Agreed with all, except maybe swap Tassie and Melbourne, but very interchangeable. Based on overtime last night Armstrong will be back for Friday night

Very good summation of all. Long way to go but the relief of the winner in Adelaide will be palpable relief.

Nothing to do with the power rankings but fyi if interested. Thon Maker being given another chance at the Rockets training camp on an Exhibit 10. Rockets have one full roster spot open with AJ Griffins mutual release. One of Williams or McVeigh could be promoted (Williams the better chance) leaving potentially a 2 way open for Maker. Otherwise could be G league for him.

If we were to break up the NBL into divisions this season

As a very early call

Championship Division - Illawarra, Sydney and Perth

Division 1- United and JJs

Division 2- The rest. NZ may join Div 1 but too early to say.

Championship division comprises the real contenders.

Division 1 is the gatekeepers. Solid teams. If you can beat them consistently you're probably good enough to jump into Championship division. Division 1 teams aren't real contenders- unless there's some unforeseen injuries or catastrophic dysfunction with the Championship teams. Or unless there's roster moves (like replace an import with an All-NBL level game changing player).

Division 2 teams are making up the numbers and it'll be a good effort to make the play-in.

Of course there will be upsets. Division 1 teams will beat championship teams. Division 2 teams will beat both. There may be bogey matchups- a Division 1 team might consistently have the matchup over a Championship team, for example.

But on the whole, these will be the ladder positions and more often than not, the Championship teams will beat the Div 1 and 2 teams, and so on.

As a very early call.

JJs probably still in championship division, just starting to get going. Been written off to many times. SEM will tell us whether they could make div one this weekend.

Sometimes history occurs and we only remember the victors or the key moments.

It's easy to forget the JJ's were 12 points down in game 2 against Perth, staring down the barrel of a sweep.

They then won the closest GF in history, despite being behind 70% of the time. (And from memory, giving up double digit deficits in their 3 wins).

In other words, they did it by a whisker. They did it by being the master of comebacks.

And they've lost their best player- who led their scoring in 4 of their 8 playoff games and 3 of their 5 wins, and hit big shot after big shot in those comebacks.

Not sure he would be their best player this year the way Magnay has started. There are a lot of ifs and maybes with the JJs. For example if MacDonald wasn't injured how much better would they already look. Certainly another 10 points or so per game and even harder D. If they bring that D to every game do they need that much more offensively. If Magnay doesn’t get injured and is not lost on a two way. If Crawford plays consistently at his best (early signs suggest he might be one of those better year 2 imports). If Doyle gets back to his best and makes the big shots in McVeighs absence. If the Roth fairy dust keeps working on Terangi. If Sword figures out the league and his role to give a real 3rd import punch. What happens at the end of the Rockets training camp. Of course, with the JJs the sum of their parts is more than the individual pieces. Their chemistry, culture, team spirit, never ever ever say day die attitude etc. and they have the Master Coach in Roth. There is probably a pathway there again for this year if everything falls favourably but that is asking a lot. Time will tell.

Crawford is 34 so a great result would be a comparable year to last year.

Steindl is 35, Drmic 32, Deng 31, Doyle 31 this month.

Like United, age isn't on their side.

I think they’ll be the best defensive team in the league. But you need to be good at both ends.

Being good at both ends Gives you flexibility and adaptability and means you can play different ways and win in different ways. If you’re elite at one thing, you’re one dimensional and likely to be beaten by a team with more strings to their bow. That’s why great offensive teams and great defensive teams are usually beaten if they aren’t *above average* at the other end of the floor.

Refer United 21/22. One injury to CG43 ended their season which was arguably unlucky, but if you’re relatively one-dimensional and only great at one thing, that’s what can happen.

Also refer Garry Lyon on On The Couch this week, re Brisbane Lions being in the premiership window. Same concept applies in basketball.

They were only good at one thing in 2022 LV and only the Kings could stop them in the end. On individual pieces they were far from the best roster but they ended up runners up regardless. This years roster is way better than 2022 but on individual pieces they are probably in that 4 to 5 bracket. What Dunkman is saying is that every year the conventional wisdom has been along the lines of your narrative but the JJs keep proving everyone wrong. Maybe this year will be the year the conventional wisdom is right. All I can tell you is that they were all over United for large parts of last game and the look in the eyes of United's superstars said it all. They didn’t expect the JJs to be that good. Time will tell.

I don't agree- It was pretty clear they were United's kryptonite last season, and I said so many times on this forum- that the JJ's were the only team I was worried about as a United fan. They didn't come from nowhere.

I actually bet on them mid last season as a hedge, because I'd already bet on United for the title but I knew JJ's were the big risk.

Even though I don't think JJ's were top 2 or 3 at that point, you could see the potential.

They don't have the same potential this year IMO.

I'm not saying they definitely won't win it.

It's a 10 team competition so that would be ludicrous.

I'm saying it's very unlikely anyone bar the three "Championship teams" wins. Unless there's injuries in that group or major personnel changes somewhere. eg Cooks season-ending injury. JJ's get McVeigh back. United sack Clark and sign Rayjon Tucker. Etc etc.

Brisbane will come good. They were undefeated in the pre-season and won the Blitz!

:S

Glad to see the Breakers in the 6. Don't think they should be higher, not only based on the manner in which they (attempted) to close out games but also because the NBL x NBA games may change the roster again. While I'm hoping Tacko doesn't play well and isn't picked, I think one of Mooney and Gillespie won't be on the plane home - there's an evident gap for an import who has the height to slide to the 3 because Darling isn't a NBL starter and Mennenga/Bolden/Pineau may give sufficient coverage at the 5.

Let's see how the Cats go against your mob Friday night LV. United are their Bogey team in Perth. I will be more convinced about the Cats if they can get over a team that is as well coached, play as hard and with proper D like United. Only really convinced about the Hawks atm.

That won't mean anything

United have been Perths bogey team in recent years. Just like JJs have been United's bogey team.

United may well win but it wouldn't get me overly excited about their season.

Cats have got a very hard draw this year.

Delly's partner having a baby and it's uncertain whether he'll catch the flight to Perth

Good opportunity for Flynn Cameron if so. Someone who is clearly capable of more playing time I reckon.

Great news for Dellys family!
Awful news for my Supercoach team!

Flyn might end up a superb player but big loss if delly is out, not that level yet

Put him to the bench Supercoach boys

Straight up trade for this round on my end!

Delly confirmed out.

Assuming CG43 back into starting 5, with Clark and Ili.

Tai out for the Cats, Windler and Okwera Gametime decisions.