NBL thread

[jasper222]

Managing a 20 year old minutes to keep fresh sounds stupid. He hasn't logging in a lot of minutes the past 3 years

My thought process too. If anything you want a 20 year old to log good minutes, if not big ones, for the experience.

[The_Big_Cat]

Sam Waardenburg- Next Generation Award (formerly ROY Award)
Xavier Cooks - Most Valuable Player

[DAdmiral]

Congratulations to all of our Kiwi & NZ Breakers who took home awards ar last night's NBL Awards ceremony....���� ���� ��

���� Reuben Te Rangi sets a shining example, bringing the same level of energy and positivity to both the basketball court and the community .
He is the deserving recipient of the Gametime award (Community spirit & Fairplay)

���� Sam Waardenburg made a big impression in his first NBL season, earning the first ever Next Generation Award (ROTY)

���� Barry Brown Jr proved to be the ultimate spark plug off the bench for the Sky Sport Breakers NZ, deserving of the recognition as winner of the Best Sixth Man Award

���� ALL-NBL SECOND TEAM ⭐️

Congratulations to Dererk Pardon & Barry Brown Jr, on being selected in the All-NBL Second Team...

Former Wellington Saint & NzNbl MVP Xavier Cooks was named league MVP.....

More -

https://nbl.com.au/news/xavier-cooks-wins-mvp-honours

Final votes for the awards were:

Andrew Gaze Trophy – Most Valuable Player – Presented by Hungry Jack’s
Xavier Cooks (Sydney) - 120 votes
Bryce Cotton (Perth) - 96 votes
Mitch Creek (South East Melbourne) - 80 votes

Most Improved Player
Keanu Pinder (Cairns) – 48 votes
Will McDowell-White (New Zealand) – 46 votes
Sean Macdonald (Tasmania) – 34 votes

Damian Martin Trophy for the Best Defensive Player
Antonius Cleveland (Adelaide) – 37 votes
Dererk Pardon (New Zealand) – 34 votes
Shea Ili (Melbourne) – 26 votes

Best Sixth Man – presented by Marsh
Barry Brown Jr (New Zealand) – 73 votes
Tyler Johnson (Brisbane) – 41 votes
Rashard Kelly (Tasmania) – 26 votes

Lindsay Gaze Trophy - Coach of the Year
Adam Forde (Cairns) – 64 votes
Mody Maor (New Zealand) – 52 votes
Chase Buford (Sydney) – 34 votes

Next Generation Award – presented by Champion
Sam Waardenburg (Cairns) – 47 votes
Sam Froling (Illawarra) – 45 votes
Luke Travers (Perth) – 24 votes

All-NBL First Team
Xavier Cooks (Sydney) – 54 votes
Mitch Creek (South East Melbourne) – 45 votes
Bryce Cotton (Perth) – 54 votes
Milton Doyle (Tasmania) – 42 votes
Derrick Walton Jr (Sydney) – 41 votes

All-NBL Second Team
Keanu Pinder (Cairns) – 33 votes
Dererk Pardon (New Zealand) – 22 votes
Barry Brown Jr (New Zealand) – 37 votes
DJ Hogg (Cairns) – 30 votes
Chris Goulding (Melbourne) – 23 votes

Executive of the Year
Mark Beecroft (Cairns)

Fans’ MVP – Presented by Chemist Warehouse
Kai Sotto (Adelaide)

Gametime by Kmart Award
Reuben Te Rangi (South East Melbourne)

Referee of the Year – Presented by Europcar
Vaughan Mayberry

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/basketball/300801441/nz-breakers-guard-barry-brown-jr-crowned-best-sixth-man-at-nbls-awards

"Brown, the 26-year-old Florida native who has provided a key offensive thrust for the Breakers in a remarkable transformation this season, was named the league’s best sixth man after a campaign in which he averaged 19.5 points, 2.8 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.1 steals a game."

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/sport/2023/02/basketball-nz-breakers-largely-snubbed-at-anbl-end-of-season-awards-barry-brown-jr-takes-home-best-sixth-man.html

"Along with Brown - the Breakers' leading scorer this season - Jarrell Brantley, 26, was also overlooked for Most Valuable Player, picked up by Sydney Kings' Xavier Cooks, after helping his side to a tabletopping regular-season finish. Cooks was also MVP of the NZ NBL last season, playing for Wellington Saints.

The Breakers will face the winners of Cairns Taipans and Tasmania JackJumpers on Sunday in the first game of their three-match semi-final series.

Game two will be played away from home, but the all-important game three - if required - will also be on the homecourt."
������

[paliganibossalfrancis]

My thought process too. If anything you want a 20 year old to log good minutes, if not big ones, for the experience.

Managing a 20 year old minutes to keep fresh sounds stupid. He hasn't logging in a lot of minutes the past 3 years

It's purely speculation. I believe, is not a statement of fact.

"I'm not here to hurt the kid, I care for this kid and getting better and getting to his goal, which is ultimately playing in the NBA,"

"Yes, you do need to take the floor a little bit more, I need him to keep impacting the 36ers the right way that I need for us to be successful. For him to keep growing, I have more coaching staff with me this year to impact his development and growth, and when he does touch the floor, bit by bit he keeps improving."

What can you infer from these statements directly from CJ Bruton?

36ers was development phase for Kai. They helped Kai grow in practice while giving him opportunities to contribute positively with limited minutes on the floor. And that's exactly what happened. CJ Bruton knows he can give Kai more minutes and a bigger role, but that doesn't align with their goals as a team since they have proven superstars such as Cleveland and Franks. That won't align with Kai's as well, since he obviously doesn't plan to stay long term in the NBL.

Did this negatively impact Kai's NBA chances? No. He's a promising 20 year old on the come up. Stellar NBL performance doesn't necessarily translate into the NBA game, if it did Jaylen Adam, Craig Randall II and Xavier Cooks will be in the league. But these guys I've mentioned, NBA scouts already saw what they can offer whilst Kai is still in the stage where he can change the trajectory of his career. His ex-NBA teammates in Adelaide already reached their ceiling. He actually logged good minutes for the record, obviously could've averaged more if he was given more time but what's the point? That's why the short BLeague stint is actually good for him just to get confidence and show scouts he can dominate in the pros. At his age, he'll never get that opportunity in NBL since he's playing with ex-NBA vets and proven local players. In short, may pulitika din sa NBL, lumugar lang si Kai. He needed the salary and the experience, how to take care of his body, how to carry himself as a professional on and off the court, all while he's developing himself into an NBA player, in return, he gave the 36ers solid productive minutes and the NBL an expanded market reach. Win-win for all parties.

Obviously last year, Kai's camp and NBA scouts felt he was too raw to enter the league, this summer he'll get a second look. By then he already has tons of NBL experience, possibly a BLeague award just to boost his stock, prove he can win in the pros and substantial FIBA experience playing a major role against and with seasoned professionals.

[DAdmiral]

https://nbl.com.au/news/stat-chat-season-leaders

NBL stat leaders

[jasper222]

It's purely speculation. I believe, is not a statement of fact.

Don't worry, I read the entire thing. For my own part, I don't think that Wasserman mandated it, mainly because Kai himself acts negatively whenever he gets taken out the game for the 2nd season. There's no way an agent will pull something like this off without telling the client, it's a breach of contract.

Anyway, I've browsed through NBL Twitter and FB pages about Kai's award. For a popularity award, a lot of them sure are mad and I generally know which ones are sarcastic and joking. I genuinely wonder why that is, it's a popularity contest not the All Star game.

[Silent Killer]

Cleveland will return to nbl24..

like kai, he signed a short term deal with a israel club..

https://www.adelaide36ers.com/news/cleveland-to-play-in-israel-return-for-nbl24?fbclid=IwAR3kFKpJieB3W_cUJ6tJwHIrtkt0bGz8B26T9EHJJkW1K5PkCG4j3_0ZgOk

[DAdmiral]

Will be interesting to see who gets picked up by the NBA this summer

1.Cooks
2. Travers
3 MacDowell White
4 Simon's (I know it's surprising)
5 Brown Jr.

Just my take , Brantley is to iso dependent , Pardon is just too undesize . The guys above have a NBA role and can all defend

[Linusports]

NBL, NBA probable pick-up this 23' summer

Tier 1
1. Cooks (9th - 11th NBA rotation capable player)
2. Travers (15-ish Player NBA Roster Project)

Tier 2
1. Sotto (15-ish Player NBA Roster to Two-Way Contract Project)
2. Franks (15-ish Player NBA Roster to Two-Way Contract Veteran)
3. Brown Jr. (15-ish Player NBA Roster to Two-Way Contract Veteran)

Tier 3
1. Waardenburg (G-League Rotation, 10-Day Contract)
2. MacDowell White (G-League Rotation)

[DAdmiral]

2 way " Development player contracts explained ".
Two-way players are often considered to be the “16th and 17th men” on a roster. Each NBA team is allowed to offer two two-way contracts per season to players with fewer than four years since draft year .
As Two way contracts are alloted 2 per team they're mostly reserved for the 2 players teams drafted in current or previous year (Travers)in the 2nd round or undrafted in current draft, as they are considered "Development focus in nature ".

https://www.si.com/fannation/nba/fastbreak/news/nba-two-way-contracts-and-training-camp-invites-tracker-2022-23-season

[DAdmiral]

36ers What went wrong

what's haunted this team for the past few seasons is its lack of defensive identity. It's an issue that wasn't addressed, was the crux of their downfall this season, and capped the potential of a team that, on paper, looked really good.

It's why there were some in NBL circles who urged the 36ers to recruit a defensive-minded big-man when they had an import spot open up in the middle of the season. The reality is that a team with a frontcourt that consisted primarily of Daniel Johnson, Franks, and Kai Sotto had no real chance of competing at a high level, because of the defensive deficiencies that come with that personnel.

Kyrin Galloway also showed impressive flashes, in his limited minutes, as someone who perhaps should've played a more significant role on this team. He had the most defensive chops of any five-man on that roster

https://www.espn.com.au/nbl/story/_/id/35620106/nbl-2023-season-review-dissecting-every-team-eliminated-nbl-finals

[carmelo7]

36ers What went wrong

Talking about the Craig Randall II saga is easy, and we'll get to it, but what's haunted this team for the past few seasons is its lack of defensive identity. It's an issue that wasn't addressed, was the crux of their downfall this season, and capped the potential of a team that, on paper, looked really good.

It's why there were some in NBL circles who urged the 36ers to recruit a defensive-minded big-man when they had an import spot open up in the middle of the season. The reality is that a team with a frontcourt that consisted primarily of Daniel Johnson, Franks, and Kai Sotto had no real chance of competing at a high level, because of the defensive deficiencies that come with that personnel.

Kyrin Galloway also showed impressive flashes, in his limited minutes, as someone who perhaps should've played a more significant role on this team. He had the most defensive chops of any five-man on that roster

https://www.espn.com.au/nbl/story/_/...ted-nbl-finals

You forgot to highlight the names of Daniel Johnson and Franks lol
the Team was constructed poorly from hiring (and replacement) of imports and possibly the coaching as well. They're up for sale unsurprisingly so

[jasper222]

So did the article miss the part where Kai was the 2nd best defender in the team or are we excluding that important tidbit of info to push a narrative? The entire Adelaide team weren't any good on defense, not just Kai. Men lie, women lie, but numbers don't.

[DAdmiral]

Cleveland is the NBL defensive player of the year

Article says Galloway is the 36ers best defensive big (5 man)

Harris and Mcarron are known for their defense

[Linusports]

You forgot to highlight the names of Daniel Johnson and Franks lol
the Team was constructed poorly from hiring (and replacement) of imports and possibly the coaching as well. They're up for sale unsurprisingly so

You forgot to highlight the names of Daniel Johnson and Franks lol

The highlight thing... that's a move that you'll be scratching your head right (weird face)
but at the same time... that's also sad brother, cause he not just trying to be sleek or being a troll with that "highlight" ? He believe himself that its all Kai's fault... He a casual.