maybe wheels injury worse than thought?

not sure how i feel about this signing, if it's true.

Does this change things with going after a 4 man import? should we aim for a 5 instead?

was just on 7 as well. I hope its not him, i'm sure he would be ok i just like the idea of finding a young kid who missed the NBA boat and seeing what he can do The NBA thing would tie in with what Phil was saying though.

Incorrect.

I'm with you joshuapending, I'd rather see an unknown 23 year old raw talent than an unspectacular (if competant) known quantity. Horvath isn't going to sell tickets.

Sixers flew our coaches to the USA, just to go after a player that everyone back in SA is aware of already!! Sure they may have had ther eye on others, but surely if they were happy enough to sign Horvath they didnt need to use all that cash for flights and accomadation

Ah, but billo, are you going to buy tickets anyway? ;)

Horvath is a quality player. We could do a lot worse. A 20 and 10 player ... when healthy.

The fact he missed all of last season due to injury (+ an injury interrupted first season) is a worry.

Agree with the points raised that he isn't exactly going to sell tickets.

Smyth was on radio just last night talking up their preferred choice/s as being at least equal to or better than Freeman.

The preferred options were described as being inside-outside players, athletic and taller than 6'7".

If our import is Horvath then they were right about the taller than 6'7" part.

If you had a choice between signing Horvath or waiting two weeks until 4 August and possibly end up with Freeman, I know what decision I would make.

Have heard Freeman had some major issues back here and would not be the right guy for our program im talkin serious legal stuff bad for him and bad for the club apparently a fair bit of research unearthed this well done to the boys for finding out.If Horvarth is the one great player should give us a presence against a guy like Anstey

"Well done to the boys for finding out?"

Wasn't it Freeman's decision to keep his options open until August and not accept Adelaide's offer?

I've got no idea on the issue of Freeman's past or legal issues. You might be correct and missing out on him could turn out to be a positive.

However, you go across to the US with the view of finding a Freeman type player and if the signing of Horvath is correct, we have signed a Wheeler type player.

Like I said, we could do a lot worse than Horvath. I was just hoping we'd happen to stumble across one of the many 6'7 to 6'9 NCAA power forwards who are too 'short' to play PF in the NBA or too 'old' without enough upside because they happened to have completed all four years of college a la Chris Williams.

If Horvath didn't have such a severe knee injury last season then I'd have no problem with his signing.

Yea Horvath is a good solid player, and if healthy would give us dusty like numbers, and i wont be too disapointed if we end up with him, especially as he is young and could fill the centre role for us if needed at times, and especially if he ends up sticking around, but yea i too was hoping for Freeman or a new Freeman/KB like player. I guess we have to wait and see who we end up with, and trust Smyths and Breneheys judgement!!

Fair play Phizzer, it's unlikely I'll be purchasing any tickets this season, the 1000 pound return airfair just isn't cost effective!!

Nagy's article today in The Advertiser pretty much confirms that Horvath is a 36er.

So there are now injury clouds over most of teh important parts of the squad

Maher Legs
Horvath Knee
Wheeler evrything below the waist
Nash Back

Mastro returning form injury.

It will be a good signing in my opinion, everyone was upset when Dusty left, now we have a ready made replacement with a bit more range and a few more post moves. He is only 25 and hopefully can stick around for a few years. Hopefully Mastro can develop a bit and play that athletic 4 if it is needed. It looks like a pretty good squad, let's hope Hill & Mastro take the next step and we have no injuries. It will be interesting to see how they gel.

The biggest positive with Horvath's signing is that he can play centre as well as power forward.

This is especially important if Wheeler is forced to miss games through injury.

Majstrovic, Nash and even Cooper can play minutes at power forward when Horvath is playing centre.

If Horvath has an injury free year he will prove to be a great signing. All we can do is hope that luck is on our side.

Why waste your time going over there if you are gonna choose a known quantity in Horvath ??

Oh, they found out he has some range as a " shooting forward " -WOW , they could have watched him shoot in NZ .

I think Horvath is a good player, but we seriously lack athleticism in the low post in this team.
IMO we need a leaper and strong finisher. Give me a well drilled NBA-undersized PF-type any day from a smaller college who is hungry .
I m worried about the knee dislocating again, can anyone say Paul Rogers???

So "the 6 players" was a smokescreen then?

How do you figure he has more range and post moves? Havent you seen this slow snail play before? Good pick up either way

Agree completely Skyhook.

Looking at the Box Scores for the time our coaches were at the Summer League and Horvath recorded 2 DNP-CD and in the game he did play he scored 6 points and grabbed 1 rebound in 5 minutes of action.

Must have been an impressive 5 minutes if he impressed them with his versatility and outside shooting. Maybe he was hitting 3s in warm-ups?

I think the whole "scouting trip" to vegas was a smokescreen. Breheny (Fear) and Smyth(Loathing) had a boys weekend in Sin City.

After five days of coke and hookers Fear and Loathing saw Horvath on the bench during one of his DNP-CD's and said "How's the knee?"

Horvath crossed his fingers behing his back and said "Awesome"

And here we are.

He was playing on the Lakers Squad.
If he was putting up huge numbers against the other NBA Summer teams he wouldn't be coming back to Aus he would be going to Europe or the NBA.
He is basically going to be a taller version of Dusty that can play Centre if required (he is 4" taller).
I think we now have a very good gaurd and PF/C rotation with some ??? about the SF position. If Maher, Farley and Horvath are avg about 20pt each we will just need the C and SF to rebound hard, pass well and score when wide open (usually a problem for Cooper ie blowing dunks).
Wheeler, Nash and Majstrovic should be able to provide this.
I see Nash starting at SF at the beginning of the season and then Majstrovic taking over once he proves he is a better player (I hope).

Stephon, you could hit threes in warm-ups. :P

Anyone know what has Nash been up to in the off-season? I don't recall that he was playing in Hobart.

Was talking to Nash teh other day and he was not allowed to play in the off season
There are several over rated and injury prone players on the list this year. Mastro is a joke at this level.

That's a worry.

As Kent said, plenty of players returning from injury. I'm praying they can stay fit.

Have all new signings only been signed to 1 year contracts?

Or was Wheeler signed for 2?

I am seriously concerned that every new signing this year has a history of injury. Wheeler's injury before the season even starts is already a bad omen. Why do you think that when people take out insurance of any sort for the first time with a particular company, they want to know all about your previous insurance history. Doesn't it go to show you are more like to have problems when problems have existed in the past. In addition to the injury prone new signings, we have existing players like Maher and Nash also with an injury history. That's really great, by the time we reach half way through the season, we will be able to put 2 players on the floor.

look on the bright side, at least hill and ninja will get their minutes then

to be honest im not really that impressed if we end up getting him. he has proven that he is a solid nbl player but if we want to win a champiopnship we will have to do one better because i dont think that this team will stay healthy with all the injury problems.

i would also reckon that an import conbination of farley and freeman would bring more team. they would also bring more to the crowds as the are two of the most exciting players i have ever seen.

if we get Horvath good but i wouldnt be to enthusiastic about our chances of winning or going to the game.

Worse case scenario - all with current or recent history of injuries get a recurrence:
Maher, Horvath, Wheeler, Copeland, Mastro and Nash all out injured.

Assuming no injury waivers our starting five would be Ninja, Farley, Hill, Development Player and Cooper.

How would that compete?

My informant has been shot re miss information on Horvath,

sawmeinhalf Gower and Hambour in that mix and you have a top 12 team right there!

Can someone please tell me the correct way to pronounce his name?

Is it just "Hor" "Vath" as it looks?

Rumours on Ozhoops that Cairns are looking at Horvath as well.

Maybe Horvath isn't a done deal after all?

I find it strange, because 3 months ago I would have been over the moon about this signing. Now, well, its not quite disappointment - more apathy.

I remember the first game of the season last year that Horvath did his knee in. Those 11 minutes he played were complete dominance - I can remember thinking 'did I leave the iron on?' seriously Horvath ran the floor like a gazelle, controlled the paint, scored at ease, was very physical, He had 12pts in 11 minutes and then pop went the knee.
If he can give us 20 & 12 plus some much needed defense then it might work out fine as the guy is athletic and should fit Phil's system.

By the way "Horvath" in Slovakian means Horse Eater. Maybe he should be sponsored by Balfours.