrong stepping up and Waardenburg back to full fitness as well can only help.

I'm also keen to see how Stith goes, but hoping he has a great season.

Fair call there's a few "ifs" but I still think we could go well.

Stith has developed a 3 point shot, based on his NBL1 stats:

https://nbl1.com.au/player-listing/dillon-stith

Hit 54 threes at 40% over 22 games this season.

Great to see opportunities for a guy whose stuck around for years in NBL1 and worked on his game

Overall Taipans look to have gone backwards in terms of talent, Bul Kuol a huge loss. As is McCall who's been heart and soul for that franchise for 3 years.

But if 1 or 2 of Forde's imports play like genuine stars, and/or if Armstrong or Waardenburg take big steps forward then the Taipans can challenge for top 6

Media favourites get some players into teams they don't deserve, again imo.

Yeah but All-NBL means you're top 10 in the league. Maybe some of those guys were really top 15 instead of top 10. Still gun players who contributed to successful teams.

Besides as I said, there's countless others- Tahj McCall, Melo Trimble, Casey Prather etc etc we could go on and on

So many players come to NBL after playing most of their careers in G League and they're successful in the NBL. It's just odd the way Zodiac incessantly criticises G League and keeps bringing it up and mentioning Dusty Hannah lol

McCall was solid and started great but regressed every year he was here. By the end of the season he was being benched and attracted little if no interest from any other clubs. I don't think he's irreplaceable.

Kuol is obviously a big loss and not replacing Klintmann could also hurt. It might be the rose-coloured glasses, but I'm still hoping for plenty of upside.

Dunkman and Zodiac- how about Cedric Jackson from the G League? 3

3 championships, an MVP and 2 GF MVP's enough for you?

There is always an outlier LV

I just listed 9 players, and there's others.

Jackson and Prather won what, 6 championships between them?

For as many that have done well, there is probably as many busts, some of these players only play g league a season or two, they can turn it around quickly compared to longer term g league players, it's such an iso league. Tucker is a good example, even Casper was, they really improved once they got here and Vickerman got them playing team, after the first six weeks Tucker looked nearly a bust but he turned it around with talent and good coaching and has been very good in Europe.

Not this Cedric Jackson stuff again. LV. He was a flawed basketball player couldn't shoot to save himself and played on a strong team where his inability to shoot was hidden well. He was embarrassing at the FT line too. It was a bad time for the NBL when the talent level was severely depleted after the league almost folded and BA rescued the league and drastically cut spending.

Everyone thought Jackson was the greatest thing since sliced bread at NZB, look what happened to him when he went to United? Soon after he was playing in a semi-pro league in the US then came back here and had a terrible season for the Hawks and never played again.

Oh dear.

The guy won 3 titles and an MVP and 3* All NBL 1st team......but he was a "flawed basketball player".

Well yeah, all NBL players are flawed if you're comparing them to the NBA or Euroleague- that's why they're in the NBL!

Yeah G League is a less systematic league ("iso league") but you take that into account when analysing players. It's also a league with loads of super-talented guys who come over here and star in the NBL. Just admit that obvious truth Zodiac instead of going on with your nonsense schtick

Tell me how well Jackson did at other teams like United and Hawks then?

Does that cancel out his achievements over his 4 years in New Zealand?

He played a couple of years in the G League, then he came to Australia and dominated for a few years, did he not?

And then got found out at his next two NBL teams.

What's your point? Plenty of players fall of cliffs for all kinds of reasons

You keep saying G League is trash, yet plenty of players- Jackson, Prather, Cleveland, Law, Hogg, Trimble etc etc etc- prove that wrong- just admit that.

No it is a trash league irrespective of some players coming here and being successful. It pays peanuts and players aren't subject to the pressure of performance of being an import in a real basketball league. Hence why it's full of young guys learning how to play some still living at home with mum and dad.

Give me a player every time that's done the hard yards trying to survive in Europe as an import, living in a foreign country, not knowing the local language and getting screwed around with their pay.

Can we rename this thread "G League Argument"?

I'll throw in Scotty Hopson's name in

And I should add wins and losses in the G-League are irrelevant unlike proper pro leagues. The G-League is a developmental league hence it's former name the D-League, the NBA's developmental league.

Stop being deliberately obtuse and disingenuous Zodiac

The point is, if there's countless examples of players who successfully transitioned from G League to NBL, no one should automatically assume that G League players wont be up to it (as you've been doing lately with Hurt, Wieskamp, Sword etc etc).

I hadn't mentioned Hopson because he played in Israel, Greece, Turkey etc in addition to G-League before lobbing in the NBL.

So he didn't meet my criteria of spending "most of his career" in G League prior to NBL- unlike the other 9 guys I mentioned (and there are plenty more)

Mod: Post flagged and awaiting moderation.

let's try to get this thread back on track, anyone else feel like this season could be really competitive for Most Improved Player? Feels like there's a ton of guys ready to go to the next level.

Taran Armstrong could be right in the mix.

For sure, Armstrong, Olbrich, Kyrin Galloway, Flynn Cameron, to name a few

Taran Armstrong, Kyrin Galloway, Rocco Zikarsky or Ben Henshall

Or Olbrich- especially if Hawks dont sign another import

Mitch McCarron or Jonah Bolden for most improved

Zodiac jack jumpers made a grand final with macintosh and maggete as imports and a semifinal with Kelly those three were all solid players without being spectacular far from bad scouting. They have also had josh adams and now Doyle who have been great when you look at it they have had a solid track record with imports there hasn't been any any complete busts unlike some other clubs! I think you will be very surprised when you see sword in action a perfect player for the way Roth likes his teams to play

It enough respect for JJs at present, I don't see slipping to much if at all.

looking back at it I think Kelly's time in the NBL was pretty underrated

Punters showing some love. JJs have shortened into equal 2nd favourite on the VIC TAB without any practice match exposure. Kings getting very short already at $3.

MVP- XAVIER COOKS BEST PLAYER ON THE BEST TEAM? COTTONS CONTINUED DOMINANCE ON A TOP 3 TEAM? PJC IF NZ FINISH TOP 4? HARD TO PICK BUT I THINK COOKS IF KINGS ARE AS GOOD AS THEY SHOULD BE.

NEXT GEN-TARRAN ARMSTRONG, HE WILL HAVE THE BALL IN HIS HANDS AND ALLOWED TO RUN THE TEAM ALL SEASON LONG FOR A TEAM SHORT ON PG DEPTH. ARMSTRONG SHOULD SHINE AND SHOW WHAT HE CAN DO EVEN IF THE TEAM IS NEAR THE BOTTOM MOST OF THE SEASON.

DPOY- I LIKE KIRSTIAN DOLITTLE FOR THIS BUT WATCH OUT FOR CRAIG SWORD ALSO.

MOST IMPROVED-COULD AGAIN BE TARRAN ARMSTRONG BUT I LIKE WILL MAGNAY FOR THIS, WIHOUT A SHADOW OF A DOUBT WILL BE THE NO.1 5 MAN FOR THE JJ'S ALL THIS SEASON. WITH A COUPLE MORE SHOTS FREED UP WITH MCVEIGH GONE(FOR AT LEAST START OF SEASON), SOME EXTRA REBOUNDS TO PICK UP AND COMING OFF AN OLYMPICS THAT HE PERFORMED WELL AT. IT SHOULD BE A BIG SEASON FOR MAGS, HE COULD AVERAGE 14PTS, 8RBS, 2-3 BLKS AND BE HIS USUAL EXCELLENT SELF ON DEFENSE(HE IS EXTREMELY UNDERATED IN HIS ABILITY TO SWTICH ONTO SMALLER GUYS ON THE PERIMETER AND STAY WITH THEM OR BLCOK THEIR SHOT AT THE RIM IF THEY DO HAPPEN TO GET PAST HIM) SHOWING THE FULL PACKAGE.

6TH MAN- IAN CLARKE IS THE EASY EARLY CALL BUT COULD BE MITCH MCARRON IF HE PERFORMS TO HIS ABILITIES AND NZ ARE IN THE HUNT FOR THE ENTIRE SEASON

COACH OF THE YEAR- SHOULD BE VICKERMAN IF UNITED FINISH IN TOP 3(LESSER AND OLDER TALENT THAN PREVIOUS SEASONS) BUT IF BRISBANE SOMEHOW ARE TOP 4 THEN IT WILL BE SCHUELLERS TO LOSE.

CHAMPIONS- SYDNEY KINGS, SIMPLY TOO MUCH TALENT AND DEPTH TO NOT BE THE CHAMPS RIGHT? I THINK EVEN IF JAYLEN ADAMS HAS AN AVERAGE SEASON AGAIN THEY WILL WIN THE WHOLE THING. WILDCATS AND JJ'S TO BE RIGHT THERE AT THE END ALSO.

FIRST TEAM ALL NBL-BRYCE COTTON, WILL MAGNAY, XAVIER COOKS, DERRICK WALTON JR AND JACK WHITE

SECOND TEAM ALL NBL- PJC, PINDER, CAM OLIVER, GOULDING, FROLING

Capslock is on the left side of your keyboard mate.

Word14 yeah I actually think Kelly was a solid player averaged 12 points 6 rebounds as. a third import I wouldn't have minded bringing him back I’m not sure why zodiac thought he was bad scouting

Yeah I was personally keen to see him back for last season, he's played in various European leagues since his NBL stint and looks like he might be in Japan this season

Wildcats aren't winning it unless Rillie went on an off-season coaching bootcamp for defense.

Tightest shirt worn will be Aylen once again.

D Rucker's top 15. 15-6 released today, top 5 on Wednesday

15 Isaac Humphries
14 DJ Vasiljevic
13 Milton Doyle
12 Jack White
11 Cam Oliver
10 Sam Froling
9 Keanu Pinder
8 Jaylen Adams
7 Will Magnay
6 Derrick Walton Jr

Who will make the top 5? Probably Cotton, Cooks. Jarell Martin. CG43. PJC.

Who misses out from the top 15? Delly. Trey Kell. Sobey. Tyler Harvey.

In some ways, lists like this are pointless. Every year there's imports who come in, and end up top 5 or top 10 in the NBL. Will that be Rob Edwards, Matt Hurt, Dylan Windler, James Batemon, Freddie Gillespie, Kendric Davis etc etc. You know one or more of them will be All-NBL 1st or 2nd team, or even MVP candidate level.

So what do you think of Rucker's list? And which of the new imports will join the list by season's end?

One thing that stands out is the quality of the guards and 5 men relative to the forwards

6 of the top 15 are 5 men- Martin, Magnay, Pinder, Oliver, Froling and Humphries. Then add Marcus Lee, Freddie Gillespie.

Many point guards and 2 men also.

But forwards - the only forwards in the top 15 are Cooks and White. Of course Windler, Bradshaw, etc could join them by year end.

Froling isn't even the best five man at Illawarra, Olbrich if his nznbl form continues will be. List and lists, I suppose it gets commentary but it’s all gues work.

You cant be serious

So what if Olbrich won the NZNBL MVP. Rob Loe won that the year before

Froling legit outplayed JLA and Hukporti in a playoff series.

Olbrich out played Froling in both nznbl games quiet comfortably, I've know quite few hawks supporters who agree with me. Each to their own.

Sorry but outplaying Froling twice means little, he probably outplayed him at training many times last season too

The real test is how they go against superior players like Humphries, Keanu Pinder, Cam Oliver etc.

Some players are built to play in superior leagues and suited to do so, others aren't. Dave Barlow never averaged 25ppg in NBL1/SEABL but he's an NBL legend.

You may be right, Olbrich may turn into an NBL star, but it's madness suggesting he's better than an actual proven NBL gun, based on an NZNBL season. That's just silly.

It's like saying Cotton would be a better NBA player than Delly, just because Cotton's won 4 NBL MVP's and Delly hasn't.

Doyle outside the top 10? Wow

Dunkman it's actually no different to junior bball either. Some players dominate Saturday domestic, but others are more effective in Friday night rep.

The point is, you can't use results in a significantly lower grade to accurately gauge performance in a higher grade where different skills and attributes are required. That's just a fundamental reality relating to any team sport like bball, footy, soccer etc.

I wouldn't be shocked if Olbrich overtakes Froling, although Froling seems to have found that intensity/consistency he was lacking under coach Tatum. Olbrich really impressed me watching the NZ league this past season - very talented player, capable of a lot more than we saw from him in the NBL last season outside of glimpses.

If Olbrich improves that much, then sky's the limits for Hawks this season

But I'll believe it when I see it in the NBL, not a league that's a tier or three below

I don't have twitter, but you are supposed to get score updates from Chiba v cats, any one got scores.
LK as I said each to their own, Froling imo has always been a media pet and overrated.

Exactly NZ league is a fair bit below NBL level. Keanu Rasmussen a DP with the 36ers played as an import in the NZ league this year. Olbrich is trending in the right direction tearing it up in lower leagues but he's not on Froling's level.

The media didn't help Froling better JLA and Hukporti in the semi finals

Two games, JLA was poor in the finals, Hukporti good. As I said I know hawks supporters who agree with me, I respect your opinion but it doesn't change mine. I’ll wait to see what season brings. I’ve always thought the Frolings were on the media friendly list and so do others, it doesn’t mean I’m right but time will tell.

They definitely are. Harry was hyped above his station and Sam too gets talked up as some great big in the NBL but he's just pretty good not a star. It doesn't help Goorj continually picking him for Boomers squads either.

But the NBL commentators have to talk up what we have here and given a lot of bigs here that play well leave for higher paying leagues the onus is to pump up the ones that stay.

It was a 3 game series and Froling killed it. Averaged 22.7ppg @ 71% against the 2nd best defensive team in the NBL

Yes JLA wasn't at his best late last season, but he's still one of the premier bigs in the NBL

As the late great Homicide said, "men lie, women lie, numbers don't" , Froling averaged 15 and 8 @ 57% last season. Not bad for a 24 year old.

Speaking of media darlings, if anything the media hypes Magnay I reckon- yes, potentially a bigger ceiling than Froling but yet to consistently produce for an entire season or remain injury free for long enough.

Media also likes Pinder, who like Magnay produces impressive highlights. Yet Froling was overall just as good as both of them last year, quietly going about his business

Perth Wildcats' unbeaten pre-season continued with a hard-fought 88-80 victory over Trevor Gleeson’s Chiba Jets in Japan on Monday.

The Wildcats, coming off a massive win over Nagoya on Friday, were tested against a strong Jets outfit which included former Wildcats MVP John Mooney and fellow ex-NBL players Chris Smith and DJ Hogg.


Kristian Doolittle was the difference late, hitting a pair of clutch triples late in the match to inspire a stunning late comeback.


Doolittle finished with a team-high 19 points, including five three-pointers, to go with some excellent defensive efforts.


Ben Henshall started for the second game in a row and had 17 points including 14 in the first half alone.


Chiba got on the roll to start to final quarter, turning an 11-point deficit into a two-point lead with four minutes go to.


Next Star Izan Almansa, who was crucial with 11 points for the game, then tied the scores at 78-apiece with one of his trademark hookshots.


Doolittle then added a triple and Almansa a massive dunk to give the Wildcats a five-point buffer with two minutes left.


The Wildcats went on a 12-0 late to seal victory and make it four wins from four starts this pre-season.


Four-time NBL MVP Bryce Cotton, captain Jesse Wagstaff and big-name import Dylan Windler all sat out for the Wildcats.


Popular big man Mooney, who won the Wildcats’ MVP award in his only season at the club in 2021, was a familiar name on the opposition team.


It was all Chiba early before the visitors settled with Henshall’s hot hand playing a part on the way to eight first-quarter points.


Wildcats’ lead for first time, three minutes to go in the first quarter with Almansa hitting a pair of free throws to make the margin 17-15.


Just like the first term, the Jets started strongly before an impressive finish from the Wildcats turned things on their head.


Henshall (14) and Doolittle (11) continued to put their mark on the game, with the latter also having a real impact at the defensive end as well with the score out to 55-43.


The third quarter was a close affair before a see-sawing final term saw the lead change multiple times.


The next clash of the Wildcats’ Japan tour is against Yokohama B-Corsairs on Wednesday from 11am WST.


It’s set to be live streamed through the Wildcats’ App and YouTube channel.

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https://www.wildcats.com.au/news/wildcats-defeat-gleesons-jets-in-japan-thriller

Zodiac - Rasmussen has a NZ passport and played as a local in their league this season.

Olbrich will be better than Froling sometimes this year, but in 12-24 months will have completely surpassed him.

Okay I thought I read Rasmussen was an import, my mistake.

But still some of the players that were imports in the NZ league this year were Cam Gliddon, Daniel Grida, Ben Ayre, Mitch McCarron and Ben Henshall.

"Media also likes Pinder, who like Magnay produces impressive highlights."

Except Magnay's strength isn't his highlight plays, his positional defence is off the charts, it's hard to remember a better centre at defending ball-screens multiple ways.

Zodiac- just out of curiosity where do you rate the NZNBL relative to NBL1?

Olbrich also won MVP in NBL1 as a 19 year old playing with Drmic and McCarron. He's definitely trending on a good trajectory.

word 14,

The way I've always seen it is top tier is NBL, then a reasonable gap to NZNBL and SEABL (now NBL1 South) and then third-tier the state leagues. The QBL (now NBL1 North) is the best of the state leagues.

Yeah that's pretty spot on id say, though it may be far from top tier the NZNBL is a very enjoyable league to watch in the offseason.

If you guys really think Olbrich surpasses Froling this season then go bet on Illawarra to make the playoffs @ $6 with Sportsbet

(Gamble responsibly. you're more likely to lose than win, etc etc etc)

Cos if Olbrich really does go past Froling, he wins MIP and Hawks go top 4.

Agree with your rating of the league Zodiac.

Thanks Andrew for cats v Chiba report.

Magnay is a gun, certainly better than Froling imo.

Magnay has a higher ceiling but last season was the first year since 2019-20 when he actually managed to get through the season

If he can stay healthy, he probably will become better than Froling, but as it stands Froling has had a better career by virtue of simply staying on the court

Doesn't anyone remember the JJs Illawarra play in final? Magnay absolutely destroyed Froling and he was just desolate at the end of the game. Also, wasn’t it Olbrich that missed 6 free throws in a row and the ant army almost blew the roof of the stadium off. It was much to Froling’s credit that he then played like he did against United.

Make of this what you will but the just released team jerseys include number 9 for the JJs. Isn't a case of the orders having gone in before McVeighs NBA announcement because Terangi’s jersey is available too (ie. not as a special order). Undoubtedly will be a real money spinner for the JJs and NBL store and therein may lie the answer but shouldn’t jerseys only be for the teams 2025 rostered players? Maybe because he is reportedly still contracted if the NBA deal falls through is the justification. The number 9 Jersey is also part of the JJs promotion page for jerseys with Magnay and Sword the primary images. Interestingly Sword and MacDonald are just by special order at the moment. Thought they would be in demand. You see lots of MacDonald jerseys at games.

Interestingly Sword front and centre with CG43 and Almansa on the NBL promo. Probably differentiated for other markets. What do others see?

To me this league is gonna be made up of two divisions of six teams... the haves and have nots. Hawks a chance to disrupt things.

My pick for the final standings is


Sydney
Melbourne
SEM
Perth
JJs

Hawks
Sixers
NZ
Brizzie
Cairns


Cotton to be mvp just cos that's what happens even if there's players that perform better!

Who are the two expansion teams?