The Woe-down.

This should actually be a pretty good game I think, both teams have elephants in the room to sort out - Sobey for SEM, and Humphries/Harrell for Adelaide.

Third game straight with no Kenyon for SEM, reportedly a foot laceration? Ayre yet to see a single minute of playing time too.

DWJ/Sobey are yet to have a game where they've both performed.

Not sure who to tip. Close to a 50/50 game but I'll go 36ers due to home court.

Who wins, who knows. I'll lean to SEM as they are better on paper and you would think it’s time for them to make a stand. Hurt got play some D, he is mostly the worst minus on the team. Sobey, should be sixth man, will his ego and the club be strong enough to make that call. SEM by 8.

gotta call 36ers here. home advantage and ont been too far away in first 2 games. KD has big incentive after comments online this week.

If Harrell plays 25-30 mins there is no way Hunter stays out of foul trouble, and for that reason if no other I'm tipping Adelaide.

First to score 100 wins

Walton won't have another shocker. In the previous 2 games the Sixers have played, the opposing point guard has had a field day. Walton to go for 25 and a SEM win.

Good points by Angus and Pablo

Fair chance Harrell gets Hunter in foul trouble, then Hurt/Vodanovich would struggle to handle him but similarly, I'd be backing Walton Jr to bounce back and feast on Davis and Cadee.

All points to high pressure cracking game.

If Walton starts hitting triples, Sixers might be in a world of pain. Should run Humphries off the bench, and try get him going when he comes on. If Humphries can provide something on offence then Sixers should win.

Hopefully Cadee starts to help get Humphries going. Sixers really can't afford to lose this one with the Hawks in the Gong on Saturday would likely mean an 0-4 start to the season. Sobey might just give us a helping hand for this one.

I am only going off my (old and fading) memory here. Thinking back over the seasons Sobey has been in the league.

Sure. A talented offensive player who can score at times with the best of them. Also very little team success. We all know this.

But I am reflecting currently on his effect on his back court partner in all his teams. Seems most of them have underperformed over the years. Co-incidence or causation?

In the 130 games Sobey played for Brisbane, they were 58-72

A quick back-of-the-napkin calc of his time in Adelaide suggests Adelaide were roughly 13 games positive in the W/L column

So In Sobey's career he'd be almost exactly 50% wins. Without playing for the premier franchises Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, NZ (who have the majority of championships over the past 30 years).

In other words, his reputation as a loser doesn't seem entirely fair.

Whoever plays a bit D might win this game. Commentary have not stopped telling us how good Sobey is.

@ LV , Sobey played for a Lemanis that should've done a lot better, they played finals once and Lemanis could coach.

Thing I like about Trez is that even though he's not an outside threat the ball never sticks with him. If he’s not looking to score he’s looking to move the ball straight away with hand offs into a screen

That block by Trez was clean.

Need Majok Majok in right now

Wouldn't call Sobey a loser. His Brisbane stint was punctuated by shitty roster construction time and time again. Not once did the Bullets sign a point guard that could effectively lead a team. Also the Lemonass experiment of attempting to have Sobey be a point guard was a fail.

Sobey’s attitude has become poorer over the last three seasons though, to the detriment of the team. Notably he and Baynes chased Duncan away. And his ball hogging has really ratcheted up a notch.

I'd be showing Kelly the door ASAP.
Weird rotations and poor offensive sets look very similar to when he was assis at Perth.

Kelly furiously checking the schedule to see when SEM plays Brisbane.

Humphries getting going is a big help. Also the opposition not shooting 50+% from 3 too!

Yes I'd say Kelly is gone, they the players are not listening. SEM have had a tough draw to start season though. I’ll feel for Hunter, he left there as only real defender. Hurt is a stats padder.

@ Ben, wasn’t the story that he want to be the point guard, that’s why he went to bullets. Walton jnr is as good point guard going around and he still not doing great.

Kelly has loss the players & it shows in their effort & poor descion making

Hunter fourth foul because they aren't playing D in front of him, Hurt that time.

@ Dunkman. First time I've heard that, not to say it isn't true. Always thought he came to Brisbane for the opportunity to be coached by Lemonass and ply his wares for a potential Olympic spot.

LOL, just throw the ball at the rim, amateur refs.

SEM has no fluidity on offense. It's so ugly, such a mess.

Hurt's defense is really hurting them.

At this rate, Kelly's job in urgent jeopardy

Yes good summary LK, they are not out of it yet though. Both sides are in trouble re finals at this early stage

Kelly and Greer, probably Mitchell as well, place needs a clean out, same old, same old.

Wow I thought SEM had some issues but thought they'd find their way. Watching this is obvious they are toast... and so is Kelly.

Some members were claiming vodanovic better than smith milner. Think that's been answered three games in. I think vodanovic is about one of twelve season to date!!

Wieskamp chucking a bit this quarter. Really not helping SEM get it back.

So they replaced Creek, who was a great offensive player and ok defender, not great with a high scoring player and defensively is nearly non existent. Wieskamp plus two, Hurt minus seven. Walton Jnr was a great pick up, again not the best at D but put players around him that suit.
Sixers look ok, interesting decision on Harrell coming up, the man is a beast and entertaining. Humphries plus 13 and 22 points also great, Davis is also a good pick up, 21 points and 7 assists.
Neither side probably playing finals.

Nice getting the win but SEM really are putrid so can't take too much from it. Kelly's a good guy but some of his decisions or lack of are baffling. Ayre only getting on right at the end is bizarre, Majok limited as he is not even getting on the court. Barely playing Glover. Allowing Wieskamp to just keep chucking and chucking. How long until Tommy's mate Sammy Mac gets the reigns?

For us it was good to see Humphries get going but still not much boards. I was surprised the Ice/Trez combo worked as well as it did. Davis looked a lot better more assertive. Bit of a shame Starling seems to have fallen right out of the rotation under the new coach.

First half 36ers looked really composed and structured - playing with purpose = healthy lead and dominating game. They looked better as a team than last year.
IMO a lot of fouls on ball handlers let go - often resulting in a mishandle - Sobey's defence was excellent but IMO I saw 2 or 3 clear fouls that he should have been penalized on.

Last half I felt 36ers were cruising just keeping a buffer.

Crowd loves Harrell and if the 36ers don't secure him for the rest of the season I'll be disappointed.

Sold out and I wonder exactly how many the 36ers would get if we had a 15,000 seat stadium.

The game day experience in Adelaide is awesome - a lot going on and the fans love it.

Adelaide lost a bit of purpose IMO last few minutes - didn't seem as defined as the first half.

I'll definitely be going again - I feel this team is better than last years line up.

Not a convincing win.
Ugly game to watch.
SEM players bereft of confidence.
Kelly close to losing the group.
Starling not playing again?

Is it just me or does Trez just have horrible body language. He seemed disjointed and isolated a fair bit on the bench. Love the energy but seems to pout a bit.

In the professional era of basketball, if Kelly is still at the helm for the next game, then it sums up management.
As others have already stated " he has lost the team". The player rotations are shocking and would suggest players are super frustrated.
Nothing emotionally or inspiring given on the time out.
Insulting the proven bench players, allowing recruits to just keep on flaking it up.
Still not sure on how Adelaide is given they played against a totally disinterested team tonight

"In the professional era of basketball, if Kelly is still at the helm for the next game, then it sums up management."

That is a ridiculous statement.

Lost to Perth in Perth by not much
Lost to a strong Melbourne united
Lost just to NZ in NZ
Lost to a desperate Adelaide in Adelaide

Their results have been fine considering the circumstances

They will likely beat Brisbane next week

What's with not playing Ayre for 3 games and 38 minutes, then putting him on with 2 minutes left?

Once Kenyon's right, he should be starting with Wieskamp the spark plug off the bench. Or Glover for Sobey.

I don't think SEM is necessarily done for the season.

They're a poor defensive team who's missing one of their best defenders, and they've started with 3 away games and a neutral fixture.

They've also got an entirely new starting 5 including 2 who have never played NBL.

They don't really have time, but, give it time.

joshuapending - just you.

IMO from watching 1 game.

he is out there high 5ing - brings the team together.

he has constant communication with all players on the court in a proper business like manner.

Everything he does is purposeful to score or keep the game flowing.

has the right move at the right time - he's only going to get better.

I thought it worked well with the 2 big combo tonight.

SEM were the home team in the thrown down round 2

Sixers fans shouldn't be getting too much confidence out of that. SEM would've lost to every team in the league with that performance and sixers struggled to put them away.

IMO sixers are still down with breakers, cairns, bullets... and SEM.

I can't work wieskamp out - he looks like he's engaged but his defence is simply non existent! I can't see things getting much better for SEM.

if SEM have one positive this season so far, it's what a good recruit Matt Hurt has been

offensively at least...

Surely Harrell has done enough to show that he can contribute post-injury and will be back to the NBA after his Adelaide stint?

What happened at 3/4 time when referee Reid sent the Sixer trainer was told to leave ,didn't look too happy ,may have said something ? Can anyone shed some light in this one ?

SEM were the "home team" but it was a neutral game. Just like round 1 was a "neutral game" but it was really an away game

SEM have, in their first 14 games:

5 true home games
2 throwdowns
7 away games

The 7 away games- 2 in Perth, 2 in NZ, 1 Sydney, 1 Tas, 1 Adelaide

The 5 home games- Illawarra twice, Perth, Cairns, Brisbane

So an away weighted schedule with
Perth 3 times
Illawarra twice
United twice
NZ twice
Sydney, Tas, Cairns, Brisbane, Adelaide once

So 8 of 14 against last year's top 4- TAS, UTD, Perth and Illawarra. Teams with roster continuity who you'd expect to start well. And 1 against Sydney.

From the 0-4 start, if they're 4-10 it'll be a great result.

Observer - Adelaide High Performance Manager stepped into the court (barely) during the scuffle between the two teams.

In the rule book only the Head Coaches are allowed to walk on the court during those situations.

So he was ejected.

Thanks for the heads up Superfan

Hurt the only one not hurting them. To many guards for SEM & no real backup big? As mentioned the game plan to get Hunter in foul truoble worked & no decent backup 5 ??

Losing against Brissy will cause big drama one would think...

Important win for the team and for Wells. Have played well enough to win all three games so far, but the media would've been piling the pressure on if they were 0-3 heading to Wollongong.

Davis responded well to criticism during the week. It's so valuable having a guy who can draw fouls and get to the line to slow an opponents momentum. Loved his extra effort on defence as well, especially taking on the challenge of defending Walton and doing a solid job.

Agree that the Sixers shouldn't get too excited beating SEM at the moment. They look so disjointed and lacking in confidence right now.

Great to see Humphries get on track. Really liked when he aggressively pursued rebounds, busted his ass to get to close outs and accepted the challenge of switching onto guys on the perimeter.

Harrell was still good, but personally I felt like he wasn't moving that well in this game. Perhaps is carrying an injury that limited him 15%?

Hurt is fools gold, yes he can score but defensively he's a lamp post. Cooks is licking his lips for that match up.

Have to give Sobey some props for being the only SEM player to put in 100% effort defensively - best defense I've seen from Sobey since he played for the Boomers and surprised me with how good he can be on that end when motivated.

SEM were a mess though, excluding Hurt's scoring. Outside of the DWJ/Hunter two-man game which looks ad hoc rather than game-planned they just aren't generating anything offensively, and too often it's left to DWJ having to go iso or Wieskamp/Hurt just chucking up long 3s. You can be bad at D and still win some games, but not if you're bad offensively as well... I don't know how much blame to put on Kelly vs the roster they've constructed, but coach is the easier spot to shake-up at this point of the season.

Despite the opposition I still think they were some promising signs for Adelaide with the Humphries/Harrell frontcourt looking legit, and Davis showing some flashes of being a good quality import. Harrell is volatile and a tech foul waiting to happen, but he's also the most athletically dominant player this league's had probably ever, and more skilled than I've probably given him credit for based on his NBA career. I think he'll be back in the NBA soon enough.

They have much much much better problems than Hurt. Everyone knew he isn't a defender, and 32 points more than makes up for it.

Seems every year there is a team who has loads of talent, that can't play D or doesn't come together.
- Kings last year.
- Adelaide with Randall/Franks/Cleveland.
- Perth with Cotton/Law
- SEM this year.

I for one haven't been all that impressed with Harrell so far. He looks out of shape which is a bit understandable given he didn't play last season but to me he looks like he's been out 2-3 years. Prather and Nader who had both been out longer until last season looked in better shape.

Offensively he's limited and I don't care at all for his carry on, we've had players with better resumes here, if he's dominating maybe ignore it but he isn't. I can't see an NBA team signing him but then again Ingles is still in the NBA so who knows.

I appreciate Harrell's efforts on the boards though we'd be screwed there without him given Humphries' aversion to rebounding these days.

If not for Harrell, 36ers lose the first 2 games by 20 and struggle to win last night.

He's been great

Still don't rate Adelaide top 4 or even top 6 though. Defensively they're average at best. Mayen hasn't continued his heroics from their opener, Marshall is a kid finding his way, so depth is an issue. Davis and DJV, while they can both seriously score, aren't a dominant backcourt in this league. So what's their point-of-difference as a team? What gets them into top 4? I'm thinking best case scenario for 36ers is winning 50% of their games. But likely less.

15.7ppg 9.7rpg 1.7apg 1.7bpg in 23.3mpg is pretty dominant IMO (and somehow only 2 fouls per game). He's obviously a little underdone physically and I agree re: the carry on, but he's a monster.

I love Trez Harrell's body language.
Always constantly chatting to the point guards
Constantly linking with his teammates
Does he have a short fuse, will
He get niggled? That is going to be an interesting watch.
But he is a power forward, it’s his job to intimidate.

He is also an NBA 6’7" with monster strength, a long massive reach and super quick hands, just what the doctor ordered.

But for mine, Kendric is the one who needs work on his body language. When he has an over dribble turnover he seemingly falls over so he does not have to recover and chase, if he joins team huddles he is always the last and seemingly does not seem to talk much for a new point guard trying to 'run the show’.
He should be ‘bouncing’ but he walks around slowly hanging his head often.
Credit he is now defending also in passing lanes looking to use his quickness for steals so he is looking to make changes but it’s this side of things he needs to address also.

AngusH,

Would you say Alan Williams dominated last season? He averaged 16.7 ppg and 10.9 rpg over a much larger sample size 15 games vs Harrell's 3 games. Sauce did not dominate.

Sauce shot 43% from the field

He also averaged 3.8 fouls a game and his rim protection and D wasn't at Harrell's level

Sure but he didn't dominate and neither is Harrell. One thing he is doing though is intimidating people you could see a hard thug like Tommy V didn't want much to do with him and Cam Oliver didn't seem to be going too hard against him.

That's what I'm most interested in seeing going forward is if an opp big takes it up to Harrell especially defensively.

"Dominate" or not is semantics but he's been easily 36ers best player.

Jarrel been superb, he's exactly what Sixers needed, an enforcer. How SEM could use someone of that ability.

Lol no Vasiljevic has comfortably been our best player so far.

Williams was a "dominant" player, but yeah the foul trouble was a major part of limiting his effectiveness, which hasn't been the case with Harrel so far to my surprise. Williams also a lot softer offensively with a lot of jumpers and floaters, while Harrell is looking to dunk every time he gets the ball anywhere near the rim and is far more dominant defensively IMO. I would take either of them, but Harrell over Williams every time.

Montrez more efficient offensively than Vasiljevic, and a bigger impact defensively and on the glass. DJ is an average defender at best. Trez has brought presence and energy at both ends, shooting at nearly 70%, cleaning up the boards and protecting the rim

Define efficient? Harrell doesn't do anything other than dunk. He can't shoot. Vasiljevic is only 6'3" not athletic but is using smarts and guile to 2nd in the league in scoring at 23 ppg whilst shooting 45% from the field and a fantastic 52% on 3pts.

Do I think DJ will be able to keep up that level? No but IMO defintely been the Sixers best player so far.

Certainly one of the main changes to last night's game was the input of Humphries. Starting Harrell with him eased a lot of the pressure on Humphries as the opposition had to closely defend Harrell resulting in more open looks for Humphries. This combination rarely were on the court at the same time in the previous games. It may never happen but I hope we get the opportunity to see all three of Humpries, harrell and Martin in the team at the same time. Having two of the three on the court at all times will make a most formidable front court.

With such an inside presence, it would then open up the perimeter for less contested shots from the three point line.

One thing that also seems to have happened compared to the last few seasons is a smaller core of the main rotation getting the majority of the minutes.

Will be interesting going forward as to what happens though.

DJV might score a bit, but he also gives up a bit too.

Thinking about SEM, much as I admire Kelly as a person, I think they need a new coach, someone like a Tatum or a Roth, to turn their team around.

Anyone know about racism statement from NBL about fan last night?

The use of the word "fan" is a stretch.

More like a troll.

People need to grow up!

So before firing the gun on Kelly so early in the season is who do tou pick up the phone and say hey do you want the job, a lot of people settled into their jobs over the world for the new season. I really rate Adam Gibson but it's too early for this gig for him I reckon.

Montrezl posted the racism incident on his instagram story.

Harrell is a shooter now! He's 1-2 from 3 point range this year!

*Insert Disco Stu "if these trends continue..." gif here*

Harrell's getting double doubles. Pretty good for 12 month layoff and just arriving 3 weeks ago into new team. Very decent iq. Watch him working with Davis, he is two steps ahead of the play as he sets everything up to get the guards into the position he wants and then feeds the ball back to them to score. The way he is looking to distribute is great for the team. Wish Humphries would dunk from inside the charge circle like Trez.
Sixers should have won by 20-30pts. SEM were not good. Tough draw or not, Sixers were making them look very ordinary in 1st half. I would've liked to see Sixers play more uptempo transition once they got on top rather than half court game every possession. The refs and Sixers style slowed game down, managed 93pts because of the dominant first half, second half very scrappy and stop start which brought SEM back into the contest before Sixers coasted to the win.

Kelly's head coaching record

Taipans
NBL19: 6-22, 8th (last)
NBL20: 16-12, 3rd
NBL21: 8-28, 9th (last)

Phoenix
NBL24: 10-18, 10th (last)
4 games into NBL25: 0-4, currently 10th (last)

30-62 at Cairns, 10-22 at SEM, 40-84 across his NBL coaching career

Re Williams and fouls, the refs have been far better this season, let the game flow, some of the calls on Williams were ridiculous, it's much for fiba style reffing.

Hard to tell with Kelly regarding his record. Struck gold in that winning season in Cairns but was always going to struggle in terms of keeping talent with their payroll, but from memory seems the players tuned him out in his final year.
Last year had a bad run with injuries late, and even when Williams played was on the bench with foul problems.
So they needed a talent influx, but seeing how Sobey was shown the door in Brisbane, culture may have suffered. Say what you will about Creek as a person and off court stuff, he played hard every game. Sobey is just a 1 man gang, has a few wow moments, but is just a maverick on offence.
So has Kelly been dealt a bad hand again in terms of a strong culture, seems opposite to JJs. Had the import sacking last year that regarded culture as the main reason, yet they bring in Nathan. Is that his fault or management? Will need to string some wins together otherwise he's definitely odds on favourite to lose his job this season. Can they bring anyone in playing wise to help, haven't really seen them play, just comments and boxscore, but looks like they haven't got a pulse ATM.

That was a weird one to analyse for the 36ers because Phoenix were just so crap, aside from the notable exception of Hurt.

The red flags for me was that:

Adelaide looked out of gas by the end, they're going to have to improve their fitness to roll with a largely 8 player rotation. I feel like they could be flat or too fatigued for the Hawks game.

Phoenix did miss wide open shots, it’s not like Adelaide’s amazing perimeter defense forced a bad shooting night. Walton kept missing open after open threes. Walton 0/5, Sobey 1/6, Wieskamp 0/5.

If averages play out, they hit 3 or 4 more of those between them and then it’s an even game.

I know people hate that line of logic, but reality is good teams don’t rely on others to have awful games in order to win. That seems to be Adelaide’s reliance to get wins the last 5 seasons or so and that’s why there’s no surprise they haven’t been a finals side. So that’s still a bit of a flag for me.

On the positive end, I feel like that was a really really really well coached game. They tested bringing Humphries and Trez into the starting 5 together, they really made a concerted effort to get Humphries his shots, they made a concerted effort to have Davis lead the bench brigade or make sure the scoreboard ticks over when things are tougher.

That meant Humphries and Trez could exploit Phoenix’s bigs issue and make space for the perimeter. It meant Davis could balance distributing the ball with scoring at the right times (and some better defence too!).

It felt like a very competent game by the 36ers but they need to find another level to get wins against a Hawks away etc.

Agreed KET. SEM were dysfunctional and didn't execute but it wasn't like the 36ers D was the main reason.

That summary is pretty spot on KET.

The 36ers have showed potential in all of their games so far, but the consistency, particularly on the defensive end hasn't been there. They have enough offensive weapons, but it will come down to how much they can improve defensively as to how far they go this season. While Humphries and Davis both had good games, they did miss a few absolute gimmes so hopefully that can be an improvement area also.

As for the discussion about Sobey, the 2 seasons where his team was most successful were the 36ers teams in 2017 and 2018 where he played mainly in an off guard slasher role. In 2017 - Randle was the main ball handler and in 2018 it was Shorter, and I have always felt this is role Sobey was most effective in and best suited to team success. In his last season with Sixers in 2019, he played a lot more time as the Point Guard and thus began the transition to this being his preferred position. This hasn’t translated however to team success and makes you think that this transition maybe wasn’t the right move.

@cassinaus, in what world could Gibbo slot into that coaching role, shouldnt even be in the conversation. Has served 0 apprenticeship time and is still too busy being one of the "boys". Excellent basketball IQ, but still needs to learn how to actually coach a team.