Humphries wanting to leave and actually leaving are two different things. He's under contract for the next two years so the Sixers would have to be willing to allow him out to sign with another NBL team? I doubt it. He's never played in Europe/Asia before.

My money says he will still be playing for us again next season, the threat is him sulking over not getting enough of the ball and with Trez gone that improves significantly.

Great and sensible Thread and Title, Jonno. Post season approaching, free agency seeing early movers and stayers, will be lots of dribs 'n' drabs from now 'til pre-season proper. Can put those all in "your" club thread.

Let's make one for each team, put all your stuff re "that" team in that thread.

Other stuff can still be posted.

I'll start one now for Brisbane Bullets. No new news from me but the thread will be there.

It actually this right now

PG X / X/ X
SG DJV /X
SF X/ X
PF X/X
C X /Griscti

KD is not coming back. It was either Wells or him and Wells is confirmed

KD was effectively sacked in November, it was decided to save face and deal with the toxicity instead of facing the admission that they got it wrong with him.

He sent text messages to team member telling them what he thought of them after he was sacked. Only to have to pull the full George Costanza move 2 days later.

Very interesting QAnon re Davis, probably a good thing he doesnt return if it got to that point in November. Id try and pay up and get PJC who would likely want to leave NZ, (Kell would be my 1st choice, but doubt he would want to leave the Hawks for the 36ers unless suxers can offer wayy more money.)

Zodiac, Im guessing Humphries has an out clause, probably a buyout figure, as long as those things are met the club cant stop him leaving, but will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Im personally not too stressed if Humphries leaves, even if you cant get an equivalent Aussie we had Martin as an import off the bench not doing heaps last year, use that import spot on a Humphries replacement, id look at Tanner Groves, and that should be ok at starting C, then also would leave you with a decent amount of money to get a decent Aussie in the bigman rotation too.

Never heard of that before for a local player wanting to switch NBL teams despite having 2 years to go on his contract. The way it usually works is the team that owns his NBL rights (Sixers) would have to agree to release him. Can't see that happening. He could play in Europe/Asia instead but never has.

Humphries can't play for another NBL team until 2027 unless the Sixers allow it.

It's happened plenty of times and is happening now.

Remember CJ was off to Europe and landed in Auckland , how did we get DJV?

Market is questioning his ability to buy in as you have pointed out but he is gone.

The 36ers have way more to lose if they try to stop him, given the Creek situation that wouldn't surprise me from these dingbats.

I know exactly how we got DJV which is why it's highly unlikely to happen.

Huh? your stance is he has a contract so cant go anywhere else yet you also know how DJV got Adelaide.

That alone shows that it doesnt matter what your contract says , there are exits of which the biggest being restraint of trade

Isaac can exit any number of ways let alone threatened to release lots more information that would put certain people in very awkward positions.

No matter which way it happens , " mutual agreement" or whatever ,he is gone.

Other people on here know a lot more about Adelaide than I do, but from what QAnon is saying (which has an almost impeccable record of being accurate) it sounds like the dumpster fire will continue.

Even from Qld, the idea of hanging your hat on a Humphries/DJ combination seemed fraught with danger and even moreso when Ninnis got punted before the season even started.

The more things chance, the more they stay the same it seems.

With the word that they wanted rid of Davis in November and Ninnis apparently didn't want him from the start because of his attitude it certainly does put into question Weston's ability to put together a team and listen to others opinions.

He talked big about culture, rebuilding etc etc and then is knowingly brining in guys who have a history of attitude issues and expecting that to work?

There is bad blood between the Kings & 36ers, very few teams would be interested in putting up with Humphries and his crap I dare say there might only be one, the Kings. Do you think the Sixers owner would be willing to release him to go to the Kings? Obviously not.

Personally I don't care if Humphries leaves to play overseas or even less likely another NBL team. Everyone saw what he did this season and very few teams would entertain putting up with that crap. He's tanked his own stock. He chose to sign a 3 year deal for stability he could've signed a 1 year deal again but didn't, tough.

"Even from Qld, the idea of hanging your hat on a Humphries/DJ combination seemed fraught with danger"

It was and I was never really sold on it. Both have serious flaws, Humphries we all know what he's like and I shuddered when we re-signed him to a 3 year deal before the season. We've been burnt by him on a multi-year deal before. Plus with his attitude and injury history having Griscti as the back up centre was asking for trouble.

Vasiljevic is a good 3rd or 4th option like he was at the Kings but he can't be your #1 option. He's a chucker, too inefficient to be heavily relied upon. Plus they way he burnt both the Wizards and Sydney Kings to get here doesn't exactly scream high character. But GK has gone in boots and all with DJV giving him a say on signings etc.

QAnon

Huh? your stance is he has a contract so cant go anywhere else yet you also know how DJV got Adelaide.

That alone shows that it doesnt matter what your contract says , there are exits of which the biggest being restraint of trade

Isaac can exit any number of ways let alone threatened to release lots more information that would put certain people in very awkward positions.

No matter which way it happens , " mutual agreement" or whatever ,he is gone.

I personally will take what QAnon is saying re Humphries and consider him gone, whether thats overseas or to another NBL team doesnt massively bother me.

I agree that DJV and Humphries are not the perfect marquee aussie combo, which is partly why Im not too fussed if Humphries moves on and am fairly confident we can replace him just fine.

Im more interested in who we get not who we lose, as this team was below 50% so happy to not bring everyone back.

Money wise losing the 3 imports plus Humphries should open up plenty of cash and opportunity to offer elsewhere. Always good imports on the market during the offs season, just need to find the right replacements and not get too obsessed with NBA stats. With the replacements I want them to chose character and culture over talent, as other clubs show you can get talented players who are decent enough in these areas, and build from there.

Is Isaac's agent still Daniel Moldovan? I know he left Octagon a couple of years ago but still looks like he has a strong client list, and probably an agent no NBL club will want to mess with.

If the list on realgm.com is up to date, a lot of young Australian talents are clients.

How this plays out with Humphries could impact Adelaide’s roster build for years.

There has always been mystery with NBL clubs and player agents compared with the US where it is much more of a thing. But I cannot imagine Adelaide will want to screw with Moldovan.

More the other way around. This is one of the bigger problems for Adelaide. Moldovan has had his own problems to deal with. Moldovan and JVG teamed up on Giddey to give you an insight into the characters at play.

"With the replacements I want them to chose character and culture over talent, as other clubs show you can get talented players who are decent enough in these areas, and build from there."

Delly should be a target for us. Solid replacement for Davis, great culture guy, desperately needed vet leadership and good defence. Dech would be good to bring back but I doubt that will happen.

Better chance of Bryce Cotton than Delly. (So 0%) You can ask for high character, high culture guys to come - but there is reason they are not in Adelaide in the first place.

However all due respect to Sunday, Starling, Marshall, Cadee etc who are good guys and spent considerable time with Adelaide.

Well you gotta try and correct it and not keep chasing guys with the personality of Trez and KD just because they are talented and in Trez case has a great NBA resume.

The import trio I would love to get is PJC, Doolittle and Groves, I think most of last years problems would not exist if we got guys like this.

I Agree Delly would be a great target for us also and would help fix the culture big time, but yea sounds like its unlikely we will get a high level Aussie.

Im guessing we will have DJ, 3 imports and Aussie role players that we can offer more minutes or money to than other clubs can.

A big part of me just wants the 36ers to tank the next couple seasons talent wise to try and shore up some of the cultural issues and really set a good base. No point going for broke with stud imports if they cant get the pieces around them and get the culture right.

I would focus on putting a cheaper and younger team on the court. Get two imports only and let DJ And Humphries have a full season together as the leading options.

Do that for a couple years so that your locals are happy and feeling confident and then when it's looking good, pull the trigger on a 3rd important and spend big.

What they are doing now is unsustainable and how many years can they keep doing it?

The shit has been piling up for years and is well and truly stuck and plastered.
The only reason DJ came here was to be the man and shoot whenever he wanted. Has absolutely no leadership qualities but is made captain. Everyone was so excited when he and Humphries resigned, comments of how we've solidified our local contingent with top Australian players. The only way they'd be considered top Australian players was if they were playing this week against Thailand and the like. Even then Humphries would drop his head after missing an easy one and DJ would just launch everything and hope they'd go in.
The cheese has totally slipped off the cracker! There's absolutely no hope of attracting free agents unless totally overpaid. Even role players would be frightened off with the threat of ownership demanding the coach to not play them at all, really unheard of.
Sure, can go the usual route of bringing in star imports but normally they bring the luggage, Franks, Craig Randall and now Davis.
The bench is a joke, sturts nbl1 team although even they've lost Rasmussen so expect him to be the one out of favour this year.
Ownership is the one and only factor as to why the club is in this situation. But even if he wanted to sell he can't because the NBL is a mirage, most teams aren't viable despite the spin Larry keeps coming up with. Fans will continue to sell out the venue but most will have no real idea about how chaotic the place is. Thanks to Qanon for opening a few eyes, but how many people even on this forum were gushing how great Davis was and he should be MVP over Cotton. Harrell is just Harrell, even I thought he might be a chance to get a callup to NBA, but looks like he's to toxic as well he's headed to China. So I may retract a lot of criticism I made about Wells, even though I still don't think he's the fit, but he's totally under the thumb of GK.
When Scotty was sacked I thought it was a bit of karma for doing GKs dirty work and benching certain players, Marshall the benefactor and a year later he gets treated the same.
Yet the "fans" will rejoice the club won the playing, new exciting high paid ex NBA players will be announced and they'll say it's the Sixers year. Talent will naturally win a few games but the teams built on a rotten foundation, at some stage it will sink.
Delly coming to Adelaide, don't make me laugh. What possible reason would he want to come to this circus? Watch DJ launch a 3 after one pass? Humphries drop his head after missing a gimme? He doesn't need the money, won't want the owner standing behind him telling the coach what to do.
It's absolutely disgraceful and honestly can't even think of a single way how it can work unless the imports mesh and Wells is able to coach them. As mentioned, DJ is the 4th option on a decent team. Despite his ridicule, I'd rather have Brendan Teyes every day of the week.
Move the franchise to Ballarat or something and just start over. Or get a billionaire to buy an expansion team and bring it to Adelaide and play at the powerhouse, the real home.
Anyway,yet another rant over.

Jason Cadee was the guest on 10 Hoops with Lachy Reid today and I was surprised about how positive he was about Trez behind the scenes. Cadee said Trez showed him and everyone on the team a lot of respect from day one and they showed footage of the gifts Trez gave him in the locker room too.

With the way Trez plays on the court I just wouldn't have expected him to be like that in the locker room.

Cadee also said with DJ & Humphries signed the Sixers don't need to blow things up and just tinker a bit going forward. Said he's not sure if the imports will be back and added Jarell Martin's a really nice guy.

Trez was always very very complimentary towards Cadee especially on Instagram.

Say need stability and leadership to cure these ills. Seems most want success and progress but it's the best path to go. Whatever evolve need to do as a collective and back decisions. Not what if got be what can be. So much speculation. Let's group settle. Together and pump up the wheels not debate.

So looks like from the awards tonight

MVP: Kendric Davis
Best Defensive Player: Sunday Dech
MIP: Lat Mayen
Chairmans Award: Mike Wells
Members MVP: Kendric Davis
Coaches Choice: Jason Cadee

"KD was effectively sacked in November, it was decided to save face and deal with the toxicity instead of facing the admission that they got it wrong with him."

I know you have good sources Q Anon, but I'm having a hard time squaring this away. How does a guy who was sacked in November end up finishing second in the MVP race at the end of the season?

For a 25 year old point guard, sure he got the balance wrong between scoring and distributing at times, but how many guys that age do get it right? Almost none!

Based on what I saw on the floor, I thought he was exceptional, not only scoring but creating for others and basically the entire offence hung on his shoulders. He played big minutes every game and hustled hard for most of that time.

Then we have Olgun saying the club is keen to keep Davis and that he thinks they have a good chance of resigning him.

Is it possible that basically being sacked woke him up and made him change his ways?

Beanie I think you hit the hammer with nail. Great point re KD. Shows strength of club character of player. Stuff culture is made of.

Juts because you can play basketball doesn't mean you are a good person or a good team mate.

As others have pointed out he has been bounced out of every team he has very been on. There is a reason for that.

We also had the owner on radio saying he is bringing all these people back. Deluded indeed.

We signed a coach that actually got into fights with the guy on more than one occasion. You reckon he is thinking it's a good fit to bring him back? You reckon DJV is keen to bring a guy back that doesnt pass the ball to him?

Read Trez last Instagram post, that shouldn't give you any confidence he will be back to Adelaide. especially on the terms which he left.

KD aint coming back and IF they do sign him it will further disintegrate the ability for the team to recruit. Players talk.

"KD aint coming back and IF they do sign him"

Just stop.

Agree with your comments re Trez and he shouldn't be coming back. but KD was at the awards last night. You've got IH, Cadee and DJ getting around him after he won the MVP. DJ has openly talked about their connection. KD stood up for IH while getting berated by the coach. The club flew out his mum and sister. olgun saying the club is a long way down the track on re signing.

Maybe KD's attitude was due to a head coach who hadn't built a relationship with him and started berating him??

People have to learn to take what is said in these interviews with a pinch of salt a bit more. The owner of a professional basketball team is not going to confirm the reality during a radio interview, and I don't think Jason Cadee is the type who has any interest in revealing dirty laundry just because he is now retired. I am sure it wasn't always unbearably bad, but that doesn't mean that most on here are wrong that it was mostly bad, and has been bad for a long time now.

I can't believe that anyone on here would embrace Humphries leaving. Even if performance based criticims are valid, no one should want a key local peace to be so discontented, that player pulls all strings to not be there anymore. A healthier alternative would be to have a bit faith and support in Humphries, and not bring in someone like Harrell. I have said all along that Humphries was always going to be a victim of circumstance with the need to focus on the talents of Harrell, but also the temptation/need to utilise Jarrell Martin, who can't just be anchored the bench. That is why I wanted Humphries to be more of a impact big off the bench for this season.

I don't think any issues with Humphries are related to effort though, I think that's really harsh, especially at the same time as saying in a way that Harrell put in more effort; he was completely selective in effort.

^ Agreed Master Chief ^

Hit hammer with nail!

100% agree on Humphries Master Chief. I was concerned at the start of the season that bringing in Harrell would negatively impact Humphries and that is exactly what happened. If he walks, its another PR disaster for the team and it's almost guaranteed that his replacement will be a far worse player. What the team should be looking to do is to pair him with the right 4 man. Bannan looks like he might be available and he is exactly the sort of guy the team needs. He will box out, rebound and play defence.

If you can keep IH, DJV and then add a guy like Bannan, you are starting to build a worthwhile core. Plug in a great point guard (Davis, PJC, maybe McCall or even Armstrong eventually if you can get him) a good two way wing and perhaps a Jarell Martin type to play mins at both 4 and 5 and you're starting to look like a team that has a chance of playing semis.

Please get of IH backs.he is a keeper. Absolutely.best yet to come. Nail on the hammers head I meant. Why is criticism for people who giving interviews for saying positive and stability comments. That's how build culture. Only fickle pickles who want to live in doomy gloomy domes.

36ers opening talks to re-sign Trez:

"We are currently speaking with Montrezl's management about next season and so far discussions are positive," Adelaide’s GM of Basketball Matt Weston told NBL Media on Saturday."

"However sounds like he's interested in returning to the NBL but with a different team:

Answering questions from fans, Harrell said: “Yes I would play in the NBL again if chances happened, where that may be I’m not sure of tho (sic).”

Harrell doubled down via Twitter.

“Thank you for the time in Australia ... was a pleasure and dope experience overseas,” he said.

“I appreciate everything from the fans! Really hope you all enjoyed me for my time there! Who knows I may be back in Australia, new location!”

https://nbl.com.au/news/36ers-open-harrell-talks

Adelaide or any sporting organisation will always say similar things to appear as if they are making effort to retain certain individuals, even when they know they are not coming back, either mutually or through the choosing of either party. None of it really means anything.

Q Anon, can you point to any actual reasons why Davis "has been bounced out of every team he has played on"? I just want to know where this narrative is coming from, because all I saw previously was some poster on here claiming he had bounced around. I haven't found any negative stories about him being moved on from his college teams thus far.

From what I can tell, he played three years with SMU where he appears to have been very successful. Yes he transferred from TCU after his first year, but he was coming off the bench all season and averaged 17 minutes per game. There's nothing wrong with backing yourself and moving onto a new college if you feel the opportunity isn't there for you at your current one.

I just don't have the details of those fights between the coach and Davis or the context, so I am hesitant to just buy the narrative that he is nothing but trouble. Sometimes, great players are hard to get along with, because they are passionate and driven. Sometimes it just takes the right mentor to help them grow up a bit. And if your team is the one that does that, you can really reap the rewards.

Anyway, if his relationship with Wells truly is as volatile as you claim, then yes the Sixers should look to sign PJC or perhaps McCall or Kell or Armstrong. I'm just hoping that his relationship with Wells is being blown out of proportion, because he is truly one of the most talented players I've seen in the NBL and its a nice change from the absolute garbage I've had to watch from Sixers imports for a very long time!

Lets not shoot the messenger guys

QAnon is only passing on what they have heard, and they have been super accurate in the past, so i for one believe them,

We may not want to believe what they are saying, but that doesnt meant they are not right,

Despite what owner etc say publicly, im moving forward on the assumption that Humphties wand the 3 imports wont be back for the 36ers, and overall think thats not a bad thing if we can spend the money that frees up and get good replacements.

I think we need to put culture first and recruit good people over talented drana queens, especially when the talented drama queens cant even win over 50% of the games and make the semi finals.

Nobody is shooting the messenger. I'm just curious about where this narrative that Davis has been trouble on every team he has played has come from. Sometimes this stuff gets blown out of proportion because its 5th hand accounts.

I'm not in a hurry to say we should just move on from one of the best imports this league has seen in a long while. If you want to actually win something, you need league leading talent like him.

And we won't be building any culture if Humphries is driven out of the club and we lose Dech as well from all reports. What's left? DJV and Mayen? The cupboard would be pretty bare and then we'll be starting from scratch AGAIN!

Probably seven new faces the coach has to get to know and integrate. And supposedly no-one wants to play in Adelaide either. So if we let our existing talent walk, we'll be signing McCarron-like retreads and other cast-offs.

It'll be 2021-23 all over again. And at the end of the season when we finish last, everyone will be on here again saying we're terrible, sack the coach, clean out the dead wood!

Exactly sach him sack that person move on player x. Are supposed supporters and members going to see the pattern. No continuity so no growth organically no cultural connectoons. For better or worst let's settle down and get same group system at at another year. Bar some bad luck would have easily made top 4. Don't forget that.

I dont know about previous stints, but multiple media members have alluded to a fight between Davis and coach at training and other instances when Davis and/or Harrell have walked out of training etc

Let alone some of their body language and behavior some game days.

Its pretty clear both are handfuls to say the least,

Yes, its not ideal to be basically starting from scratch again roster wise, but it appears to be whats happeing.

You also cant build a successful program on the wrong people, so keeping the wrong people, even if you could, likely wouldnt solve the problem.

Most of the players are leaving by their choice, so I think at this point there is nothing that can be done, the issues seem to stem from the owner, management, on down and how they run the club and treat the players, so I doubt anything can be done to salvage this, as it doesnt appear we will be getting new owner and management any time soon. Its just reality.

The first thing we need to do is find the right people to build around, they currently dont seem to be there,

We appear to be keeping Wells and DJ, if I was running the club I would try to add to that 3 imports who are proven to be solid citizens in NBL or an equivalent European league, and add to that the best Aussies (no dick heads allowed) that we can get and go from there.

Im personally not convinced Wells is a high level NBL coach, or DJ is a frnachise player, but they are what we have, so got to do what we can with that.

Also, dont forget had Tassie not got a tonne of injuries it was highly likely we miss the top 6 all together, Brisbane may have also overtaken us if they didnt end up with half their main roster out too. This was not a great season, even if we did have the occasional glimps of great basketball and make the paly in.

I do agree that I would be great to keep a core to build around and have some stablilty.
=
I personally if it was possible would be trying to bring all our Aussies back, replace Cadee with Ayre or Adnam

Get 3 imports who have look to be good team mates and good players, such as PJC, Doolittle, Groves

Build it up from that.

But that doesnt appear to be whats happening, and yes its frustrating and probably means the club wont be any better next year. But that does seem to be our reality.

But we did make the play ins. And got a win.

Yes we did

But even including that, its a 14win 17 loss season, I dont call that very good, its not even a 50% pass mark for me.

Definitely doesn't meet my standards of a good team or season.

Isn't the definition of insanity is repeating the process and expecting different results. Sort of sums up managements views for next season.
How can anyone justify bringing Martin back? Provided absolutely nothing, and expensive as well.
Harrell whilst talented is just a distraction, explains why he's not wanted in NBA anymore, along with Dwight Howard and Demarcus Cousins.
As for Davis, now that Wells is returning they can't have yet another distraction around. Whether or not you believe he's toxic, the facts are that he and Wells do not get along. Let Wells pick his players and if it fails, see you later. He might have scored a lot of points, but for someone that had the ball in his hand for the majority of the time it's not surprising.
Why can't Adelaide learn from the Hawks, Phoenix and Tassie. How did they become successful? Throwing money at talented individuals and thinking it will all become cohesive? Getting players to buy in, sacrifice for the team and not worry about individual stats. But Adelaides answer is to always make a splash in the off season and then try and make it work. Why didn't they hold onto Wiley, guys like that are more valuable and ironically would have been more productive than Martin. Guys like McVeigh and Drmic are the locals we want, not prima Donna's like DJ or soft like Humphries. Dictating that Dech,MM and Cadee be totally benched is what repels free agents from coming.
Davis might put up the numbers, but isn't the MVP for a reason. Yet people are deceived by those numbers. Trae Young puts up big numbers like him, is he discussed in the MVP discussion?
For better or worse, let Wells have input instead of constant interference.
But for some reason for which confused me, they want the same circus. The team had it's best result in years, that's not hard, but the final game summed it up. Up big at halftime then they start bickering and blaming each other and collapse. Next is they would have done better but had some bad luck. Tassie and Brisbane had way worse but had virtually identical records.
But if you think successful basketball is about having a PG just putting up big numbers then you've got just as much an idea as GK, none.
PS, just for my own curiosity Qanon, who seems like he has more of an idea than most because he seems to have inside info, which teammate was it that received the text from Davis telling him what they thought?

Totally agree Phantom.

To be honest the stability we needed to build on is what we had 12 months ago, which sadly Weston/Kelly destroyed.

We should have given Ninnis the full season, he had a good culture, the players seemed to mostly enjoy playing for him, got alot out of Humphries, Kell and DJV.

Should have kept Kell and Wiley and added someone like Cleveland or Simon as the 3rd import. Kell was apparently moved on quickly from considerations from Weston and Wiley who had a team option wasnt picked up, so both probably would have been keepable if Weston wasnt around and Ninnis was building the roster and was shown some appreciation and signed before Tatum could get his hooks into him in Free agency.
Wiley wasnt perfect was beeter than Martin and could have played the same role of PF/C off the bench and seemed to be a good team guy and have a positive team energy around him.

Sure McCarron, Galloway, Smith-Milner probably leave and are replaced with Mayen, Gristi, Rigoni

Could have finished THIS season with a core of

Coach Ninnis (pretty confident at worst we wuold have got a similar record, even if he isnt perfect), even if you add Wells and say Kubank as the assistants.

Humphries/Wiley/Gristi
Mayen/Rigoni
Cleveland/Dech
Vasiljevic/Marshall
Kell/Cadee

Even if you still finish with similar record, I would be confident of it being a better culture, happier team, and more likely to retain and attractive for new players we tried to recruit.

You probably then could have gone into next season with a bunch of those guys giving a solid core, making one or 2 changes/upgrades and not having all these headaches and what seems to be a mass exodus of players.

Ninnis I would have judged on his win/loss record, and had he matched or bettered this years record, which I think would have been likely given he was 8-7 with a similar roster the prior year, then he should have got the final year of his contract. If it didnt go that way, then yes you can replace him, even if it was Mike Wells who would have then served the year as an assistant and be familiar with the group and the NBL, so a better place to start from.

I dont see how 14-17 meets anyones standards. Especially with all the disasters and dramas.

To me since we stuffed this up, I basically view the 36ers as an expansion team, we need to start from scratch sadly,

I think the best we can hope for is Mike Wells has learnt and grows and probably does better with imports who are less drama to deal with.

I doubt we can get any top line proven Aussies, so be looking for some solid role players not getting much run at current club who we can offer more minutes too or some kids looking for an opporunity.

If it was up to me, and you could convince some of these guys with a bit of an over pay and bigger roles, I would be trying to assemble a roster of something like this.

Its not as eye popping, but still very talented imo and would have a much better culture and likely win as much or more.

Assuming QAnon is correct we are starting with DJV and Gristi only and needing to replace everyone else.

Id try for something along the lines of

Groves/AK Gak/Gristi
Doolittle/Krslovic
Kenyon/Grida
Vasiljevic/Rassmussen
PJC/Ayre

Yes, not eye popping but as Tassie have shown you can make a roster like that work ok by having a good hardworking team orientated culture.

Then you have a few guys there to build a solid core around, try and upgrade a few of those guys and add a more marquee type Aussie next off season and go from there.

See how Wells goes with better peaople to deal with on the roster.

If we do end with a losing record, I would rather do it with a team like that, than this years team anyway.

Qanon is on the money. Punches between coach and KD at points. Montrez a distraction.

Actually don't mind the team suggested above. Only thing is it's not splashy enough for GK to hang around with.

"I'm not in a hurry to say we should just move on from one of the best imports this league has seen in a long while. If you want to actually win something, you need league leading talent like him."

You are 100% correct Beantown (with many other things you've said) and is the reason why I've been banging on about how good KD is all season and that Mangagement should have moved heaven and earth to re-sign him. If it was between him and Wells then it is patently stupid to have chosen Wells over the best import the Sixers have had in sometime.

You want guys that everyone on the team likes? Well that's great but you also need some top level talent too to actually win. Q Anon you say "No one had a nice word to say about Jerome Randle" - at least we were hugely competitive with him in the team and he was the MVP of the league. Let's just all watch a bunch of nice guys who can't win anything.

Trez, you could see on the court that he was a disruptive presence with his carry on. He also played defence only when he felt like it. KD was completely different.

This is where it is critical that you get the coach right to manage egos and personalities. Maybe it's true that top level guys are more likely to be harder to manage. Was Kobe Bryant liked be all is teammates? What about Dennis Rodman, Scottie Pippen? No, but they were top level talent that helped their teams win games and championships. But they did have to be managed by an extremely good coach.

Beantown, but it's not that I think Humphries should be entitled to any special treatment or role in the team when I say "victim of circumstance". I just think those critical of his output this season need to recognise that context. I dare say if he does leave as QAnon suggests, then it would be from a range of compoudning factors, and not Isaac sulking because he wasn't always the focus.

Interesting that he seemed happy and actually performed music during the awards night recently, which doesn't really give the impression of someone pulling all strings to desperately get out of Adelaide. But I suppose you can still do those things and want to leave at the same time also.

Rat10, those are good points that we shouldn't be so precious we can't handle any diverse personalities, but it's also important to remember that the NBL is not the NBA where ego and individual dominance is accepted. I don't want that American style thinking to creep into Australian mentality where you hear players say "This is my team" or "Bus driver" just as a couple of loose examples. The NBL has always been more of a team first league, so I guess accpeting the Davis and Harrell types of the world threatens that a little bit. Davis and Harrell are big fish in a small pond.

My hope would be that Davis has learnt some lessons from his first season if he does return because he's a hell of a player.

Rat10, Whilst I agree to some degree, but KD teaming up with one of the biggest talents in NBL history in Trez managed a 14-17 record, even if you are generous and disregard 3 games that players were suspended for its 14-14, thats hardly great, so all this talent isnt translating to wins enough for many to want to bother with the other dramas that go along with it.

Randles teams usually did a little better in the win/loss ration, especially his MVP season, and even then they never really got close to a championship and 2 clubs (Ade/Syd) decided to not continue with him, despite his talent, he wasnt seen to be a guy that was going to take you to the championship.

Maybe if you bring KD back without Trez, he matures and pulls his head in a little, but at the price tag is going to be asking thats quite the risk.

Say you could sign PJC for the same money as it would take to bring Davis back, I would sing PJC, he is atleast 90% as good talent wise as Davis anyway, is a more mature player and person, would likely cause less drama and chemistry issues, which would help the team be more stable and win.

I always thing back to the NBL championship/top 4 teams, they rarely have guys that cause this much drama and fighting with coaches, etc especially at the PG position.

The Bill Simmons book of basketball, secret of basketball comes to mind,
The secret about basketball is its not about basketball, its about teamwork, culture, everyone being on the same page, etc

This can be hard to achieve with the dramas this season had.

But sure, KD could mature and be coached successfully by Wells next season, but Im not sure its likely, not sure id risk the likely $600k-1mil it would cost to bring him back either.

Simon Sinek puts it best. You are better off with a team member of medium performance and high trust traits than high performance and low trust traits.

Think back to all the successful teams was it the rockstars that won the game or was it the medium performers stepping up? Angus Glover, Rupert Sapwell types that are the cores of successful teams.

Adelaide has the environment to strip confidence out of people. Last year the owner wanted Cadee, Dech and McCarron benched permanently. These are the types of guys on their day are the medium performer high trust guys that a team needs for success.

Others on here have their thoughts that a professional should play to a high standard regardless of their situation or what they are being out through by their surroundings.

You can turn a placid family dog into a killer depending on how you treat it.

Harrell was probably capable of putting up a 40/20 or so game if he wanted to, but for the most part his numbers weren't unlike any other high-end but lesser known big we've seen in the league. You can probably get someone like Harrell for less money and less problematic?

You could but the issue is height. Generally speaking dominant bigs can earn a lot more elsewhere, like last season losing a number of them to Asia, Gary Clark, Zylan Cheatham, JLA, DJ Hogg, Alan Williams. So we just need to bring in the next young bigs looking for a shot and go from there. In a lot of ways the NBL is a feeder league for bigger paying leagues especially bigs.

Zodiac, but what has height got to do with it? Agree though that Japan is a problem for the NBL.

Height pays more hence why we're an undersized league both bigs wise and small import guards. It's why we get a lot of sub-6ft imports looking to build/re-build their stock, KD, PJC, Cotton, Randle, Ware etc.

Oh, so you're saying similar players to Harrell have come and gone already, so you have to strike gold in finding another one? I guess I think of players like Vic Law, Jarrell Martin, Franks even; not like Harrell as such, just examples of players who have been in that 15-20ppg. Jacob Wiley was capable of Harrell like moments and is a much better team guy.

Q anon, can you confirm that Harrell is not the best team mate even if he is unaware of it? I don't want to keep assuming he is just because of my own observations.

Wiley another one we burnt, but the guy played with effort and passion and I actually think he'd of been a nice compliment to a PG like Davis.

Cant think if we had of kept it simple in year #1 we could have still have put out a good team

Coach; Ninnis
C: Humphries/Gristci
PF: Wiley/Mayern
SF: Kell/Dech
SG: DJV/Marshall
PG: Davis/Cadee/Rasmussen

Still not perfect depth wise, especially in the bigs department, but surely chemistry wise it's a lot better.

Davis is an odd one too, like you listen to his speech at the MVP awards night and he comes across as very humble and thankful, but that seems to be a bit of a 180 to how he is in the locker room.

Pure speculation on my part, but I get the feeling he's a guy who has been told a lot growing up he was too small, not good enough to be a basketball player and that made him develop a massive chip on his shoulder. That's led him to become as good as he has, but also made him slightly less "coachable" in a way because he'll go into "well F you!" when he's told to change how he plays a bit to fit in better. "This is what got me where I am, so that's how I'm gonna keep playing" type mentality.

"Think back to all the successful teams was it the rockstars that won the game or was it the medium performers stepping up? Angus Glover, Rupert Sapwell types that are the cores of successful teams."

You need both. You're not winning anything without the top level talent rockstar guys. The Wildcats aren't winning without the biggest current rockstar in the league and since you mention Rupert Sapwell, he's not winning without Farley, Maher and going back further the 2 rockstar imports, Kevin Brooks and Darnell Mee.

"Adelaide has the environment to strip confidence out of people. Last year the owner wanted Cadee, Dech and McCarron benched permanently. These are the types of guys on their day are the medium performer high trust guys that a team needs for success."

That is ridiculous the involvement that the owner has. Stay in your lane GK. McCarron though - he was disgraceful in his performance as a Sixer. Perhaps you know what % of the salary cap he took too. Whatever it was, it was too high. He contributed very little and was actually scared to take a shot in his last season especially. You'd think you would work on your weaknesses in the off season but his jumper actually got worse. So maybe the "Adelaide environment" contributed to that but it's not like he did anything in NZ this season. He hardly played and he's only 32. I think the player has to take some responsibility for their own performances and stop blaming team environment or "culture".

People talk about KD's play not translating into wins. What? He came 2nd in MVP voting and he would have been #1 if not for a historical season by BC. If not for him the Sixers would have been near the bottom of the ladder. You want Wiley and Trey Kell back? They were good players no question but it's not as if their play translated into a huge number of wins also even if they were lovely guys in the locker room. The team was a complete embarrassment at times especially under CJ Bruton.

MC, yeah the life of the little man. Under 6ft guys are told they have no future, will never play NBA etc. KD reminds me a lot of Jerome. It's their way or the highway. Just like KD we flamed out in the playoffs with Jerome too. They put up good individual numbers, maybe even win MVP's but they're not team players and clash with their coaches.

The last thing the Sixers should be doing is entertaining the thought of bringing KD back. On top of everything else the massive pay rise alone will hurt us elsewhere on the roster.

@RAT10 the Jack Jumpers say hi

Kell has steered Hawks to the top of the table, that means more than KD finishing 2nd in MVP voting.

The fact is that this much talent got 1 more win in 28 games than the Bruton / Ninnis squad did and that was with DJV joining in October after missing around the first 6 games of the season

McCarron has had a fair bit of off court stuff going on this season and still did enough to be a Boomer in the qualifying series. He would have expected more from himself in Adelaide too, this season Ill give him a pass mark all considered

Exactly why squad needs to stay together. If do another rebuild be 3 years of min organic growth. If squad having ironed out quliches is now gelling as per latter part of season and kick off or tip of in similiar vein next season i could be a very cherry ripe year. Can't keep self destructing comes tine to bit the bullets and stabilise. Squad as finished year is incredibly talented and exciting and ready to create hisstory. Give them the opportunity.

To say McCarron has had a fair bit of off the court stuff to deal with is a slight understatement

"You need both. You're not winning anything without the top level talent rockstar guys..."

Yeah, I agree Rat10. You need some top level talent and then a core of good role players who have been through the fire together a few times and have the confidence to execute in tight games.

KD is that top level talent. The reason why the team wasn't more successful is not because he is selfish, but because we don't have that core that's been through the fire together. When SEM turned up the ball pressure in the second half of the playoff game, the reason we lost was because guys couldn't execute passes or make shots under pressure.

Its the same reason we couldn't beat Perth this season. They have a coach and core group of players that have been through the fire and can execute a range of strategies in crunch time. The Sixers haven't had that since the 2018 team was dismembered.

That's why I'm so damn sick of the Sixers sacking coaches and moving on players! Most of the games we lost this season were because we haven't built that tried and tested team core. I wish they hadn't sacked Ninnis, but that's all water under the bridge. Just got to hope Wells grows as a coach and isn't undermined by management/ ownership.

McCarron had one of the most expensive contracts while he was with the 36ers and his performance was no where matching. No wonder the club wanted to offload him as soon as they could to create room in salary budget.
Dench has similarly a very expensive contract, so despite being the teams best defensive player this season, everyone should not be surprised, if he is offload to make room for players with higher overall contribution for the team. If Dench had leadership and communications skills like Cadee the likely hood of being retained would be much higher.
Cadee this season is one of the few players who contributed above his pay grade both on and off the court. It was good to see Jason finishing his playing career with solid contributions on the court and most acknowledging his strong leadership and value as a calm and mature captain

The one thing everyone can agree on is management interfere too much. One thing that put me off Ninnis was him following managements edict of not playing certain players. If he had a backbone he'd tell them he's the coach, not them. Look at Phoenix, young and upcoming (except CP), Ishiba comes in wanting to make a big splash, young players and draft picks gone and likely Durant leaves as well.
Remember Craig Randall, tonnes of talent but a headcase, different to maybe Davis in his behaviour, but a distraction that at least was eliminated. Yet Adelaide don't learn their lesson, because GK wants the shiniest toy to show off even if it isn't the most efficient.
If anyone wants to read a great book on building culture, check out Legacy by James Kerr. Tells the story of how the All Blacks became so dominant after falling in a hole. One of its mantras is no dickheads allowed.
Look at the AFL, it's normally not till clubs get their house in order in the football department before they become successful. Everything that Paul Roos touched turned to gold. Got Melbourne in a position to win a premiership, looked to be a dynasty, then dickheads started ruining it.
Adelaide is desperately in need of a Paul Roos type to come in and clear house. Unfortunately it's clear that GK won't take a backseat. Made the initial disaster in getting JVG who has the club in the current position. McCarron was a good player but signing such a big contract placed enormous pressure on him to be a star, which he never was.
Sure you need talent, but Tassie has proven culture is the most important ingredient. United were the more talented team last season, but Tassie were able to upset them.
Weston just seems another puppet and what's really his claim to fame in coming in and doing what he's done. Clearly he had Wells lined up as head coach and shafted Scotty. Jury is definitely out with Wells, players running the asylum. It's relatively easy to go out and sign star imports, it's filling in the rest of the roster that's the most important. Mayen was an ok gamble, talent galore but not much upstairs. Then the best he can do is sturts nbl1 team.
So Weston's major contribution is Wells, clearly has trouble with player interaction, again having knuckleheads didn't help. But still can't work out what he brings as a coach. Defensively was terrible. Offensive was just geared to individual play rather than any real structure. So when things got tough it all went to shit. Did he create his own monster in handing the keys to Davis so much? Obviously no respect from the players towards the coach, another example of a toxic culture.
But let's do the insane thing and bring the same players back, with a massive pay rise and surety of not getting cut. Lost Cadee and probably Dech, who else from Sturt can they replace them with, obviously Isaac White FFS.
It's been a quick fix attitude for how many years now, imagine if they'd used those lean years and built something to be proud of. Instead it's a laughing stock and people would rather see Davis scoring 30, DJ occasionally hitting a few threes in a row and the occasional good performance by Humphries and him singing a couple of crackers. Could have kept Kell and Wiley for continuities sake, nah, that's boring, we want highlights. If not for Davis they'd finish at the bottom, no they wouldn't have. If Tassie and Brisbane don't get hammered by injuries, and I mean really hammered, Adelaide comes 8th despite this magical player. If he was so good why didn't he lead them to the top 4? Oh no, he missed a couple of games with Harrell, just like nearly every top 4 team did with their stars. How many did Cotton miss, Goulding? Where were SEM at after 5 games? Shit, even Brian had plenty of injuries so don't use that comment that he was so influential as a player individually that he dragged an untalented team to just the playin, beat a depleted clueless Brian team and then lose the next one despite being up by near 20 at halftime and arguing amongst themselves all during the second half. He is not the answer, he is not the Messiah. Stop believing he is the only way forward, the answer is no dickheads allowed!!!

Now Golden State have signed Armstrong ahead of signing KD. Again that tells you something about KD and how he is perceived by Golden State.

That he's 7 inches shorter?

Feels like you are being contrarian for the sake of it now

Spot on the phantom,

The aim is to win games in the nbl not hsve a guy get his numbers and come 2nd in mvp.

Exactly QAnon,

Like at some point we have to wonder why a guy that talented even makes it to the nbl, it would be partly because he is on the small sidr, partly his attitude

Also temember, shortly after Randle won his MVP he was replacedby Shorter who along with josh childress and a similar group of aussies got the 36ers to the grand final,

Which shows you dont need to cling to a guy like Randle or KD to have success

Also, we gotta remember the 36ers want a stable core, they are keeping wells at coach, want most of the players back, they are not cutting guys, the guys are leaving because they dont want to be at the club, so building a new roster largely from scratch isnt a choice the 36ers are making its the result of a bad culture from top down, which needs to be fixed by having a no dick heads policy as a starting point.

Also,

Whos more talented
Davs or crawford/maggette

Harrell or mcveigh

Who out of those guys have played in grand finals/won championships

Do you think scott roth would have tolerated or be trying to sign Davis or harrell ?

Tassie had there own very real off-court issues with Crawford this year so there may not have been much between him and Davis

@Q Anon The Perth Wildcats and their 10 Championships (with their "rockstars") say Hi.

We can all cherry pick the evidence to suit our position. Not sure the Jackjumpers didn't have any rockstars either - one of them made it to the NBA. Again, you need top level talent. It obviously helps having Scott Roth instead of Mike Wells too.

We got one more win than last season? Firstly the suspensions no doubt had an impact on that number. Say we win 2 out of those 3 games. Add to that the injuries of DJV and Dech that you failed to mention. And replace Trey Kell with KD for last season and we get 2 more wins which takes us to equal 4th position.

If Trey Kell was so good and such a good locker room guy why didn't he steer the Sixers further last season? It was pretty clear when the Sixers beat the Hawks 4 times out of 4 this season that KD was a superious player to Kell.

As Beantown said you want a group of guys that have been through the fire together and not keep turning over players year after year, especially not getting rid of top level talent. So when you find an absolute gun like KD (he was the best thing about the Sixers this season) then please re-sign him so you can have a core group of players that build identity, character and culture.

No one is saying you dont want 'rock stars', I just want 'rock stars' who have good character,

You just dont want 'rock stars' with poor character traits.

Not expecting any player to be completely perfect, but KD and Trez seemed to have well above average drama and incidents compared to other players and imports in the NBL.

Maybe KD does better in this regard in a 2nd season without Trez, and adjusts a little more to the NBL culture.

Olgun keeps saying the sixers are keen to keep him and in positive negotiations, QAnon is saying different, i generally beleive both of these 2, maybe the sixers themselves are not completely on the same page with this, owner may want one thing, coach may think differently, which seems to happen a bit with the Sixers.

Will be interesting to see what happens.

My belief is we shouldnt be desperate to hang on to him, given we didnt win even half our games this season, and he had above average drama and incidents on game day and at training, even though he also had many brilliant games as he is an elite talent, but is he the right guy to take us to the top 3? I was also happy back in 2018 when we replaced Randle with Shorter too, which im sure many didnt like. I believed Randle was brilliant, fun to watch, but wasnt going to take a team to the championship at the same time, also seemed to be some dramas around him, so was fine with trying something different, as I am this time with KD.

The Perth championships is a good comparrison,

Their 'rockstar' import guards Grace, Lisch, Cotton seemed to be good character team mates and didnt cause the negative drama and were respected and loved by their team mates.

Perth have had 2 imports in recent years with off court issues. one was dealt with within a couple of games.

They have had the culture to over come any problems with a strong locker room. Jesse Wagstaff still commands respect when JR doesnt and vice versa.

My point with using the JJs is to illustrate that they are a bunch of cast offs largely and being brought together with solid leadership.

They had huge injury impacts as well and had the same W/L result as Adelaide. They actually beat Adelaide in 2 of the 3 games. JJ's would call this season a failure and we have an owner bouncing off the walls trying to tell anyone that will listen it was a success. Under previous rules they would have advanced in the head to head.

As you have said we can both pick and choose evidence to support our side of the discussion. Adelaide hasn't made finals since 2018 which would match up to the last year that the team was run independently of the front office.

Adelaide has a weak culture at best. Anyone that stands up to the owner leaves. The guys like Creek and McVeigh that would have kept Harrell and Davis in check arent here so the toxicity spreads fast and deep.

KD isnt the guy to build a team around unless you have a Delly level guy that will keep him in check. DJ isnt that guy right now and there is literally no one else. Im not opposed to KD , just laying it out that like Jerome before him, an actual MVP, success doesnt follow these types of characters.

Or you get a coach that can handle big egos and make it work...

I'm not certain Creek is a good example for a or even McVeigh were as you described above, McVeigh certainly changed, Creek not so much.

Creek is definitely a moron off the court, but his workrate and competitiveness on court would squash Davis.
That being said, from the mouth of KB himself, there was a lot of disharmony back in day, it took Childress showing up to get people on the same page.
And it's comical saying the suspensions seriously hampered the ladder. Don't you think losing Magnay and Harrison for even more games were even more detrimental to their team's success genius. Then add on the other injuries. Plus the Hummer signing, although he did set good screens. Adelaide were astronomically lucky to just scrape into playin, saying those couple of games missed were a huge factor is moronic.
Why not go out and replace Davis and Martin with Adams and Oliver? By the logic mentioned, bringing in an actual MVP would have Adelaide in the title hunt. And those two weren't toxic at all in Sydney this year.

On Code Sports yesterday

"Sixers brass want Davis to return - he is the priority - while there remains a chance Harrell will return and the club will then target a pass-first point guard to maximise the talent of he, Dejan Vasiljivic and Isaac Humphries, the two elite Aussies who were often frozen out by the ball-dominant Davis"

So what is it? You want a ball dominant Davis to return? Or you want a "pass first PG" (isn't that what Davis was supposed to be?) to get everyone involved? But do you think Davis is going to be happy playing off ball and want to come back to a scenario he's not going to dominate the ball? It's a mess of hodge podge of trying to serve multiple masters and the end result sounds messy.

That is a strange quote from Code Sports, not very clear what they're saying there.

I think those quoting the teams record is a bit of an overreaction. Until the Melbourne incident, things were looking on the up, then the incident happens and they have some poor form without Trez and KD and coming back from that.

They were the form team of the league in January for a large period. I think their record should have been better. But in saying that, I had never watched a 'good' team be so undisciplined and stupid with their basketball - dumb turnovers, really bad wasteful possessions etc.

They'll try their best to bring back Davis and I'm not too bothered either way. Ultimately this club is doomed until Kelly sells them. He's more obsessed with being a part of a team and sitting behind the bench, and travelling with the guys and having his input than an actual team with real success. I sense he has never really been involved with much sport in his life before, the fat outcast if you will.

I'm a fan of DJ but they gave him too much power last year because they were a rabble and the fact anyone wanted to come there was a shock - he himself said nobody wants to go there only a few months before he signed with us. He's a really solid player but sometimes can be a chucker and doesn't seem like much of a leader (Cadee would take the post game speeches for example).

IH is a mental mouse. I get that there might have been internal issues and Wells definitely sounds like he coached him poorly and didn't have an understanding of how to get the best out of someone who is mentally weak as piss, but at the same time dropping your head for an entire game when you miss an easy shot or too is just so embarrassing for a professional athlete, how much money is this guy on? 300k or so you'd think. Far out.

Am I just mis-reading and the "he" comment is built around retaining Harrell (the mentioned he) and then finding a pass first PG for Harrell, DJ and Humphries? They're jamming multiple scenarios and players in and then throwing pronouns in which always gets messy for me to read

I sense he has never really been involved with much sport in his life before, the fat outcast if you will.

GK said the other week he's a lifelong basketball tragic which dates back to when he was a player, said he's just always loved the game, unfortunately.

"Sixers brass want Davis to return - he is the priority - while there remains a chance Harrell will return and the club will then target a pass-first point guard to maximise the talent of he, Dejan Vasiljivic and Isaac Humphries, the two elite Aussies who were often frozen out by the ball-dominant Davis"

What? This sounds almost believable given the Sixers history for roster construction under GK. Like two seasons ago when we only had one PG on the roster, McCarron, and made Sunday Dech be the back up PG. Vasiljevic at SF? Just move on from KD, FFS.

Dech as the backup, last year we got so desperate for a PG we promised Trentyn Flowers the starting spot even though he displayed no real traits that'd make you think he could run a team.

I was at that first pre-season game we played against Brisbane and he could barely make it past the inbounds pass with Shannon Scott guarding him.

I was talking about the 22-23 season when McCarron was the only PG on the roster.

That pre-season game at Lightview against the Bullets was brutal for both Flowers and Franklin.

Franklin lol , there was another one I forgot about - got paid for half the season and didnt play a single game.

That pre-season game was honestly one of my favourites because it was such an unbelievable s*** show from coaching to player performance.

You had Flowers looking like me trying to play against pros, Franklin playing most of the game and not even scoring and looking like he was the next star of the new Invisible Man movie.

Like I remember multiple times Brisbane scoring and then not a single player staying back to inbounds the ball so the ball handler would just be standing there waiting for someone to come back to inbound. Just so little attention to detail and care for anything that was happening.

It was one of the most brutal games I've seen. The very first pre-season game Flowers couldn't get the ball over half court without being stripped or throwing it away and that's one thing being a NS but Franklin really killed me.

This supposed big time import looking so rushed and not able to comfortably get his shot off, in a mickey mouse pre-season game screamed how out of his depth he was from years of playing in China no doubt being guarded by their smaller un-athletic local players. Throw in the way he was cut from his team in the PBA the season before and I knew we were screwed. I felt crook watching that game.

Email from Sixers CEO Nic Barbato:

It has been a season of progress both on and off the court.

Although we fell short of qualifying for the semi-finals, the club played post-season basketball for the first time in seven years despite several key injuries and suspensions across the season, winning our first play-in game in Sydney.

The NBL25 season was also one of significant growth for the club, with several new benchmarks recorded across corporate, community engagement, membership and attendance.

The club sold out all 14 home games across the NBL25 season, with an average crowd of 9,440. We are the only NBL club in history with an arena capacity of 5,300 or more to achieve this, a massive achievement from all our staff, and thanks to our loyal members and fans.

Once again, our club has delivered the best gameday experience in the NBL.

For the sixth straight season, we increased our membership level to a new record. Gameday members now account for 70% of our total venue capacity.

Our corporate support grew over 20% year on year. I would like to thank our major partners, Walker Corporation, Tyrepower and Apex Steel Supplies, and all our other valued partners for their tremendous support over the season.

We increased our presence in the community with several new programs introduced over the last 12 months, including the launch of our Shooting Hoops Foundation.

Broadcast viewership also grew by 40% and our club social media remains #1 in the NBL for followers and engagement.

The club's MVP Event was held on Friday night in a spectacular setting at Adelaide Oval.

Kendric Davis claimed his first Mark Davis Trophy as Adelaide 36ers MVP as well as claiming the HomeStart Finance Members’ MVP. KD was also one of the NBL’s leading players and was runner-up in the league MVP.

Our head coach Mike Wells led the club back to the playoffs for the first time since 2018, was a well-deserved winner of our Ezko Property Services Chairman’s Award.

We also said farewell this season to NBL veteran Jason Cadee. After two stints at the 36ers and 424 NBL games, Jason made the tough decision to retire at the end of NBL25 and he finished his illustrious career by winning our Breathe WRL & Raw Group Coaches Award.

Congratulations also to Lat Mayen (Office National Most Improved Player) and Sunday Dech (Leventis Lawyers Best Defensive Player).

The club has already begun planning for NBL26 and look forward to continued improvement in all areas of the club in our quest to bring home a Championship.

Thank you once again for your amazing support this season.


Nic Barbato
Adelaide 36ers CEO

I'd love for Nic to do an AMA on here

I'd ask him about his time as a financial planner.

LOL
Nothing to see here

I still can't believe Lat got most improved. Had a great first game, then became less improved every game after that. As well as it being his first year at the club and was reasonable at Cairns. Would have put Cadee, since he apparently was unplayable previously or definitely Rasmussen who actually played decent minutes for the first time.
Nice media release, of course they can't mention the numerous player/coach incidents so concentrate on corporate.
As for the GK basketball tragic, there's one thing to be a Cuban type that wants to be with players, there's another to interfere with coaching the team.

CEO report full of positives and high expectations moving forward. Absolutely what needed to be illustrated and recorded for club to celebrate. How anuone can find fault or pick holes in is unnoteworthy. More positive spin the better. Builds culture builds pride builds for future.

Oh shut up Herman or dotman or whatever you're calling yourself now. I know you're trolling but it really is annoying.

Spin builds culture?

Dotman is the anti Jacket.

Not sure which one posts the most BS.

Spin doesn't build culture, but it can be used to hide a shit one.

The club has begun 2026 planning and looking forward to improvements and yet are some here who think this shit culture or spin. Clueless some of you. How can planning abs seeking improvement being not positives. Get off your pedestals and give club room to operate. Totally support striving for growth in every facet on court.corporate. engagement.game day experiences. More the better. Viva la growth

Dotman should go invest in Billabong

It has been a season of progress both on and off the court.

Although we fell short of qualifying for the semi-finals, the club played post-season basketball for the first time in seven years despite several key injuries and suspensions across the season, winning our first play-in game in Sydney.

Right now the Sixers front office focus is to maximise the value of the franchise, capitalise on the recent 'success' by adding more corporate sponsorship, locking in season ticket holders etc.

Of course they are going to say that KD & Trez remain firmly in their plans. For the average punter, these guys sell tickets and excitement, even it didn’t translate into a winning season.

Reading and listening to anything they say through that lens makes it slightly tolerable, even if we know it to be spin.

The Chairman’s address at the awards night was (according to some) interesting. Apparently had a dig at the club legends who have left the club - didn’t name anyone but we can all work out who he was referring to.

Think you guys have mentioned this already in this thread: ex Michael Randall a couple of days ago:

" One source told Crosscourt they believed Marshall needed a fresh start at another club and is viewed as a classic “buy-low" moneyball target, who could follow a similar path to Jack McVeigh — out of Adelaide and into stardom.”

Stardom? Nick Marshall? I don't think so.

Would love to see Nick Marshall at SE Phoenix under Josh King. Use his length and athleticism to become an elite defender and provide him with confidence at the offensive end. May not become a star, but a key rotation guy on a top 4 team is achievable.

A lot of players have had better careers since leaving Adelaide, but how many players have had a career resurgence with Adelaide? Scanning the last 10 years of rosters I cannot find a single player who was better in Adelaide than from where they came. Plenty to find that left Adelaide and became much better players (age & development needs to be considered).

Oh, and I don't think Lat Mayen is any better than he was last year at Cairns. Can be a solid player - but the same was said last season.

Scanning the last 10 years of rosters I cannot find a single player who was better in Adelaide than from where they came.

"Scanning the last 10 years of rosters I cannot find a single player who was better in Adelaide than from where they came."

Dejan Vasiljevic - Sydney
Isaac Humphries - Sydney and again Melb United
Daniel Johnson - Melb Tigers
Nathan Sobey - Cairns

What tends to happen is players start their career in Adelaide like Creek, Drmic, McVeigh, Pinder, Majok Deng, Adnam, Ben Ayre etc and then kick on elsewhere.

The communications suggesting 36ers negotiating with KD and Harrell is a bit of a smoke screen, especially when they are apparently in talks with Tahjere McCall and DJ Hogg - although early days.

McCall I like the sound of that.

If mail is right then club is really progressing to improve. Again need the stability and organic growth from within but should always be on the hunt for external growth. Thinking going to be great preseason build.retain our stars or better..

McCall is not a good get

I wouldn't go the McCall route either, based on his last season in Cairns

Dejan Vasiljevic - Sydney
Isaac Humphries - Sydney and again Melb United
Daniel Johnson - Melb Tigers
Nathan Sobey - Cairns

Teys was gd pick up. So was drmic

"Last season with Sydney 15/5/2 in 27 mins on 43/39/87 shooting
This last season with Adelaide 18/4/2 in 33 mins on 38/37/87 shooting"

DJV's last season in Sydney was actually 13/4/2 on 41/36/84 shooting which should be compared to his first season in Adelaide which was 20/4/3 on 40/32/90 shooting. That's pretty comprehensive.

"Isaac - spent 2 years in the US including NBA after Sydney & before Adelaide"

Yes, but like DJV he too contradicts your argument. And Humphries improved again in Adelaide after his season with Melbourne where he averaged 9.6p & 5.4r and then next season back with the Sixers averaged 15.3p & 6.7r.

Watching tonights SF game

Cant help but think if only 36ers were smart enough to keep trey kell....

And McVeigh. And Deng. And Drmic. And Creek. And Olbrich. And Ian Clark. And Smith-Milner. And Hyrum Harris. And even Sobey.

Once again, it comes down to how well others thrive ... after they leave the Sixers environment.

Holding onto them would have achieved little.

Throw in Pinder.

Good players excel in good culture.
Bad players thrive in bad culture.

Throw in Pinder.

Good players excel in good culture.
Bad players thrive in bad culture.

Is Humphries leaving? Doesn't seem like it. And I know I am often one to suggest people take perception in media with a pinch of salt.

Yeah, I saw an excerpt from an interview Humphries did a few days ago and from memory he was talking positively about he and the team taking a step forward next season. So I reckon the rumour about him leaving is probably wrong. Which is a big relief if you ask me. He's by far the most talented Aussie on a below average Sixers roster.

Adelaidenow/news ltd is saying humphries staying and sixers flying to china to try n sign davis, wanting a import pf who can shoot 3s so harrell unlikely to be back

So im guessing they aiming for

Coach wells

Humphries
Import stretch 4
? Import 3
Vasiljevic
Davis

Gristi
Rigoni ( team option)
?mayen (player option)
?
?
Rassmussen

?

"Cant help but think if only 36ers were smart enough to keep trey kell...."

Have you already forgot Kendric Davis was miles ahead of him?

Kell won more, no drama, was also all nbl, his team is in the grandfinal and he has had some great playoff games , yes some poor ones too

Davis had slightly better stats, but didnt have a winning record and was a fair bit of drama, but yes is younger if you can get him to cut the drama could have big upside

I guess some people want stats and coming 2nd in mvp

I chase winning and prefer good team chemistry

Do you have amnesia on how the Sixers went with Kell? How about Phoenix? Why did neither team want to resign him?

Akech Aliir was also in the Sixers squad last season perhaps by your logic Sixers should have kept him instead of signing Humphries

We are talkimg 2 all nbl guards, not a starter and an 11th man

I just prefer kell as hes bigger, better defender, fit better culturally, i dont see that as unreasinable

Made the comment after watching kell have a huge game in a winning semi final a couple of weeks ago


6ers with kell 12- 16 (43%)
6ers with davis 13- 16 (45%)
So a very marginal difference
Very little difference

Kell was tremendous for us once Ninnis took over. Wasn't the only one who struggled under the coaching of CJ.

Thanks for the update Jonno. I think its a no-brainer to try to bring Davis back, so long as the coach agrees. He's just an elite player and elite players win championships. It will come down to his price though. There will be a point where we should walk away if it means we can’t afford any other talented imports.

I’m glad to hear they want a four who can stretch the floor. Its pretty obvious that they need someone who compliments Isaac rather than duplicates him like Trez. I still think they should consider bringing back Martin if he is fully fit and wants to play here.

The third import should definitely be a three and D wing. It was so obvious the team was unbalanced by rolling with both Trez and Martin.

Would still like to retain Dech if he wants to be here. I said last year and will say it again, the Sixers should look at offering Hyunjeun Lee a bigger role to see if he will come over from the Hawks. Brings size, rebounding, shooting and possibly could play a bigger role if he is allowed to handle the ball more.

If Davis can grow up, being away from Trez may help, and get along with coach Wells better it could work, super talented but have some concerns as you need to have an elite culture to contend for championships. This does appear to be what they are trying to do.

Agreed, I think a stretch 4 is the way to go, need to space the floor for Humphries, I think this was what Martin was meant to be, I personally wouldn't bring him back unless its at a discount rate.

I also think we need an athletic defensive wing my first calls would be to Justin Simon or Antonius Cleveland, or find someone similar.

If they gat those imports right, we are heading in the right direction with the starting 5 at least.

Martin just signed in South Korea so if he gets some form and fitness back I wouldn't be against bringing him back to pair with Humphries which was meant to be our original 4/5 combo until Trez fell into our laps.

My impression of Martin was he seemed to have a good attitude and was a team player. He was just never fit enough because of the knee injury and then the foot injury on the eve of the season. If he's fit, he is a very good player. A bit like Prather, if we give him a second year when he is fit, I think he will reward us with a good season.

Of course, guys like ex-Hawk Gary Clark or ex-Breaker Zylan Cheatham would be good options too. Martin just has familiarity with our coach and players, so he could really help the team build some continuity.

Agree regarding Martin's attitude.
Seemed a good culture type that didn't cause issues and got along with everyone.

He did seem to lose confidence similar to Isaac with Harrel being so assertive, so also need to make sure we have enough D at 4 & 5 spots. Martin can definitely spread the floor and if he's trying to revive his career, would potentially be cheaper and be a good 3rd import as he has known upside if fit.

If we could retain Davis and Dech and get Cleveland or similar because Martin comes a bit cheaper, that's a solid start.

*He did seem to lose confidence similar to Isaac with Harrel being so assertive, so both could flourish without Harrel there?

Any potential new buyers sniffing around?

Cleveland would be great Peter, but I suspect he is a pipe dream if we want two other good imports! I think the Sixers could do worse than sign Keandre Cook if Brisbane don't lock him up. Seemed to contribute on both ends and shoots the three fairly well. Not sure how much his going rate is compared to other NBL imports? Maybe middle of the road?

Or if the Sixers go back to just two imports - say Davis and Martin blow the budget - maybe they could get away with signing Hyunjeun Lee as the starting three? No guarantee he is up to starting, but he has shown quite a lot of ability in limited minutes at the Hawks the last two seasons!

Keandre Cook is currently playing in China so might be more towards top end import price than middle of the road. I think Lee still has a year to go on his contract with the Hawks.

Cheers Zodiac - why does playing in China make it more likely he is 'top end' on import price? (Genuine question - I have very little idea of what different leagues pay their imports.)

According to Aussie Hoopla Lee's two year deal finishes this season, so that's why I thought he would be an interesting target for the Sixers.

China is one of if not the highest paying league in the world outside the NBA. The current NBL imports playing in China are KD, Trez, Rob Edwards, Casey Prather, Cam Oliver, Tacko Fall and Cook. Aside from Fall who was playing there before coming to the NBL and maybe Cook himself they're top tier NBL imports.

On Lee he signed a 3 year deal with the Hawks in July 2023, team option on next season.

https://nbl.com.au/news/hawks-sign-sharpshooting-south-korean-international

If Dech leaves it would royally suck. We need his elite defense

If lost Dech be very big gap to fill.. all part of the need to build culture and connection organic growth.stabillity is paramount to building with swap and changes never conductive to team.. let's hope can return the core group before all this chatter about who club needs. Get the chess pieces on the bored.

Prior comments on Aussie Hoopla the NBLs free agency tracker
a good site for NBL teams deliberate leaks
indicate that the 36ers did not consider Dech's current contact was good value and would only sign him for a greatly reduced amount,
and that comment was updated today to say that Sunday is now being linked to SEM.

other interesting comments
Jarell Martin is not under consideration
36ers could be in a bidding war with the Kings for Kendric
Montrezl in discussions to return

Yes Dech is gone
They tried to cut him then tried to get him to quit by benching him last year so how do you think that plays out long term? Do you think that guy will innately play tough for people who openly dont want him?

I know that it's early days but ... I see another train wreck coming up.

When they’re chasing glitzy, selfish guys like Harrell over gritty culture guys like Dech, then it seems to me that it’s all about impressing buyers rather than building for long-term success.

Kings after Davis is no surprise and no surprise we prioritised Davis and Harrell. Dech, you aren't flashy, you don't make highlight plays or sell jerseys so the owner thinks you ain't worth paying any amount of money.

Given how much he played him I doubt Mike Wells thinks the same, but again, why consider what a coach wants? We need to sell jerseys here.

Losing Cadee and Dech, two of the biggest glue guys this team had. 36ers are going to be all sizzle and zero steak at this rate.

Well, something's going to get burnt, anyway

Will wait to see what happens, but it's so disappointing for long term supporters for the club to keep going down this path.

Do the club not realise that supporters love glue guys as much as the stars?

What do Perth fans think of Wagstaff for example

Kings are 100% not interested in Davis " we have enough locker rooms problems already"

Of same mine set.. cadee abd dech can't being losing such collective of team culture in one swoop. Let's hope all is just rumor... hope not Sunday too far just yet. I take a very dim boo if happens

Sorry guys but Dench was never coming back unless he was willing to accept a significant lower value contract. If he is gone then its all due to this equation nothing else .
While he came good this year there were years when his pay and added value to the team did not match. Nice guy and good defence .

Yeah it was always said Dech's last contract a 3 year deal he was highly paid for a role player. So it was probably unlikely anyway and then the shenanigans last season with GK demanding CJ/Ninnis to stop playing him obviously in the hope he would walk out on the last year of his contract, likely sealed the deal.

Why do people keep calling him Dench?

The ol' Axel

Dech was one of top free agents after big year with Hawks, just couldn't have him and McCarron starting together. Then that debacle with Dech, MM and Cadee being benched so Marshall etc could play. Dech would be a perfect JJ'S player, take Terangis place. Won't make as much as last contract but should have a few suitors. And to his credit can't recall any bad body language.
I think Bogut will actually have a big say about their roster next year than any assistant coach in history, and not entirely as a normal owners perspective. Brian will want to spend money again, Bogut will but prioritise culture. Maybe they can control Davis without Brian being passive aggressive and just benching him.
But if Harrell comes back he'll have a new team and do they surround him with passive guys and let him run amok? Maybe Wells can control one knucklehead, but bad idea having him and Davis back again. And just move on from Martin, but any news on the Humphries front apart from his Fringe show? The 3 bigs didn't really work, need a PG that can keep DJ under control, a big and a scoring 3. God knows how they're going to fill out the rest of the local roster if Dech does follow Cadee out the door and Marshall looks for other opportunities. Rasmussen being the key guy off the bench doesn't bring much hope, and Lat needs to have a good year to save his career.

Early days yet and hopefully all goes well, but is Harry Froling worth looking at as backup for Isaac Humphries for next season?

It would depend on his attitude - the last thing Sixers need is TWO temperamental or inconsistent centres.

You need a reliable cool head to back up Isaac when he's having one of his days.

I hear Humphries is looking at playing in NBL1 West

I'll believe that when I see it. Humphries never plays anywhere during the off-seasons which has always given me the impression he only plays basketball because he's seven foot.

Do some Sixers fans not remember Harry in his second and final season with us? Fat, lazy, no effort and constantly jacking up shots from outside? We couldn't get rid of him soon enough. Probably the last guy on the planet I would want backing up Humphries is Harry.

According to Hooley on Overtime, Kendric Davis has rejected the latest offer from the Sixers.

Time to move on from Kendric Davis..and accept he is chasing own glory and top dollars.....You are better off with a team member of medium performance and high team first traits than high performance and low team first traits.