Surely one issue with a seven-man rotation is that you might have Maher playing 40+ MPG?

Another option is Copeland for Wheeler and play small-ball. And an argument could be made for switching Sutton for Ng too?

I think Boti would possibly go with: Maher, Farley, Majstro, Horvath, Wheeler, Sutton, Copeland?

I think the seven would be a most-minutes rotation as they'll need a bench guard, forward and big man to cover all bases.

Sydney sacked there import PG and they are 7 and 5 Adelaide are 4 and 9 and seem to be doing nothing. Is it time to do what Sydney has done and find the weak link and sack them. Who is the weak link in the team??? my opinion is its the coach, the team lacks the heart and the fight to be a top side, I think the talent is there but the direction is not. If Brian G was in charge of this team what would he have done???

Was pleased to see that my post I was ripped for earlier looked somewhat similar to what Boti said.

Anon, he's analysing the team and making his assessment. He's there to provide material and sell newspapers, not act as a consultant for the club. If you disagree with his assessment, and think the team are playing well and everyone is performing, argue that point, not attack the man.

What to do....

Let them play out the year with the present form and risk losing supporters, or

The CEO comes in and starts sacking people and maybe something will change????

I would vote for option 'B'

Risky either way.

with plan b, what one change could you make that would have the biggest impact? thats the question here

Plan B. Sorry Phil, you gave us some bloody great years but it is time to move on and reinvent yourself. The coach must go.

As a season ticket holder, I am even starting to question if it is worth the trouble even turning up to the next game, especially these stupid Wed nite gigs.

Sure call me a fairwether supporter, but it is bums on seats that pay the team bills.

Do what they do in all other sports. Cut our losses now and give the next coach a chance to show what he can do this season before we throw away another season.

put in place easy to measure performance indicators and try to get positive signs out of this season. what's done at training. what's done differently (no bullshit answers) to get things on track. what is the coach actually doing for scouting or defense or motivation or team building. what are players doing to improve themselves and solve the rot.

He even bags his poster child Nash!!!
Was it really Boti, or did Squid write that article!

On a serious note, I think he has hit the nail on the head with most of that article..
Comments on Mastro are spot on as well.

For those that don't have the paper here is the player write ups:

Brad Hill
The Good: Outstanding talent with range, athleticism and energy. And home grown
The bad: Initially played out of position as a necessity, has lost confidence now, plays as if he doesn't know where he fits and is alarmingly error prone, lost between tentative and over-enthusiastic
The Ugly: His injury

AJ
The Good: Gifted offensively with 3-point range, can go hard to the hoop, young and talented
The Bad: Defence away from the ball is non-existent, effort level varies wildly
The Ugly: Frustrating watching so much talent wasted

Mahersy
The good: When fit, the heart and soul of the team. The man for a crisis
The bad: Injuries have made him mortal and caused him to lose a step defensively
The ugly: At 33, he's STILL the man, which says something negative about the team

Sutton
The good: Can push the ball and lead the offense. Great lateral defensive quickness
The bad: Still tentative about looking for his shot
The ugly: Needs to be trusted and play more

Nash
The good: Grabs a great defensive rebound, throws a good outlet, one of the teams better defenders
The bad: Offensive liability
The Ugly: Defence isn't what it was, offense is a mirage of 2002

Ninja
The good: One of the sweetest 3-point shots at this level, Can jump out of the gym and is young and homegrown
The bad: Cannot defend a single player in this league
The ugly: A reluctant ball carrier, Fast breaks disappear when he is on court

Farley
The good: Has range, hops, mad skills and can ignite passion in his team and the fans
The bad: He simply doesn't bring it every night and his defence is more token than chokin'. Hasn't hit a defensive screen with any gusto once this season and took his last charge before I had grey hairs
The ugly: In the same way he ignites the team, when he's only coasting or choosing his spots, it debilitates and leads to a loss of intensity

Cooper
The good: Can block a shot, take a charge and provide a last line defensive presence
The bad: Still cannot hit an open mid-range jumper
The ugly: So one-dimensional he barely casts a shadow

Wheeler
The good: Energetic around the basket, physical defensively
The bad: Perennially injured
The ugly: Either coming back or going out with injury, cannot be truly nursed

Copes
The good: A great leader, super outside shooter, inspirational and with some shit in him to stand up to opposition hit-men
The bad: Has had a couple of stinker shooting nights, will force an undesirable shot
The ugly: When a 41 year old recruit has more passion and pride in his team than those around him, you know something isn't right

Horvath
The good: A massive asset, unstoppable one-on-one around the basket - except by non-passing teammates - and a marquee player
The bad: Falls out of games, gets soft fouls and can sleepwalk on defence
The ugly: The most consistent player on the team, he needs major-minutes man every game, fouls notwithstanding

Boti was involved with basketball way before he was a journalist.
I think today's article is a credit to him.

When it comes to grudges Boti can carry a chip on his shoulder the size of a large house.

But he offers his opinions in a fearless and upfront manner.

He says the things that need to be said and isn't snowed by the corporate spin doctors. More power to him. We need this type of analysis in this State.

I'm not a big fan of the league and don't like the NBA because too often you watch players going throught the motions and only cranking it up in the last quarter. If the product was more like college ball I'd have a gold seat season ticket.

I think this years results have been a long time coming. At the start of last year we won a stack of games by 1 or 2 points and were touted as championship candidates only to fade into (almost) nothing at the crunch.

Right now its not a product I'd spend a lot of money on. I'll continue to go to 3-4 games a year but don't expect to be too excited by what I see.

As for imports who are capable of the spectacular one night and then mope and sook the next.... not on. I think Willie fits into this category. Nick I like - we just don't get him the ball.

I'm more surprised he didnt mention his new junior club in the article then I am he actually ripped the team:)

Thanks for typing that out Bizzy - much appreciated.

(Mod:No worries, pity they didn't put it online)

The thing that is clearly lacking IMO is team spirit and chemistry - starting from the coaching staff who seem apathetci to whats happening on court down to the players who just seem dissinterested at times and are clearly not enjoying playing at the moment. Would sackong the coach fix this? Im not sure - but its a costly decision to make as I would assume Phils contract would have to be paid out in full.

Maybe we go back to methods from 20 years ago - get all the boys in a bus - piss off down to Victor Harbour and get on the piss for a bonding weekend and some fishing. Any issues that players have they can get sorted out and hopefully come back as a team that looks like they want to play together!

Firstly, if players are going to be sacked the person who should do this in Phil and not the CEO. The coach should have totally control of the roster.

Secondly, Phil should invest in the youth, if he does not, then the shown him the door. Phil needs to put alot more investment in his coaching, he is lazy and doesnt do the work of other coaches. We need to look at the future, remove copeland, wheeler and go for youth, build a team rather than relying on former stars of the league, which i think Phil is doing.

Did he do a good/bad/ugly on the coach?

suton ahead of ng, the sixers have to groom a point guard for when maher is gone and sutton is the man for the job. taking nothing away from ng but suttons all round game is alot more sound, especially defensively.

I hate to say it, but at this stage of the season, it looks as though Ng and Nashy are not up to it as their games lack completeness as Boti has correctly identified.
I think they need to go with an 8 man rotation, and put Coops on notice. That will give Phil some options.

What suprises me the most is that we all seem to be 100% in agreement with the artical.

That must be a 1st for this forum and is also pretty telling on what Mal must do, maybe now, maybe later.

Great artical Boti.

Yes he did Ken,

Here is Smyths write up:

The good: 3 Championships in his first 5 seasons, means he can flat-out coach. Some of his match-ups have been inspired and players NBL-Wide vote him the coach they most want to play for
The bad: Has lost his ruthlessness, his passion is hijacked by officiating and he trusts the wrong players - hence suicidal delays in time-outs when opposition runs occur
The ugly: Four years of admin hell were debilitating and depressing, leading to less commitment. It's time to shed that coat, focus on the future and pull his crew into line. The buck stops here.

Bottom line is you went broke and who wants to play for a team that mightn't pay them and only offered 1 year contracts?

(#106500)

does exams stop someone from playing defence in all the seasons he has played.

Ng supporters one and all (well perhaps family) will agree Darren can not contain on the defensive end of the floor.

I can not see him suddenly becoming as stopper once he has become a doctor.

Fair assessment on most players and coach by Boti

Prior to the commencement of this season I was actually excited about our chances. We appeared to have a deep roster and quite a bit of talent. However you could tell from only a few games into the season that this team was going nowhere. There is no passion, no hunger and I see very little chemistry.

Some huge changes need to be made. First of all we need to dump Farley. Sure he's an excitement machine but he drifts in and out of games as he pleases. He puts up ridiculous shots and doesn't so often doesn't bother defending. He's had some great times in Adelaide, but it's time to move on. Secondly, it was a mistake recruiting an old, oft injured Brett Wheeler. Another blast from the past that hasn't worked. Cooper needs to go as he is completely worthless. Sure he's a decent shot blocker and rebounder, but whenever he's on the floor the offence grinds to a halt. I believe the only reason he's still on our roster is because of his performance against Brisbane in the 2005 Playoffs. He's a one game wonder.

We need to put more focus on youth. Start Sutton, let him play out the season with 20-25 minutes per game so he can get used to the pace of the game. Persist with Ng as he's one of the best shooters going around. Although he struggles on defence and picks up cheap fouls because he can't contain his opponent, he is a handy addition to our bench as an offensive spark.

To the person who posted about Boti Nagy - do that again and I will quite willingly provide him with exactly the information required to identify you, meet you in court, and sue you for defamation.

This time, I would suggest that you are lucky he's a very reasonable person.

I can appreciate that through his involvement in junior basketball, disagreements and rivalries might give him some opposition, but making baseless assertions of that sort on this forum are absolutely not on.

very good article from boti one of his best as well

Only seen 1 game this season, but it was the breakers game.

IMO, Ng needs to release the ball up the court earlier in offence, Hill has suffered as Boti said, from being played out of position. Sutton should be given more court time to develop faster.

Why does everyone always bring up that Ng is one dimensional - and act like Sutton has the complete package. He doesnt. Not yet anyway.

In the same way Ng cant defend or create, Sutton cant create his own shot or score. It takes both to be a multi dimensional player.

Sutton may save some points defensively but whose to say that the extra points Ng scores wouldnt make up for that and more?

And I dont want to hear the arguement about Sutton being a better point guard. Of course he is. Now that Maher is back Ng wont have to play point - its not his position.

Folks, don't overreact too much. The club has been operating on a shoestring budget for a long time. They signed Copeland and Wheeler because without them, the team would seriously struggle to get a win. Let the season play out, they may get lucky and win games, but be careful not to throw out the baby with the bath water.

Strewth Adelaide fans can be fickle and for once, I'm not talking about football.