Interesting thing to see in this game is how Fall is used. He has been a huge positive the past two games (26pts, 18reb and +29 in 34 mins) after previously being a liability as the Breakers figured out how to use him.

Coach Kop seems to have the Menenga/Bolden & Fall/Darling frontcourts working well together.

But can NZ continue to make the most of Fall without PJC running the show, or will it descend back into being a mess again? I suspect the latter but let's hope this is a competitive game.

Should be a good game, winner could avoid the spoon, I have no idea who wins because both sides been terrible of late. Hopefully both lift for a good contest which I'm expecting but if not maybe a good laugh.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Breakers better utilise Fall without PJC. Their two styles are chalk and cheese. Good chance for McCarron to show he’s still got something in the tank.

Cairns supporters frothing that they'll probs be able to enter NYE celebrations with a win.

Still think PJC's suspension was too harsh. But whatever, NZ are cooked now. I just hope we don't lose PJC to another league next season.

To be fair PJC did turn his back on the NBL after last season ended signing a 2 year deal in Turkey. However after only one game with them he walked out on his contract and turned around and re-signed with NZB for this season.

He re-signed when Maor was still the coach too so perhaps some of that build up in tension leading to his brain explosion might've been dealing with a rookie coach who wasn't there when re-signed and then the Gillespie/Fall stuff on top.

Probably hasn't helped either that the NZB started out hot and have since fallen off a cliff and with this five game suspension for PJC it means their season is all but over. I wouldn't expect PJC to return to NZB next season.

If pjc has spat the dummy and given up, breakers don't want him. It really is hard to blame him though, as breakers are an absolute shit show.

Cairns looking terrible at the start

Taipans good back end quarter back to six down. Certainly not the standard of game we just watched.

Tacko gets called for three seconds and should be but all teams loiter in there and get nothing. Call all players evenly.

Breakers by ten , should be greater. So many free throws missed by both teams. Refs calling a lot rubbish both ways. Cairns can still win this but only because nz are not that good either.

Forde probably deserve another season but the money men have been a letdown overall, Edwards, Waardenburg and Armstrong just haven't performed up to expectations often enough.

Taipans situation has just become sad, and a bit of a joke. They need a whole new ownership structure and the backing of some investors to put them on a level playing field with the rest of the league. In the meantime it's like 9 NBL teams and a glorified NBL1 team

As I've previously there is salary cap minimum, some taipans are steeling money.

Last season the Taipans didn't marquee Bul Kuol's contract because if they did they would've fallen below the salary floor. As it was they finished just $6k above the salay floor.

The minimum cap is at about 1.9m, divided by 11 is over 170k per player, considering some are on absolute minimum a few to many are steeling money. No player on that list should be getting near that money for what they have delivered.

Congratulations breakers, taipans are a rabble. You can still be competitive even if your squad spends less money.

Beyond demoralizing. Massive clearout on the way.

To clear them out, you need to have replacements who are better for basically the same money.

Or are you suggesting that changing the coach first will make all the difference?

What has Adnam, Stith, offered, Makoi looked a reasonable signing, never sees the court. Taylor, Dufelmeir offered not much, Bradshaw and Edwards been average at best. Galloway got worse. Yes there budget is less but they are over paying some players for sure. It's a rabble. Fearne had money troubles to but at least they played D.

Fearne had no money so recruited youngsters and undervalued vets. But he had a system.

Forde has the same recruitment plan but doesn't have the system to slot the players into.

Forde's had some success but this season's team is especially poor and I think that comes down to recruiment. He always had one stable rock import that he could rely on he doesn't have that this season. Edwards is up and down like a yo yo, Groves is either injured or not delivering much and Bradshaw is obviously a glue guy role player.

Edwards was from the G-League, those imports are a gamble at the best of times and he clearly has anger/emotional issues which is probably why he's never played outside the US before other than a short stint in Germany. Last season was Groves first season as a pro and played in 3 different leagues which should've been enough of a red flag not to sign him and Bradshaw was just signed to be the third import anyway.

So they messed up on Edwards and Groves. Then the local core outside of Armstrong and Waardenburg is pretty grim. Armstrong the starting PG has missed a lot of time due to injuries too. Galloway I never understood what anyone really saw in him even when he was at the Sixers, fools gold type player. He just doesn't seem to have the ticker and content to coast. Makoi and Adnam aren't much as back up PG's, Antonio is just a poor man's Djeric, Gak's not much chop and Stith wasn't in the league for a reason. He was terrible with Melb and that was years ago.

Now the money might've dried up completely and that might be the reason the local core is so weak and they had to take a gamble on Edwards to carry the team but you get one or two of those imports wrong, they're relied on to be heavy lifters and if they're not up to it the whole thing comes crashing down.

I know McCall had his flaws but I really hoped they were able to bring back at least one of Miller or McCall as a known quality. Even with the misfire of Groves and weak local recruiting I think it could've made a big difference.

Didn't McCall have a falling out with Forde and Miller was McCall mate. Armstrong and Waardenburg have had injuries but other than spurts have not been great. Fearne had the ability to balance the team better, you need top end talent but they can’t take the majority of your cap and pay peanuts to the rest. Stith had me scratching my head when signed as well.

It was reported that Forde and McCall had a falling out but I was still hoping after 3 years together they could patch that up. Given the year Miller had he was almost certainly never coming back and is likely on big money in Russia now.

I tend to agree with Zodiac that it comes down to recruitment this season for the Taipans. I think it also should be noted that from last season's team they lost McCall and Kuol who were both very good defenders and the Next Star in Klintman. The Taipans weren't able to obtain a Next Star this season and replacing a local player of Kuol's quality is difficult. As Zodiac mentioned McCall had his flaws however he was still a very good all round player. I do think his use by date was just about up though. With Armstrong being "put in charge" of the team, McCall wasn't as good a fit as he previously was.

I think it also needs to be taken into account that injuries and suspension have played havoc with the team and they don't seem to have recovered from that. Their confidence is low.

Edwards was very good in the first part of the season but has been inconsistent since. Armstrong has been pretty good overall however his last couple of games have been ordinary. Bradshaw hasn't been terrible but we need better in that spot. I would actually consider keeping Groves as the third import and I also think Gak has been quite handy and would have been useful last night.

Overall, Forde has been pretty good with his recruitment during his time in charge. It hasn't worked out this season however he may well have got the best imports he could under the circumstances. I think he is entitled to have another crack at it next season however that will be a decision those in charge will make or perhaps he has had enough and might just move on.

I'm not sure there are any better alternatives out there.

Despite this season, I believe Forde should get another crack at it. Would like to see perhaps Edwards off the bench as a 6th man for a few games, to switch things up (and hopefully a good reaction comes of it). We have two ball dominant guards starting. Think Antonio should get some more minutes, and plays run for him. We all know he can shoot, but when he's on the court, has only very few touches. Would love to see him develop into a Drmic type of player, with more experience gained in bigger minutes. Our shooting has been terrible too.

@ hoopie

By clearout, I wasn't necessarily referring to a conscious choice being made to put a broom through the place. It's more the combination of the way the year has gone and having only Galloway and Stattman contracted past this year, while I think Stith and Adnam may have club options.

I don't think any of the imports have been terrible, but they also certainly haven't performed as hoped. I wouldn't have a problem if some/all of them returned, but you'd have to say it's highly unlikely they'd want to the way the season has gone. The same applies for Waardenburg and Armstrong - would you come back for a do-over after the way this season has gone? Kuol gave us 'one-more-year' on that basis but eventually moved on. I can see the same thing happening with Waardenburg and Armstrong (and that's if we could afford them against other offers). And all of the above depends on who's coaching anyway.

Out of the current roster not already mentioned, I can't see Makoi being re-signed. I'd try and keep Gak but he may attract interest from elsewhere. Probably worth persevering with Antonio on the budget and he might not attract as much interest elsewhere. And I would definitely try and hold on to Higgins-Titsha.

There's no doubt injuries have played a massive part which a side like us just couldn't afford, but at the end of the day this is the side Forde put together under the guise of being "Taran's team" and trying to add the pieces around him. While it hasn't worked, I wouldn't have a problem with re-signing Forde given the circumstances. I'm just not sure it will happen and who even knows if he wants to stay? He may have even decided he's run his race here.

I believe AHT has a team option to be moved onto the main roster next season. An option that should absolutely be taken up

Thanks, Damo.

Thinking about Waardenburg, it feels to me like he's trying to take too much responsibility, and then gets frustrated with himself if it doesn’t work.

He’s a very good player who I love watching, but I think he needs to relax a bit for the baskets to come.

What's that saying , a fish smells from its head . Forde and management decided to put the team together to showcase Taran who just hasn't performed . They tried to do this last year and Miller's showing in the first 10 games made it impossible to keep him on the bench so Forde and his system made him stand in the corner chucking up 3's . He and McCall were never coming back . When Forde first arrived he preached 5 out pace and space as his system but that appears to have been thrown out the window . the players look apathetic at best and all we seem to hear is how hard they are trying in practice ??? (practice , we are talking about practice ) this is professional sport their are no moral victories only wins and losses . Unfortunately the Cairns public are so forgiving , we have already seen one coach fired this season for a far worse showing than Forde has produced with other teams fans screaming for change with way less justification in my opinion . the crowd on NYE was more interested in getting free Hungry Jacks than the fact the Breakers got an offensive rebound and put back at the same time . you cannot preach defense as one of your core requirements and have your worst defensive player as your biggest minutes player it doesn't help motivate the bench to perform in their limited roles . Antonio has had many chances to show he deserves more minutes at one stage this year we were told he was our new defensive stopper ???
Forget about the budget if your aim is not to win then what are we paying to watch ? We can go to state or national championships to watch players develop .

Alot of that is fair Troppo and I agree with a fair bit of it, but the budget (or lack of) is a real issue whichever way you spin it.

Damo75 have you heard the Hawks talk about budget this year ? They only seem to talk about winning the championship .

Agreed. But the fact is they spend at least 20% more than the Taipans do.

We'll swap you Rillie for Forde.

No way you let Forde go yet. A bit like Joey Wright, he's the kind of coach that can have up and down seasons but never plateau or run on a window. Cairns have had a tough year, but you’d back Forde to turn it around with fresh imports. To me, Cairns have always been at their best when nailing that import point guard spot. They’ve had injuries. Armstrong is still young. Just hasn’t happened for them this season.

If the NBL is paying for Harrell, you’d think Cairns would asking why they can’t get the same help? What happened to tax being redirected at teams like Cairns?

I just hope that Cairns can survive, and hope there isn’t a long game to only have NBL teams based in capital cities...

Agreed Master Chief. Personally I'd be sticking with Forde if he wanted to stay.

I actually wonder where a lot of the luxury tax that the big teams pay actually goes because it doesn't appear to flow through to the smaller/poorer teams which is what I thought was the idea.

The problem is LK has now created so many loopholes in the salary cap so Melbourne, sorry the well off teams can exploit it only for dropkicks like Bogut and Paul Smith to turn around and say "See the Kings were under the cap this season but other teams weren't".

The Kings signed Xavier Cooks to the biggest contract in NBL history 3yr/$3.6M, an obscene $1.2M per season yet if they elect to 'marquee' his contract, as they have, only $150k of that counts against the cap. It's arms race BS that less well off teams like Cairns and Illawarra can't compete with. The Taipans could only dream of having $1.2M to spend on just one player.

And touching on what MC sais it's also BS that my team a reasonably well off 36ers can essentially be 'allocated' a star player like Harrell just because our owner doesn't want to put his hand in his own pocket to pay for it. If the NBL are going to step in and do shit like that those types of players should be going to the likes of Cairns first. But Adelaide is a much bigger market for the NBL than Cairns so the NBL ignore them.

I don't disagree that Forde can coach but he has but ultimately you are judged on your wins and losses and that unfortunately speaks for itself at the moment .
He has clearly lost the team at this point and the team should be making a statement that losing on such a scale is not acceptable .
Why did he continue to play the starters until the end of the game .
Did he seriously think they were making a comeback ?

I think Forde deserves another season and I agree, why did he keep playing the starters, they were woeful, Statman never sees the floor, showed a bit at SEM last season, he has a go. Some of his decisions and subbing looking like he doesn't want to be there.

If you don’t have marquee spots the best local players won’t stay, how many are in Japan already, I agree Cooks is over paid but it least we get to watch him. Imo Cotton will be a naturalised player by next season or he’ll be gone. Magnay, DJV, Pinder, Sobey, White, Goulding etc, you want to keep these type of players in the nbl pay them or let them wonder off to Japan and Europe. While I think Cairns is an asset to the league, I don’t believe they spent their money wisely this season, to much to a few and nothing to back it up.

Too often the management at clubs who haven't performed well try to start with a clean slate but it's almost impossible to get that right and be successful in 1 to 2 years.

Taipans would be best to keep a couple of their players even if they're not excelling but at least a known quantity, ie Edwards and maybe even groves. Most will be better in their second year in the league. Then try to incrementally improve from there

Agree 100% in a perfect world Kolzee. The problem is if they don't want to stay, get offered more elsewhere (which historically has happened to Cairns quite a bit) or a new coach wants to go a different direction.