With the first two rounds of the new and improved NBL season in the books, all teams have now notched a win, and we still have two teams undefeated.
It’s an opportune time to inspect and rate how each side has started their NBL campaign for season 2015-16.
8 – Townsville Crocodiles (1-3)
Townsville has been competitive but lacks the firepower to win games consistently. They’re getting great production, again, out of last season’s league MVP, Brian Conklin, who’s low post skills are a nightmare to defend.
Townsville’s second import, Jordair Jett, has been solid. While he lacks a consistent outside shot, his great defence and leadership skills are exactly what this young Crocs them needs.
Unfortunately for Crocodiles fans, their team is likely to finish at the bottom. They’re battling hard but don’t have the players required to push for a finals berth.
7 – New Zealand Breakers (1-3)
The defending champs started the season in horrific fashion, getting blown out by the 36ers. They put in a better performance against the Crocs and looked better again in a narrow loss to the Perth Wildcats.
With playmaking wizard Cedric Jackson playing alongside sharpshooters Tom Abercrombie and Everard Bartlett, the Breakers are a tough team to defend, ven more so with the return of star Kiwi Corey Webster. Webster is back with the Breakers after failing to secure an NBA contract.
His arrival is a huge gain for New Zealand and should propel them into playoff contention.
6 – Adelaide 36ers (1-2)
The 36ers kicked off the NBL season with a resounding victory over the defending champion New Zealand Breakers. They then came crashing back to earth, losing two matches against competition heavyweights Melbourne United and the Perth Wildcats.
Their two imports Kenyon McNeail and Ebi Ere haven’t fired, and Adelaide looks set to cut McNeail after just three games in the NBL. To be fair, his struggles are largely down to a nasty shoulder injury, which has clearly affected his performance.
The 36ers will hope to replace him with an import who can make an impact. If they do, reaching the top four is still a real possibility.
5 – Sydney Kings (1-2)
The Kings got off to a flyer in the first week, smashing the Cairns Taipans, but week two was a disaster. Julian Khazzhou has started the season in MVP-type form, and Jason Cadee’s been great filling in for the injured Josh Childress, but the Kings aren’t getting enough out of their bench unit.
The return of Childress will help and Sydney’s second import, Marcus Thornton, has finally started to look like a basketball player after a horrible start to his NBL career.
On paper, a healthy Kings starting five is as good as any in the league. The big query is whether they have enough depth on the bench to push for a title.
4 – Cairns Taipans (2-1)
With Mark Worthington and Cameron Tragardh starting on the bench, the Taipans are stacked with talent. Their Australian players, led by Cameron Gliddon and Stephen Weigh, are doing their part, but the lack of production out of the two American imports has been concerning.
Markel Starks and Torrey Craig are averaging a paltry 9.7 points per game combined. If the Taipans want to go one better this season and win the championship, the two imports will need to start contributing.
3 – Illawarra Hawks (2-2)
The Hawks started the season with two narrow losses, followed by two very impressive victories over the New Zealand Breakers and the Sydney Kings. And that was without the services of former league MVP Kevin Lisch – who missed the past three games with injury.
This Illawarra team is filled with long range gunners ready to fire from behind the arc. Head coach Rob Beveridge has done a fantastic job of blending the outside threats of Kirk Penney, Oscar Forman and Tim Coenraad with the post presence of AJ Ogilvy.
We know the Hawks are going to score a lot of points this season, but the question for them is can they defend well enough to go deep in the finals?
2 – Perth Wildcats (2-0)
Coming into the season the Wildcats had questions of their own to answer. How will Nate Jawai fit into this offense? And do they have enough outside shooting to win?
So far we’ve seen mixed results. It worked well in the first game but very poor in the second. This team will only go as far as their three-point shooting takes them. With a starting line-up featuring Nate Jawai and Matt Knight, if the perimeter players aren’t hitting outside shots, this offense is too predictable.
The schedule starts to get tough for the Wildcats after Round 3; we’ll find out more about this team then.
1 – Melbourne United (3-0)
Plenty of questions for Melbourne to answer also; Can they go through the season undefeated? Is this the best NBL team we’ve ever seen?
It might be a little early to hand United the title, but they’ve been dominant in their opening three games. With so many offensive weapons, it’s hard to see any team bettering them over a three-game finals series.
However, we have seen opposing centers able to inflict some damage against United in the post. It’s only a minor query for a team that looks as dominant as we’ve seen in the NBL.
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