Oh man that would be fun to watch.

For a game or two

Yeah im a little surprised

I’ve watched all the Australian games and was going to contribute more on here but started to figure i’d almost be talking to myself

The fact he has fallen behind Adam Gibson in the rotation won’t help his confidence at all.

I was actually expecting a pretty decent contribution from him in this tournament but they obviously don’t want to put too much on the kid at 19

Last i heard the Warriors were still trying to talk Jermaine O’Neal into going around for one more season. Hope he comes back, still a very handy big man if he can stay fit enough. He was outstanding behind Bogut last season

Spurs have will probably hang onto Baynes, i couldn’t see why they wouldn’t? The way he is playing for Australia he will be playing somewhere in the NBA next season anyways.

Wow.

The way we played against Slovenia really worried me but we have totally put that behind us.

Joe Ingles looks better then i’ve ever seen him

Yeah possibly a upset or two but realistically I can’t see the winner coming from outside the top 3. No result in the last month has even made me question this.

I’d like to see the Cowboys prove me wrong though they would have to match what they did against Souths the other week consistently. That’s a tough ask. Also can they win in Sydney when it matters?

Penrith have had any chance of winning destroyed by injury. Next year though they could be onto something.

Dogs and Storm don’t have another gear left in my opinion

Nobody outside the Roosters, Manly or Souths win it. Thats about all i’ve got locked in at the moment

I was close to locking the Roosters in after they were second best and still handled Melbourne comfortably. Though the Jake Friend injury is pretty big. Im guessing Mitch Aubusson will slot in? He’s a good utility but it’s a massively important position for a part time fill in to jump straight in, add on that we are one week from the start of the finals.

I think Souths have got the right players in the right positions to win it. They’ve got a more dangerous back line this time around i think. Keary in the halves makes Reynolds a better player. Plus out of the 3 teams that can win it Souths have the best hooker. Souths can look unstoppable when Issac Luke is playing well.

This time of the year though it’s the same thing with Souths. I need to see them win a big finals game against Manly or the Roosters before i start to believe it.

Slovenia were pretty impressive for large parts of the game.

Australia on the other hand…well we were pretty disappointing

We were not nearly as good as the final score even suggests.

So careless with the ball. Box Score has us at 19 turnovers, it felt like 40 watching it.

Honestly though even if we control the ball i don’t see enough points in us to really push for a medal.

I know he is still only a kid and can’t carry the nation but i feel like Dante needs more then 11 minutes a game for us to be competitive. We need some sort of spark on offence. If the kid is fully fit he should be playing.

On the positive side Baynes was clearly our best player, was a beast. He’s aggressive on both ends and has a really nice touch around the basket. He is doing his next NBA contract no harm.

Brock Motum i thought was impressive in limited minutes as well. I really didn’t know much about the guy before the NBA summer league but i do like what i’ve seen so far in a Boomers jersey.

Ryan Broekhoff can shoot a basketball. The dude has some serious range. Might be someone to keep a eye on.

Overall im not in total shock. I was someone who was not expecting big things this tournament. This team is young, better things will be a little further down the track.

It’s a good tournament to see where we are at though. Expect a loss or two though

Just be thankful we are not Finland. That was ugly

Erin probably doesn’t need to waste her time on radio shows as pathetic as that show.

She’s probably already wasting her time on the Footy Show every Thursday night. I watch a bit of it, some of it’s funny most of it’s rubbish but thats ok it’s been like that for 20+ years. I watch the Fox Sports NRL shows if i want real Rugby League shows.

I do watch Lara Pitt who i think is great these days and wonder if Erin would also be a better fit on the Fox Sports crew. Im not 100% sold on Erin’s knowledge of the game yet but feel like she could have something to offer on a real NRL show. She just come across as far too serious and scripted on the Footy Show. It’s probably not her fault though when she is sitting next to people like Beau Ryan and Michael Slater who add absolutely nothing.

Credit to her she always handles herself great and she will continue to improve

It’s just great that we can have discussions about all these female journalists/commentators. It’s a refreshing upgrade from having just panels of blokes on every sports related show.

Agreed.

Well done to teams like Townsville, Cairns and Wollongong

Though no matter how much they promise to make the NBL relevant again you’ve gotta start by having a team in every capital city.

Most of the QLD population don’t have anyone to support.

It was always a great night out going to Brisbane Bullets games. There is plenty of people here that would buy back into the NBL if they had a team again. Unfortunately while the nearest team to South-East QLD is the Sydney Kings then your not winning anyone new here.

Having a local team will help

It’s money, not really anything else except maybe Phil Jackson.

Melo has always made sure that he is getting paid ahead of anything. He loves his money!

I can’t hate on him that much for that either.

I mean when you are on such big money from such a young age is it that easy to just take millions less to attempt to win a championship somewhere else?

It’s pretty easy for us to say that he should just take $30Mill less but we are not in that situation. Plenty of athletes want to absolutely make as much money as they can in a career.

From the moment this new 40/20 rule came in this season it has been rubbish.

Just because you kick a 40/20 doesn’t mean you have the right to score within 10 seconds from some ridiculously quick tap that is no chance of being defended. How does anyone find that entertaining?

The players don’t even know how it works so i’d hardly expect 10 year old ball boys to understand what to do.

I totally get speeding up the game. Scrums these days are so slow and pathetic but i think it needs to stay for 40/20’s

People have been keen to push the panic button on the Storm in regards to the decline of the big 3 for years now, i do laugh every time.

They are all probably on a slow decline i suppose but how many players are still heading towards the peak once they tick over 30? They have actually continued to preform at a higher level then i had predicted them too.

I think a lot of people have been pretty harsh on Slater this year. He’s had his issues with his knees but since Origin he has looked as good as he’s been in the last 3 years. Billy still has plenty to give.

Cronk has been outstanding and his broken arm is the reason QLD didn’t make it 9 in a row

I don’t think the Storm will win this year but the fact they still have the Big 3 playing at a very high level means that you can never write them off. They’ve had some issues this season but they’ve still won a fair share of the big games, one of them was a comfortable win against Souths in Sydney.

The supporting cast is still good enough too.

Jesse Bromwich is a top 3 front rower in the game this year. Chambers has been outstanding since origin. Procter, Hoffman Hinchcliffe, Harris are all solid support acts.

It’s been tough going in the backline and it lacks the attacking brilliance of a few years ago but its hard to find a Billy Slater, Greg Inglis and Israel Folau every year

They will be ok

What sort of young guys?

Doesn’t the NBL already have young guys running around?

Childress is only 31 he’s not a superstar but he will contribute in this League. I don’t have a problem with NBL targeting NBA vets

Good Pick up for Sydney and for the NBL. They need more signings like this

I will totally be up for seeing the Kings now when they are in town…oh wait Brisbane still doesn’t have a Basketball team.

Did you just say Boozer is a more defensive guy?

The guy that everyone seems to have a joke about in Chicago because how awful he is at it?

As long as Rose stays healthy I actually think Chicago are the team to beat in the East.

I know Cleveland have made all the big moves but i dunno yet, still plenty of questions defensively to answer

Then who?

Indiana who by losing Paul George have taken a massive step backwards and are now trying to ship Roy Hibbert by reports

Miami – will still be ok and had a few solid pick ups after the depature of Lebron but how far can Bosh and whatever is left of Wade take them? Not past Cleveland or Chicago

Chicago have pretty much done all they needed to do this off-season. They’ve continued to be super competitive even with Rose barely playing in 3 seasons. They know Melo would have been great but wasn’t the end of the world.

Gasol was a excellent plan B pick up, adds some offensive punch to a already excellent defencive team. If he can play 65+ games he’s a great signing. They drafted well with McDermott who again will add more offence off the bench.

We already know what Rose can do, Noah was brilliant last season and so was Gibson.

Taj Gibson might even still be underrated. This guy came second to Jamel Crawford in 6th man of the year award last season. He was also the reason Boozer stopped playing any part in 4th Qtrs.

Just like every other team they still have questions to be answered though.

How will Rose hold up?

How will Gasol hold up?

Will Tibs burn them out?

Do they have enough offence now?

I still think they are in a better position then any other East team.

I’m excited for our future as well but i wouldn’t jump the gun.

Dante could end up being our greatest player but as of right now he hasn’t played a single NBA game.

The future looks bright but it’s a very young roster with plenty of unknown. We only know what Bogut, Mills, Baynes and Dellavedova can do on the biggest stage. Don’t get me wrong Exum, Bairstow, Simmons, Motum, Maker, Goulding ect all look good on paper but how much have we seen of them? We will get to see a little more in the next few weeks which will be interesting.

I don’t know if we will see Bogut at Rio in 2016. When was the last time he played for Australia? The dude has a hard time getting through 60 NBA games a season. Nothing against him, i think he is our best player we’ve had but his NBA career has really taken a toll on his body. I dunno if he pulls the pin on his international career before then.

This Australia team is really building into something in the near future. Sadly for NBL the better the team looks the less chance NBL players are representing as seen with this roster. Adam Gibson probably lucky to even be there.

Look out for Brock Motum. Utah were pretty impressed with him after the Summer League and is still a chance of making the roster before the season starts

I can’t stand when people tell you that you are not a real fan if you rip into your team.

What rubbish.

It doesn’t make you are any less of a fan compared to someone that just sits and cheers blindly for 80 minutes. As a fan who pays money in tickets, merchandise and pay tv so i can watch them every week i think i have a right to be upset after a loss. You want your team to the best, who doesn’t? It’s normal behaviour. You are not a monster, I’m sure the players will be ok if you think that they played rubbish. They are big boys getting paid a lot of money

I feel for Canberra fans, i really do. If you are a fan who watches every week you will clearly see when your team is not putting in 100%. Canberra threw in the towel pretty early yesterday and credit to Canberra fans most stuck around to the end

Dallas are probably mid pack on off-season rankings.

Chandler Parsons is good but overpaid for sure. I like Aminu but Nelson, Chandler, Felton and Jefferson? Dallas were not one of the biggest winners this off-season.

Washington were a winner for me. They didn’t make a bunch of moves but they made sure that they continued to move forward. Paul Pierce was one of the pick-ups of the off-season. They managed to keep everyone away from Marcin Gortat and got Andre Miller and Drew Gooden returning. They’ve added DeJuan Blair and Kris Humphries to a bench that needed depth. To go with Wall, Nene and Beal they are onto something in Washington

I watched it live as well. I’ve watched a lot of sport but that was a pretty bad one.

Such a weird atmosphere around the arena with everyone just in shock. I’m so glad they didn’t make them players try and finish that scrimmage. Credit to George though, he was instantly more calm then everyone else, of cource the shock of it all would have contributed to that.

Everyone will have different recovery stories from these sort of stories. Just gotta hope their is no complications in the recovery, I heard the surgery went as well as it could have. Players in the past have proven you can come back and contribute at high levels.

Sticking to the NBA does everyone remember Shaun Livingston horrific leg injury 8 or so years ago that almost ended up with amputation? I honestly didn’t think we would see him again.

George is a tough kid, the dude has had to work so hard to prove he is a top player in the NBA. I reckon he will take up this challenge.

The jerseys Manly had to wear were shocking and painful to watch but geez the game wasn’t a whole lot better.

Manly made sure they only had to do enough to win. That’s why they are clearly the best team in the NRL as of right now.

Brisbane continue to show they have little to nothing with the ball in hand if Ben Hunt is shut down. I tend to upset a lot of Broncos fans every time i say this but i’ll say it again. Ben Barba has been awful, not the only Broncos player but he is one.

They way the Broncos are going is the reason I’m surprised Wayne Bennett still has a job in Newcastle. Surely Wayne is already spending his days thinking how he is fixing Brisbane next season

If Cleveland sign Wiggins he can’t be traded for 30 days, doesn’t kill any trade but will slow down this already dragged out Kevin Love saga.

I have not found any solid evidence of Cleveland actually coming out saying Wiggins was on the trade table ready to be shipped? Exactly the same as GS saying Klay has never been in any package. So who knows how much of what we are reading is true.

All we know so far is that Minnesota want a very good package in return and are not going to settle for anything less right now.

I’ve said this before and i’ll say it again – Minnesota can play this game for now. Obviously if the season starts and the trade deadline is getting close and this is still the only 2 offers on the table then they will have to decide what’s best

If they start the season with Love going to be very interesting to see the reaction he gets in Minny, could be a rather awkward season

Teams just don’t look like they are willing to give up half a roster for a player that has said he is keen to test free agency in a season.

He’s a great player but i think both Cleveland and Golden State (with 10 other teams) would fancy the chances of winning him during free agency.