2014/15 NBL Season + Off-season news/Boomers

[Johno6]

Kirk Penney set to announce signing with Hawks tomorrow.
Nbl to be played 5 days a week

How good is the Nbl looking for this season.

Some teams are stacked.

[Gozu]

Kirk Penney set to announce signing with Hawks tomorrow.
Nbl to be played 5 days a week

How good is the Nbl looking for this season.

Some teams are stacked.

Huge coup for the Hawks to be able to lure a former league MVP like Kirk Penney back to the NBL from Spain.

http://www.nbl.com.au/article/id/jjmklv ... jgby311k6d

The Hawks look awesome Bevo as coach with Lisch, Penney & Ogilvy. Coincidentally all three of those guys were playing in the ACB in Spain last season the best national league in the world outside of the NBA.

I've been genuinely surprised at how positive things have looked for the NBL this offseason after LK's takeover.

NBL games being played 5 nights a week is a great initiative and one you would think suits Fox Sports well.

[Gozu]

The Townsville Crocs have just announced they've signed a couple of guards re-signing Mirko Djeric and have signed SA born Corey Maynard who played his rookie year with Cairns last season.

[king neptune]

Steven Adams has officially piked it for New Zealand in the 2 games against the Boomers next month.

http://wwos.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=9012400

Was always likely I guess. Has he ever actually represented NZ at any level? No excuses not to smash them off the court now.

[Gozu]

Unfortunately the Boomers lost the opening game of their European tour to Lithuania overnight in Klaipeda. Dellavedova & Bairstow didn't play.

Game 1

Lithuania 80 (Gudaitis 11, Kavaliauskas 10, Kuzminskas 10) def Australia 68 (Motum 19, Andersen 12, Goulding 10)

Lithuania lead the series 1-0

[Gozu]

The 36ers have announced the signing of their first import in 6'1" combo guard Kenyon McNeail who played in Portugal last season after playing his college ball at Louisiana Tech.

http://www.adelaide36ers.com/article/id ... pf0hi4xnik

Also the NBL have released the 2015/16 season schedule.

http://nblclubstatic.s3.amazonaws.com/2 ... hedule.pdf

And the Perth Wildcats have appointed former Sydney Kings legend Matt Nielsen as their lead assistant coach after he spent last season in the NBA with the San Antonio Spurs as a member of their coaching staff.

[king neptune]

Unfortunately the Boomers lost the opening game of their European tour to Lithuania overnight in Klaipeda. Dellavedova & Bairstow didn't play.

Game 1

Lithuania 80 (Gudaitis 11, Kavaliauskas 10, Kuzminskas 10) def Australia 68 (Motum 19, Andersen 12, Goulding 10)

Lithuania lead the series 1-0

Scores level at half time and 3 quarter time, just couldn't run the game out. Not too bad without Delly and Bairstow, Lithuania are always tough.

Hopefully these next few games in Europe get the rust out. Still disappointed Mills has been left out of the series v New Zealand, don't like that move by Andrej Lemanis at all.

[Gozu]

Scores level at half time and 3 quarter time, just couldn't run the game out. Not too bad without Delly and Bairstow, Lithuania are always tough.

Hopefully these next few games in Europe get the rust out. Still disappointed Mills has been left out of the series v New Zealand, don't like that move by Andrej Lemanis at all.

Agreed, at first I accepted it as Mills was only making himself available for the NZ series and not these four warm-up games but Bogut looks shot offensively and we could really use his firepower. I would expect us to beat NZ regardless but Patty would make it without doubt.

[Gozu]

The Townsville Crocs have signed their second import in Jordair Jett a 6'1" combo guard who played at Saint Louis University where he was teammates with Brian Conklin. He finished there in 2014 and strangely didn't play anywhere last season so this is his first pro gig.

[Gozu]

The Boomers put in a better performance last night but again went down to Lithuania in Siauliai.

Game 2

Lithuania 92 (Kuzminskas 14, Lekavicius 14, Maciulis 10) def Australia 85 (Andersen 20, Motum 15, Bogut 12, Newley 11)

Lithuania win the series 2-0

Full replay of the game:

[king neptune]

Looks like Exum sat out the second game. Not a bad effort but we need to be at absolute full strength to beat the perennial European powerhouses like Lithuania. Players like Martin and Gibson need to be squeezed out.

Also, I really like Nathan Jawai and happy to see him recovered from a serious neck injury but he's still not in great condition and pretty limited in who he can be used against on the court. Not sure if NZ will have any one we need him to match up with.

Kiwis have looked very competitive against Croatia and Slovenia. We'll need to be firing on all cylinders when we play them.

[Gozu]

The Boomers lost their first game against Slovenia overnight without Goran Dragic.

Game 1

Slovenia 79 (Z. Dragic 22, Klobucar 14, Omic 10) def Australia 70 (Broekhoff 20, Dellavedova 11)

Slovenia lead the series 1-0

[king neptune]

One thing is for certain, if we ever are to get within striking distance of that elusive bronze medal, we need an absolute full strength team. That means Mills, Ingles, Baynes, Simmons even Thon Maker if he's ready and able.

I never really liked the surly Brett Brown but starting to appreciate that he was perhaps better than I gave him credit for. Andrej Lemanis has yet to convince he's the right man for the job. Must beat New Zealand, no excuses.

[king neptune]

Dante Exum has injured his left knee in the Boomers' win over Slovenia in 2nd game. Fear it could be a torn ACL.

[Gozu]

Game 2

Australia 66 (Broekhoff 13, Goulding 12, Newley 10) def Slovenia 51 (Omic 15)

Series tied 1-1

[Gozu]

Dante Exum has injured his left knee in the Boomers' win over Slovenia in 2nd game. Fear it could be a torn ACL.

Terrible news confirmed ACL out for 12 months. There goes the young fella's NBA season.

Bit of talk around the Boomers might now ask Patty Mills to come back in as a replacement for the NZ series. They would be mad if they didn't.

[king neptune]

Dante Exum has injured his left knee in the Boomers' win over Slovenia in 2nd game. Fear it could be a torn ACL.

Terrible news confirmed ACL out for 12 months. There goes the young fella's NBA season.

Bit of talk around the Boomers might now ask Patty Mills to come back in as a replacement for the NZ series. They would be mad if they didn't.

Really shattered for Dante, he seems like a great young lad. Hope he can come back OK.

Every time an injury like this occurs it immediately brings into question whether or not NBA teams should allow their players to represent their country. Wouldn't surprise me if they brought in an 'Olympics only' rule one day.

[Gozu]

Really shattered for Dante, he seems like a great young lad. Hope he can come back OK.

Every time an injury like this occurs it immediately brings into question whether or not NBA teams should allow their players to represent their country. Wouldn't surprise me if they brought in an 'Olympics only' rule one day.

Hopefully nothing like that ever comes in. NBA teams shouldn't be able to dictate whether a player can play for his country or not even though they often do like what the Jazz did with Joe Ingles this off-season but at the same time I can see how for a star player it can really mess up that team's NBA season like with the Pacers and Paul George last year.

Silver lining it will give a kid like Exum more time to work on his game and improve his strength and hopefully will come back improved in time for the Olympics next year.

[Gozu]

The Cairns Taipans have announced they've re-signed import Torrey Craig for this season. He just won league MVP in the NZ league playing for Wellington during the offseason.

[Gozu]

Fair bit of news first the big Boomers news with confirmation now that Patty Mills has been brought in to the team to replace Dante Exum for the Oceania series against New Zealand starting on Saturday night. A bit of a relief given Andrej Lemanis' apparent standoff with him before the European tour.

In NBL news Melbourne United have announced the signing of their two imports for the 2015/16 season in big man Ekene Ibekwe who was a key player on the Breakers championship team last season and Stephen Holt a 6'4" guard who just played for the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA Summer League, played his college ball at St Mary's where he was a teammate of Matthew Dellavedova and played last season in the D-League.

Also the NZ Breakers have signed a replacement import for Ibekwe in Charles Jackson a 6'10" centre who played at Tennessee Tech in the NCAA and just played for the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA Summer League. As well the Illawarra Hawks have completed their roster with the signing of former Sydney Kings forward Cody Ellis.