Newley may decide today, Adelaide hoping for a decision from Dench tomorrow, and Copeland is yet to sign off on a one year deal.

Newley's decision would only determine if he signs with Adelaide or Melbourne. According to his father, they are working a way to get to the NBA drafts so any signature would be dependent on what happens in the NBA draft. It woud be a very insecure signing for either Adelaide or Melbourne. As much as each individual player has the right to explore their options, I don't believe that its fair that other clubs are held ransom to this. If the NBL wants to assert its position as a premier league, then they have to put their foot down and say to the players that its your risk if you don't make a firm decision. Either you sign with us now or risk your chances in the NBA which may leave you with nothing. Its not only about the players, its about the fans. They don't want to see their club weakened by a sudden departure of a key player to the NBA just because their contract allows it.

maybe the 36ers have asked him to wait a bit, as if he signs, Newley signs and we sign a import SF that would leave us with a bench of Davidson, Sutton, Ng, Copeland and either Cooper or Dench, which is quite small, so i wouldnt be surprised that if Newley signs they get a back up PF, and make Copes an Assistant coach but if Newley goes to the Tigers Copeland will play on, well thats how i would try and do it anyway, unless they go for the smaller bench with the 2nd import, Cooper and Dench sharing the back up minutes to Ballinger at PF, which wouldnt be huge anyway (10-15mins per game), so that could work either way. Heres hoping Newley decides to be a 36er!!

EC,
That is a very narrow, clearly frustrated view of the situation. Players writing "out clauses" into their contracts is nothing new and not something that is likely to change ever. Do i need to refresh your memory on where Cattalini and Rogers left the Sixers? The thing i can't understand is why the club stands back while these players walk back into the league with other clubs. Hopefully that was the old administration.

Blue Collar, as far as i know they have to stand back. If a player eg. Cat has a euro out clause, and they use it, it voids the NBL contract because under FIBA rules you can't be contracted to two leagues. The only way you could change that would be a league rule as in the NBA where only one team can hold a players rights (like Anderson and the Hawks), so the Commish would have to make a new rule saying all players must assign their rights to a club and that can only change if they are waived or traded (unlikely because the players association wouldn't go for it).

My idea on this is allow evry player on the roster to have a Euro / NBA out.

The catch is that when they return to the NBL they have to play out the remainder of their NBL contract with the sixers at whatever cap spacethe team has left. Would need the NBL's ok as in Cats situation we would have had a stacked team (points wise) and then thrown him into the mix too.

Also if the player elects to go to Euro /NBA give them the option of buying out the remaining term of the contract, that way the club gets some $ back in the kitty or go one step further and use the soccer model with transfer fees from Euro / NBA to sixers.

Blue Collar, after last season's result, wouldn't you be frustrated? I want to see the players show some loyalty. If they sign a contract with a club, they should see out that contract. The whole team is left in turmoil because one player decides that he doesn't want to stick around as the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. I know that "out clauses" have been around for years but it obviously causes stress to a club where a player exercises his rights under that clause. This situation should be reviewed.

EC, good luck trying to get any decent player signed without a Euro-out.

If you'd rather Adelaide ignored Newley because of that demand, who else would they target for a competitive roster? Saville didn't bite, Cairns locked down Grabau before he could move, Loughton didn't bite, Mottram wanted to stay put overseas, Pepper obviously didn't want to come here, M.Knight wouldn't sign anywhere without an out-clause, etc.

Isaac, that's not the point. I have already stated that good Australian players are scarce. The point is that a review needs to be made about out clauses.