Is this much news?

Virtually every team would have players and coaches conflicting at some point.

LoveBroker, crossed my mind too, but this is a basketball forum with a large focus on Adelaide, so just thought it was worth posting. You're right that we probably are naive to how confrontational professionals sports probaby are, but this has also been brewing all season. If there is an issue, it's not as if it would be related to any lack of opportunity for Davis who is putting up insane numbers, so it just makes you wonder why they don't see eye to eye and how that might impact Davis extending.

Nah this is fair in the context of Adelaide's inability to have a season where they don’t implode

There's clearly been problems in the group all season culminating in the alleged physical altercation at training between Wells and Davis during the FIBA break.

Davis is likely gone anyway IMO he will be in line for a very big pay rise which will probably price him out of the NBL. I'm fine with that it's not like his MVP-level production has translated to wins, you could argue it might be at the expense of winning. Plenty of KD / Jerome Randle diminiutive combo guards out there. I'd actually prefer a big PG like a Trey Kell type again to pair alongside DJV.

The real issue is Wells. Clearly not up to it as a HC he's Weston's handpicked coach with 2 years still remaining on his contract. Will he be fired if we miss the Top 6? We didn't fire CJ after the disastrous 22-23 season when we had a loaded roster and only finished 8th on the ladder at 11-17. Will Weston be prepared to admit he made a mistake with Wells?

Weston doesn't strike me as the type to admit fault and responsibility ultimately lies with him for firing Ninnis during training camp and handing the reigns to a guy who has never been a HC before.

It is very much news and an especially poor look for Wells. You dont call out a player in front of the playing group and not think that there will be a reaction.

Particularly interesting as to who played peace keeper in the locker.

Not a good look for Wells to have this happen in front of his family either, who should never be allowed in the locker in any event. Definite perceptions of him trying to show off in front of people by berating a player.

The love in didnt work which is a shock to nobody.

I am undecided on Wells and he's hard to workout as a person.

They have put some seriously good teams to the sword at times, but their defence, away form, and inability to tread water when down players has been the concern. I think they have lead Sydney, Melbourne, Tasmania and Illawarra by over 20 in each of the last four games? So it'snot like he can't get them firing. I have no doubt this is a major learning year for him.

I wonder who was getting chewed out

QAnon, yeah, his wife and son sit right behind him too. Not my buisness if that's his choice, but I wouldn't want my family that close to me while I am trying to work. Weston managed to move a few meters though...

Wells appears to be a very emotional, intense person. Has anyone ever seen him genuinely smile, crack a joke, loosen up at any press conference or interview? It's always just spin that explains nothing. He also seems to have quite a disconnect from the players. He could never answer any questions about how players were recovering from injury or returning to play from overseas. Always handballed those questions Strange.

KD is Jerome 2.0 with a better jump shot. Clock management is diabolical and it's all iso plays or PnR when he is PG. That is on Wells to get him better at running the team and running plays when needed. Did John Casey highlight DJV had one shot and Isaac 0 shots in the second half? Isaac had 5 FGA as a premier big in the league. Thats on the PG to get him involved but more accurately Wells to ensure his starting big gets the ball and stays engaged.

Looking at the shot chart on the NBL website it seems Isaac didnt get a shot off after 1/4 time. THAT is Ridiculous.

At least Wells didn't punch him in the face

Add in the comment that Maher made about stuff happening that didn't get out to the public realm, which perhaps QAnon has eluded to in the past, the club needs to do everything it can to work towards stability and culture.

This just isn’t a helpful additional storyline to a long track record of drama from the 36ers camp.

I also agree, that second half was a shit show. The way the 36ers use iso to murder offence, or overly complicated offence which ends up killing everything is what creates this problem where Humphries and DJV can’t be utilised properly.

The club considering a sanction against Wells indicates they feel he was in the wrong.

Multiple players having an issue with the Coach doesn't necessarily mean anything, but on the balance of probability...maybe Wells is the issue?

I don't know how this will play out, but I'd be surprised if KD wanted to come back with Wells as HC, and I bet Isaac is sending his agent a daily SOS.

Weston would never admit he's made an error, but I find it hard to imagine we'd be in a worse position under Ninnis. (Both on the ladder, and as far as negative news stories, rumours and obvious discontent)

I think there is an issue with both Wells and Kendric. Both seem to be very very volatile.

I absolutely love first half Kendric who is relaxed fast super super skillful and involves teammates. I hate second half Kendric particularly last quarter Kendric who plays slow and without regard for time and score, often holding the ball until it's too late to do anything.

Previously Wells has called this out at a presser without naming any players. So he was just saying publicly that that was not a coaching direction.

Interesting Joey Wright predicted all this as much in his podcast with Boti a couple weeks ago. Is Joey still an NBA scout ? Annoyingly smart dude anyways.

Boti recently tweeted that he thinks Wells be sacked

If Davis goes or even stay at a fair wage, Delly is Sixers answer, he'd run this team perfectly, certainly with Humphries, DJV. He’d be a marquee so only one import. Mayern has improved out site, Dech has been good, bring in one import, a good one in the Hurt mould. Not to many more changes but players like Ben Ayre, Matt Kenyon, Lauchlan Olbrich back home, they guys play hard. Delly could then in two seasons time take coaching reins. Now there a plan for a future, probably on a reasonable budget as well.

For what it is worth Humphries left the arena extremely quickly compared to the rest of the team

I've been told by someone in the Sixers mix that the assistant coach they brought in was "Kestelman's guy".

Wells has been a strange guy to observe. In interviews, he talks about players "doing things for him". Weird way to phrase it when every other coach uses terminology like "we" or "us" in a team sense.

When they asked him about pressure pre-season his response was "You're talking to a guy that's been through a divorce". Always felt like a strange response to a basketball question. Probably trying to be funny I guess?

He's not HC material.

Not a comedian, either.

But how do we know what was said and what it was about? Got to remember there are likely generational clashes going on too, where players need to feel content with everything, their mental health at ease vs someone in their 50s who believes in tough love? Don't forget that Joey had issues throughout his last season. I don't know what's going on, but I wouldn't rule out a clash of generations again..

In short - allegedly - Wells called Isaac out for throwing him under the bus with the "we dont know what we are doing" comment that triggered the crisis meeting pre Sydney. This wasn't done privately, and certainly blows up any goodwill that came of the open and honest discussion that so many said occurred.

IMO its very odd to do that 3 games later to someone who has been very open with his mental health on a night the team honoured Darryl Pearce.

KD took umbrage to the comments and the approach, allegedly

Piss weak from Wells and unprofessional. Shows he is not up to being the HC IMO.

Q anon, I was not referring to any individual cases of mental health, It was more just a point about the modern player vs the older generation. Not saying anyone is right or wrong, was just a loose example of possible conflict between hard ass coaching and more sensitive modern players. Was not talking specifically about an individual player, please understand.

Sounds like Wells couldn't let it go and had to get square with Isaac. Was this after they beat the best team also?? Odd.

Wells benches Humphries rightly or wrongly for Martin/Harrell in the game then sprays him in the changing room after a close win (time and place). Davis who has it in for Wells then hits the fan.

However look who reported this.

You're saying he brought up those post game comments from Isaac weeks later after the team has been in fairly good form? That boggles the mind.

@MC understood and wasn't interpreting your comments like that either.

Isaac seems to be a guy that does need confidence to be his best ( see performances for MU v how he played for Ninnis) If Wells is thinking this is motivational then it demonstrates that he cant manage people or has completely misunderstood what drives Isaac. If he has done that with one player then it stands to reason that flows on to the others as well and how they are treated

For any adult to bring up something that was dead and buried weeks ago speaks very loudly about them and no one else.

Wells hasnt played the game at any decent level that I am aware of so has no lived experience of what a player might be feeling or perceiving at any given moment. That makes him unrelatable which some may see as cultural differences or old school v new school.

IF Wells has been in the NBA then he should be well across dealing with egos and players of all backgrounds and talent levels. For me not being able to manage people is a major red flag hence the jungle drums beating about him and his tenure in Adelaide.

If legit it really speaks to the emotional maturity and general fitness for the job if Wells unloaded on Humphries after a win against the top of the ladder team. As someone else, time and place, those comments Humphries made to media whilst not good were weeks ago and Wells has been hanging on to it all this time to square up. It's beyond pathetic especially when we're meant to be making a run to the playoffs.

The reality is all this BS is nothing new for the club it goes on every bloody year no matter who the coach is or the players are. The culture at the club is rotten and has been since the Mitch Creek thing in 2018, we still haven't made the playoffs since, and the only common denominator is the owner.

Well I wondered out loud what the next crisis was going to be because they looked like they were running out of shitshow situations, but Wells goes ahead and says hold my beer.
The main question mark with Wells to begin with was that he hadn't been a head coach. It's rare for a coach to call out a player the way it's been described, would think a lot of the time the HC has a quick chat with assistants and then addresses the team. To pick on an individual is pretty poor, and if it had been raised in chat with ACs, an experienced one would have said it was a bad idea.
I agree with the comments of Davis having different stages of the season. Early on he got called out by Rucker or someone and proceeded to become aggressive (on court and now off court), and in the second half has probably started seeing dollar signs and starting to pad his numbers. Obviously has a bad relationship with Wells despite the usual ""We're competitive, want to win, like to be pushed, blah blah, it's all good", but clearly it's not. The little meeting a few weeks back was a band-aid, and they normally come off fairly easily with a bit of pressure revealing the open wound, in this case a bit of infection set in as well.
Davis may be gone, but Humphries and a few others will remain, and seeing how Wells seems to hold a grudge I reckon there'll be a few phone calls from managers. So can see a sacking on the cards. Tbh, this would be a perfect time, get the troops to rally around the beloved senior assistant coach, wait, whoops, they haven't got one. How about we get a club legend to step in, whoops, we screwed one at the start of the season. Isn't Conner Henry still in town, maybe he could step in, whoops, we totally screwed that relationship.
It's totally unacceptable, could the players lead a revolt, I doubt there'd be any in Wells corner. Maybe the team can just coach themselves, call their own subs? Or would Weston have to step in?
But I'll call the offseason headline "Adelaide are proud and excited to announce Jamie Petty as their new head coach on a fully guaranteed 5 year deal". As ridiculous as it sounds, I wouldn't be totally surprised.

Delly would sooner retire than play for Adelaide surely.

I wonder how Smyth would go in today's NBL? More relaxed, a players coach but not much going on defensively.

I’m not here to defend Wells as I’m just a mere outsider, but is it possible Wells and players friction is a reflection that the current generation of players just don’t like the older honest coaching style? The Popovich style.

It feels like the dynamic and power shift has changed where players get ideas from NBA stars.

You mix that with the way the team has been formed and it’s a problem.

I think the more successful teams have more gritty defensive and role player types that know what they’re there to do so the coach doesn’t have to try and indoctrinate them to go against the grain. Tasmania and Melbourne feel like that.

Sure there’s an element of today’s people management style which Wells must adapt to.

However, putting aside the *way* Wells may be handling the issues, does anyone disagree with the issues there seems to be friction over?

If we are being frank, all these issues we are hearing now aren’t new and novel to the 36ers. They pre-date Wells.

Adelaide had this kind of problem even under CJ, so it’s not like the nice guy method gets traction where the Joeys and Wells’ don’t.

The friction between Wells and players sound similar to a lot of genuine issues people have been banging on about on this forum.

Wells constantly critiques Adelaide’s D and effort, well it is shit. It has been terrible for years and it remains terrible today. It should be focussed on rabidly.

Humphries’ body language often is not great and everyone sees it. That should be addressed, that shouldn’t just be left unsaid.

Davis’ over dribbling and selective effort on defense can be particularly frustrating when we have seen the highs with Davis. He should be pushed to maximise potential and learn accountability.

Davis’ behaviour is reported to be wearing thin on others and can be difficult. I can understand it’s Wells’ job to player manage but if a player decides to be too difficult, I’m not sure the coach matters.

I honestly don’t think a player like that is meant for a professional championship level side. I am hopeful that experience and maturity can mend that though, but if it can’t, the player simply should not be re-signed regardless of the coaching situation.

Is anything there actually disagreeable?