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Rankings #9 ... and WTH?
TweetDANTE Exum, former NBL import Cecil’s point guard teenage son, has been the story of the week all week, with NBA analysts predicting him to go as high as #3 in next year’s draft.
That is, of course, if he nominates and skips college. But when as big a luminary as Andrew Bogut is suggesting he do just that, then four years at university seems an unlikely choice for the future Olympian.
Why potentially lower your value, possibly the same reason Dante didn’t jump aboard the Melbourne Tigers when Stephen Dennis went down.
Now Melbourne is in a pickle jar of its own and desperately needs to start winning to warrant the wraps many – myself included – have on this Tigers lineup.
It’s another very revealing round of NBL coming up with Adelaide and New Zealand both on taxing two-game trips, the 36ers on the Papaya Pathway to Townsville and Cairns, the Breakers out west, then out east at Perth and Melbourne.
Six teams will be impacted by that, least of which will be the Wildcats who can afford to drop a game or two and still not be unduly troubled at the head of the table.
That said, it is equally unlikely Perth - with centre Matt Knight back in after the birth of his daughter Mia – will be wanting to hand anything to its Grand Final conqueror in the NBL’s newest and, arguably, most antsy rivalry.
Townsville showed Adelaide in the preseason it has the formula to stop its ruthless running game, making this a challenge for the 36ers.
Travelling on the day and backing up against a desperate Cairns within 24 hours will make this a searching test of the Sixers’ bona fides while also shining a torch on whether the Taipans will jump out of the basket or slither off into a corner this season.
NO-ONE is screaming “conflict of interest” but you have to wonder whether Basketball Australia administrating Logan Thunder influenced its about-face regarding this weekend’s WNBL double between the Thunder and Townsville.
You will recall Townsville led 9-0 when torrential downpours splashed water onto the court and forced the original game’s abandonment?
Well BA, in its finite wisdom, determined the best (cheapest) option was to have that game replayed on Saturday before Townsville played Logan again, on Sunday. {See what they did there?}
(Way to further showcase BA’s No.1 elite competition and maximise media and supporter exposure … Not. ... Then again, how stupid am I to still think that's some kind of priority?)
But, and this is a big but, despite originally agreeing the game should pick up at Townsville leading 9-0, BA’s general manager of Professional League Operations Chuck Harmison has over-ruled, citing a precedent and ruling it will start again at 0-0.
This is despite the WNBL’s official website still showing on its re-schedule of this game that its LOG 0, TSV 9 – meaning it has not upgraded its own site.
(Go and check now if you want: www.wnbl.com.au because it will only have been changed if someone from BA has read this, they’d never spot it on their own.)
But PLOCH, citing a precedent and semantics about whether games replayed the same day over-rule games replayed at a later date, has said it will tip-off as 0-0.
So it’s not enough Townsville has to back up 19 hours after its first game against Logan, again against Logan and at Logan, but it also is further penalised for issues Logan has at its venue!
As Fire-starter Suzy Batkovic said, referencing the first wash-out game: “We started the game perfectly and because (Logan) didn't have their windows closed, we get punished.
“How is that fair?”
It isn’t.
I trust the good folk at SEABL are keeping up with this stuff.
It’s what the NBL “demerged” itself from.
ALWAYS a pleasure interviewing Crocs power forward Jacob Holmes who I first spoke to when he was a high school student doing a work experience assignment with the Adelaide 36ers.
Yeah. You guessed it. He was learning what life as a pro sportsman would be like.
That was more than a dozen years ago and the president of the NBLPA has come a long way since then, easily one of the best interviewees in the game today.
Even the stuff you can’t use – well, not for News Corp, heh heh – is gold, such as Holmes’ recent revelry at dad jokes and the two-man show he and Rusty Hinder have going, much to the dismay of the young players.
It happens the moment you become a father, too.
The News Corp story can be found here: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/basketball/townsvilles-jacob-holmes-knows-how-to-stop-adelaide-36ers-streak-but-its-easier-said-than-done/story-fnii09ki-1226775361552
I slightly edited one of his quotes though.
“Well, I watched bits of their games against Wollongong. It’s hard to watch it all when you have a one-year-old on your lap,” was what he really said.
PLOCH did get one right this week, correctly identifying Bendigo’s Kristi Harrower as the WNBL Player of the week.
SuperK had 24 points on 9-of-16 shooting, 3-of-4 triples, seven assists, four boards – meeting the standards she sets herself – as her Spirit dispirited Adelaide.
She is most definitely one of a kind.
RELIABLY informed Adrian Preposterous, er, Adrian Proszenko, the "chief rugby league writer" for Fairfax Media, who last week dubbed Kings' import Sam Young as "the best basketballer to step foot on to an Australian court" is, in fact, the best rugby league writer to ever step foot in his own mouth with an outlandish claim about a sport he doesn’t cover.
Mark Agguire just phoned but had to put him on hold to take George Gervin’s call…
Online
NBL Rankings
This Wk - Prev
8 (8) TAIPANS – It’s the officiating. It was a bad call. Blah blah blah. Shut up and play hard.
7 (7) HAWKS – No Big Laz and they’re competing well, without winning. Story of their year?
6 (3) TIGERS – Big tumble and introspection as close games are still only losses.
5 (6) CROCODILES – Lying in wait for unsuspecting Sixers with a chance to move upward.
4 (5) BREAKERS – Not convincing yet but this two-game trip will sort out their aspirations.
3 (4) KINGS – Have they turned the corner now? Hawks a challenge, as always.
2 (2) 36ERS – Getting job done but definitely looking vulnerable on a two-game trip.
1 (1) WILDCATS – Shawn Redhage predicted some slippage. He just didn’t say what year.
WNBL Rankings
This Wk - Prev
9 (9) WAVES – Reduced expectations now to just avoiding single-digit scoring quarters.
8 (8) THUNDER – Mentally challenging ditto double against Townsville at Logan.
7 (7) LIGHTNING – Run into Sydney ready to make amends for their last run-in. Tough times.
6 (6) CAPITALS – Good news? Bye weekend. Bad news? Nat Hurst can’t win Player of the Week.
5 (5) FLAMES – On a four-win roll and won’t let Adelaide stand in their way this time.
4 (2) BOOMERS – Year’s big improver but yet to show much against the big two.
3 (4) FIRE – Just like last year, stealthily moving up the ladder, one week at a time.
2 (3) RANGERS – Found their mojo against Boomers and will be untroubled in the west.
1 (1) SPIRIT – Form team and not having too many issues with any team right now.
THIS WEEK'S TIPS
TOWNSVILLE showed in the preseason it does have the game-plan to derail Adelaide and with a week to turn the strategy into second-nature, the Crocs will have every confidence in executing a win. The 36ers appear to rise for the opponent though and must still start favourite.
THE last time the Breakers were at Perth Arena, they were raising the Dr John Raschke Trophy for the third time. This NZ-Perth rivalry now easily is the league’s most fierce, which is exactly why Perth won’t be taking any prisoners.
WOLLONGONG consistently has the game-plan for success, but as games wear on, its personnel individually and at times collectively have brain fades of just sufficient length to sabotage the W. That is most likely again what will happen against arch enemy Sydney.
WITH seven straight losses under their belt, the Taipans have to decide whether they want to bounce back into the basket or slither off into a dark corner and this is the game which will determine it. Beat Adelaide and become relevant again, lose and become effluent again.
NZ at Melbourne is such a huge game for both teams, not just in the light of the Breakers displacing the Tigers from the top four after last week’s win but in how both teams currently view themselves. Are they real contenders? Has the ship sailed for NZ? Are Melbourne paper tigers? Tigers, just.
MELBOURNE has taken care of the WNBL’s riff-raff (excluding the riff-raffers in Sydney) but has yet to lay a finger on Bendigo or Dandenong. It either has to beat the Spirit here or go very darn close. Otherwise it looks like a probable Bronze Medallist. Bendigo to win.
BACKING up after losing in Canberra, having Jenni Screen ruled out and suffering the dreaded “ABC fatigue factor” – it’s even tiresome just listening to it – Adelaide had its best win of the season in Sydney last time. But the Flames are 4-1 since and on a four-win run while Lightning are 2-4 and now down Laura Hodges. Sydney to wreak havoc.
TOWNSVILLE will be challenged mentally as well as physically to get out of Logan with two wins in the same weekend. First, it has to deal with having its 9-point lead from its postponed game erased by PLOCH, then with a rightly revved Thunder. Expect Townsville to fire up though.
THE toughest part of the trip to Perth for Dandenong will be the trip to Perth for Dandenong. All that checking your bags, checking your make-up, stressing who your boarding pass has you seated next to, will the bag fit in the overhead? As for West Coast? The Rangers will flush the WC.
THE same challenge now exists for Logan too. Getting up twice within 24 hours for Townsville. How the first game played out must in some way impact this but if Townsville is to be a serious title contender, this has to be a 2-0 weekend. And it will be.
DEAR iPhone,
Please stop spellchecking all of my rude words into nice words, you piece of shut.
Sincerely,
Every iPhone User
