Too many threads, why have 5 threads when we could have 1?

Keep it simple

Round 1 thread:

https://www.hoops.com.au/forum/52278-nbl-round-1-5-games-19-9-22-9/

1 thread per game, convenient, concise, to the point

I have more faith in the Bullets this season, as I have posted before.

After an impressive pre-season and Blitz. Unbeaten, so far. What more can a team do to earn some respect. Yeah some easier W's but some "better" teams too, And please, don't tell me how undermanned everyone else was. None more than Bris. Think Bullets had 4 of top 6 out at the same time. Rocco, Norton, Bannan and Macd. and still won. Greatest asset, the team balance.

The core is there from last year, the imports look much better, all seem to be on the same page.

Breakers, on the other hand are just about brand spanking new, from the Head Coach down and did not perform well during pre-s. PJC is a star, no doubt, Gillespie hasn't shown much yet ('cept for a dicky temper). Others are good but not good enough to beat Bullets.

Bullets by double figures to open the season.

Not saying (as I have not said before!?) that Bullets will be champs. Just that they will be tough to beat throughout the season.

LV, should we try both. see which one works best. On a forum like this, you can just do it. I will be happy to post on game thread rather than whole round thread.

OR, WE COULD HAVE A SPECIAL, DEDICATED THREAD TO DECIDE HOW MANY THREADS WE SHOULD HAVE!

Where's this being played? The location on the calendar download is just listed as "Kayo".

Brisbane have looked solid preseason.

Not sure they have the same top end talent and upside as teams like Illawarra, South East Melbourne even Adelaide but their floor is lower. Think a poor man's Melbourne or Tasmania.

Adel has been impressive preseason.

Breakers are new and without Gillespie think Harrison should eat them inside.

I prefer single game threads. Much easier to follow a conversation. Isaac suggests we do individual also.

Challenge stadium

Brisbane have really locked into pre-season, playing a lot of games and taking them seriously. Am interested to see if that translates to early-season form, because a good start can build momentum and set up your season. For their supporters' sake, I do hope they have a good season at last.

Old habits die hard, the tribe has spoken. Let's stick with the clutter and the sh!tty game threads then

This game is the ultimate test of "how much does pre-season matter" isn't it? Brisbane were 5-1, the sole loss being 1 pt, and were missing 2-4 players for all those games. NZ were 0-5. Although 3 were against Sydney, to be fair.

Harrison and Rocco (is he playing?) Should prove a handful for Pineau, Mennenga, Bolden with no Gillespie.

Keen to see how Batemon goes in season proper. PJC first up.

Specifically it's Harrison and Adel- they've lit up the pre-season

Harrison looking All-NBL contender, and Adel averaged about 15ppg across their 6 games.

Rob, looking forward to discussing Brisbane with you over the course of the season.

I'm not high on them, I don’t think they addressed genuine needs during the off-season.

Still no elite point guard to lead the team, something that has lacked since the Bullets re-entered the comp.

Also no elite scorer we can lean on in nut crunch time, something the team hasn’t had since All-NBL Lamar. (Sobey wasn’t it)

I like Ty, he has come along in strides and has worked hard to improve his foot speed and endurance. I have my doubts that he can compete evenly against the elite bigs though in big games.

The hype machine is in overdrive for Rocco. But I think he’ll be sheltered to maintain his draft stock and we probs won’t see him play more than 10-12 mins per game.

The new imports seem mid. We’ll never see Prather get back to champion form.

Pre-season form imo is fool’s gold. Brisbane has played full strength much of the team whereas other teams haven’t.

I’d really like to be proven wrong, but think they’re headed towards another disappointing finish.

Tonight I wouldn’t be surprised if they won. But again, it’s against a Breakers team that few are pinning high hopes on. And Bannan is out. If TSM/Bairstow are playing decent minutes in his place, not good.

From where I'm sitting Brisbane looks one of the deeper teams.

Rocco, Adel, Prather, Norton, White, TSM is a well rounded bench.

Bigger question is who are their stars? Will Harrison maintain pre season improvement. Is Bannan taking a step forward. How good is the import back court.

Think Bullets get this. The Breakers look way out of sinc. Their best hope is Bolden making an effort and exploiting the Bullet's current weakness in the 4 spot which LV highlighted. The chances of Bolden even breaking a sweat ere not great though.

Bullets win this Breakers bout clicking at all during blitz.

PJC a class above everyone else so far.

All this talk about Harrison making the leap only to look like an under 14s player out there

Harrison and Batemon can't get near it. Brisbane's offence looks putrid so far

Yeah pre-season means very little

Brisbane ain't going anywhere with Batemon

Brisbane just reactive on defence, game completely on NZ's terms

I'm crying at the half.

Wow, mojave, pjc and mennenga playing great together. Screen, drive, kick... repeat.

If they don't cover the drive take it to the hoop.

So simple but effective, especially if you're knocking down the threes. Let's hope when the threes aren't sinking they adjust their game

Speaking of threes, where's that basketball genius jacket gone. His mindless posts were fun to read. Made me realise I knew more about bball than at least one other human!

Everyone was tipping the Bullets in this except the bookies.

Didn't think I could feel any worse for Ben but here we are.

I had a feeling Brisbane would be bad. But this putrid? Absolute joke.

How could Brisbane be this bad when they won the Blitz??????? lol lol lol lol

PJC the difference. Him with shooters means you'll always be good on offense.

Who would Brisbanes best local player be now Sobey gone?

Ask Adelaide about the woes of winning the Blitz lol

I'm liking seeing the breakers playing through menninga. He's got a good skill set

Putting up a fight at least.

Humble brag: first post of this thread, I tipped NZ by 4.

Menninga had a great high IQ game. Nice to see some passion in Q4 from the Bullets.

Awesome game

After the 36ers success in recent preseasons, one should know preseason means nothing.

Nice to see some fight from Brisbane but let's face it, Coach Kop was getting minutes into his bench and young guys. It’s quite a stark difference to Maor’s style. Maor had the hype, but Kop is technically very good. I haven’t seen McCarron play with so much confidence in years. Breakers will be competitive, and if they can get more out of Bolden and Gillespie they could be a good team. Anticevic and Mennenga are tough.

Nothing to say. At least a fight back but so what. Inside advantage? Harrison 9 pts with 3 of 4 at 75%, Zikarsky 4 pts, 2 of 3 at 66%. Give them the ball guys, they got 7 shots up. Mennenga had 17 shots (for22 pts) in similar mins to Harrison. Pineau cancelled Rocco's contribution.

Breakers outplayed Bullets 'cept for that 4th quarter fight back all game. Coach: P. Koponen, Congratulations.

Yes, I was thinking that about McCarron as well. Just don't know what it is about players finding more when they leave the 36ers. Maybe in McCarron’s case, just not being a marquee and not being under the same scrutiny and expectations. Fresh start, slightly different role etc.

Best Mennenga has looked, but NZ lucky to escape. Infuriating when a team milks clock with 4 mins left and doesn't run offense.

When is Bannan back, isn't he the missing bullets saviour ?

The NBL hype machine would have you believe so.

Nobody in Brisbane buys it, although we recognise he's a solid player.

I totally agree with you Ben but do you know when he's back.

Why did it take a 26 point deficit for Brisbane to realise the game had started?

NZ fans should be elated with the performance of Mennenga. He's only 22, justifiably people have been talking about Olbrich, Toohey, Henshall, but who knows, maybe he'll be the one with the huge improvement this year and a step into stardom.

Harrison was mostly a non factor after all that.

And also King, McCarron, Mooney.

Bolden is the one guy from NZ who has been a disappointment. But there's far more positives than negatives I'd say, out of that game

You would expect a slow start from nz. If they win a few early they might be the smoky this year.

Surprised how little variation brisbane threw at breakers, especially 3-2 zone which breakers struggled with preseason.

Don't get me started on bolden LV - he looks unwilling to provide effort on either end of the floor and is being shown up by far less talented players. Unless they release him and sign a high level 3-4 I still can't see them making the six.

Bolden wasn't that good last season.

He just doesn't seem bought in to actually being great at basketball, does he?

That turnover was prime material- they need "shaqtin a fool" style blooper reels on Overtime

Agree dunkman but most of the kings were underperforming so I thought in a different environment he'd at least try! At this stage that's all I'm really hoping for.

At this rate his future is in lower Asian leagues where his nba stint will keep him in a job

Was Bolden bad? Or is that we all expect him to be so much more? 7 points and 6 rebounds at 75% shooting in 18 minutes isn't a bad night.

Was Bolden bad? Or is that we all expect him to be so much more? 7 points and 6 rebounds at 75% shooting in 18 minutes isn't a bad night.

Watched the Breakers post game press conference, Petteri seems like a great guy

EssenX - it's his work of the ball that is woeful. And ineffective screens

I thought he was reasonably active looking for boards. But in comparison to Mennenga and Anticevic he didn't impose himself physically. I think it looks worse because the guy is big and athletic, you think he’s could do something but mentally he’s not aware of what he’s capable of.

Nah Bolden's just got no heart whatsoever. Spat the dummy and quit on the Boomers in the lead up to the 2019 WC because he was pissed Lemanis was playing Cooks ahead of him. He's not fit to be spoken of in the same sentence with Cooks.

Then when he fell out of the NBA the following year he threw in thw towel, retired and got into trading crypto-currency as soon as that went pear shaped he started playing again last season. Was very unimpressive with the Kings.

Really liked Mojave King, didn't force anything and took smart shots and hustled defensively.
Mooney was very good at both ends and Mitch McCarron is my pick for MIP still.
Will be interesting to see how the Breakers go at home this weekend against SEM with Gillespie back.