Sixers are fully go this season or year 25/26 to come.BC products mvp form. when doesn't he with the cattle added to group.its a very impressive excitement building program to have most knowledge able fans in land screaming romping stomping all night long.. hugeely massively big run ahead.i can't be excited than watching a phantom new release comicor getting new pokemon cards. Bringing it on. Sixers ingintion full speed.

Adelaide
Perth
Sydney
Illawarra.
Jack jumpers
Unified
Taipans
Breakers
Bullets

You're missing tassie jimmyhooper!

To me there's a clear top four and the rest are very even and will probably be down to injuries.


Adelaide
Melbourne
Perth
Sydney

Tasmania
NZ
Brisbane
Illawarra
SEM
Cairns

Adelaide, looking very good, good starters and bench, plus the modern goat, coach still not proven yet, if they don't have any internal problems top 3

Brisbane, going to need so much from there imports, two, three goodish locals but very shallow and coaching not giving me confidence, bottom 2

Cairns, could surprise, spent some big dollars and bench not bad. Injury to Waardenburg already isn’t great, defensively probably not great. Slight chance top six but probably bottom 4.

Illawarra, got a good core coming back, just don’t think they are as strong as last season and I’m more likely to see championship hang over. Between 6 and 8 imo.

Melbourne, how many teams have the quality of a Illi off the bench, new point guard look great, solid starters and solid bench, well coached, team to beat imo, top 2.

NZ, I like this side, look solid, bench got depth and PJC is a gun, well coached, surprise packet imo, 4 to 6.

Perth, another side that looks very balanced, if they can get D and team D up to a good standard will challenge, Dech is not a difference maker there, certainly not on his own. Rillie is better than given credit, certainly will score enough points. 3 to 5.

SEM, very nice starting five, Brown is crucial, the new Sobey as well. Foxwell going to surprise a lot punters, he’s good. Bench is not deep, Glover, Maldonado look good, Gak ok, not much after that. Well coached, can’t see better than 6th.

Sydney, great back court, good small forwards, Cooks quality, Noi can score but average on D. Weak in the five spot, Davis can beat teams on his own, very hard to judge, Goorg does influence refs a lot. I can’t see better than 5th.

JJ, very good starting five, Magnay is the key though, he’s injured and they fall back to the pack, very well coached, good bench, great home court giving great support,expecting finals, 3 to 6.

All guess work and obviously injuries and refs decisions can change a season. Should be an absolute beauty or maybe even a cracker, bring it on.

Kolzee I had the jackjumpers fourth .

Fifth I mean

Fifth I mean

Just didn't rate Phoenix enough to include them haha

It's way too hard to make predictions for this absurdity of a season. I’m not comfortable with this at all. I was considering Brisbane at 4/5 and then settled on last somehow.

Throw a blanket over them all.

Sydney
Perth
Melbourne
NZ

SEM
Illawarra

Tasmania
Adelaide
Cairns
Brisbane

It's way too hard to make predictions for this absurdity of a season. I’m not comfortable with this at all. I was considering Brisbane at 4/5 and then settled on last somehow.

Throw a blanket over them all.

Sydney
Perth
Melbourne
NZ

SEM
Illawarra

Tasmania
Adelaide
Cairns
Brisbane

Ket, while I was trying to express the same as you just did, you just did. I wasn't able to express how I felt about this season and how every team is stacked and also shows weaknesses, which makes everyone fairly "even" over all.

I deleted my attempt and then saw that you had written it perfectly.
"It's way too hard to make predictions for this absurdity of a season. I'm not comfortable with this at all. I was considering Brisbane at 4/5 and then settled on last somehow."

Thanks!

I was trying to get Brisbane right up near the top. I succeeded in getting Brisbane anywhere from 1st to 10th.

Yeah, Dunkman got this pretty right, "Brisbane, going to need so much from there imports, (but who won't?) and two, three goodish locals but very shallow (who isn't? rosters all around 8/9 deep) and coaching (no argument,there!) not giving me confidence, bottom 2.

But he started with everyone's favourite, Adelaide. "Adelaide, looking very good, good starters (apart from BC, equal to Brisbane) and bench (also, equal), plus the modern goat (on their own there), coach still not proven yet (equal to BNE), if they don't have any internal problems (Brisbane don't have any) top 3." (Obviously, my brackets).

Not putting sh*t on you Dunkman. It's really that hard to judge.

Maybe Brisbane can win it all, after all! Our 3 imports are as good as anyone's. Our locals, Tyrell H, Sam McD, Mitch N, Alex D, Tohi SM, Taine M, and some DP's and NRP's, are just as good (that's 8-and-a half to 9 deep). Our coach is totally untried. For me, he's the only question mark. Of course there are better players out there but everyone has their fair share of them.

Reckon we Bullets fans may be just as entitled to hope as anyone!

I'm like most RobT, throw a blanket over them, I had to pick someone for last and again imo from what has been shown in this season so far, it was your loveable bullets. Good luck to them though, as I also said it should be a beauty.

So many teams very dependent on their 3 x imports or 2 x imports + local. Hawks, MU and sydney probably the least. NZ at the top of that list and going into the season with two carrying injuries doesn't bode so well.

I suppose the teams that carry 2 x imports + local can at least fill a spot in case of injury. I mean i know they all can but they can fill it with a permanent and stack the squad like adelaide did/tried to do last season.

"It's way too hard to make predictions for this absurdity of a season. "

This. I'm confident the Kings will either finish 1st or 7th. So many unknowns and new imports that chemistry, fit, and health are going to be the difference potentially between top 4 and 7th/8th.

Adelaide and Perth seem the "safest" top 4 picks, but both have clear weaknesses. United have some new pieces but should be top 4 worthy, same with NZ. I think these are my top 4, not necessarily in these orders.

Hawks, what can McGee bring - we've seen "big name" NBA guys underwhelm a lot more than they have dominated, and the pnuemnonia stuff is maybe a little bit of a red flag, but if he can stay on the court and is a DPotY type impact the Hawks might be top 4. More realistically this is where I slot Illawarra/Sydney, 5/6.

Need to see more of Cairns and Brisbane's imports to make up my mind on either - more critical for Brisbane who will lean on them heavily, while Cairns (even minus Sam) have the better overall roster. Any other season I'd be higher on Cairns, and if McVeigh is an MVP-calibre guy (which he should be) they could climb.

Hard to count out the JJs - the loss of MacDonald was a big blow, but love the addition of Bannan. My UCLA-grad mate raves about Tyger Campbell, but I don't love bringing in 3 guards as imports. Lack of size is the big one for me, and an injury to Magnay/Bannan/Deng is going to really put them on the backfoot.

SEM with another unsteady trip into the season, switching up imports early. If they nail the replacement guys they might get it going ala last season, but at this stage at least its hard to put them anywhere else, when just about everyone else has either gotten clearly better on paper or has at least added some pieces that might be home-runs but have some risk attached (Illawarra).

1/2/3/4 - Adelaide/Perth/Melbourne/NZ (in some order)
5/6 - Illawarra/Sydney (in some order)
7/8/9 - Tasmania/Cairns/Brisbane (in that order)
10 - SEM

Going to be an awesome season, some quality bigs and some dynamic guards this season.
While all teams have reloaded, things may change however I see the big markets and past leaders out performing the smaller markets again this year. Travel will play into a with NZ and Perth to benefit from it.
So I have Perth, NZ and Melbourne as they do year after year in the top 4.
NZ were on track last year till the Taco debacle. Perth have way more balance this year and Melbourne under Vickerman will do Melbourne things.
While Adelaide and Kings have spent big on talent harmony and "culture “ don't happen over night and playing with only one ball is not going to help matters. Both these teams capable of winning it all talent wise but not so sure about their IQ. Will battle with JJs and Hawkes in the middle of the ladder 4- 8
Would have included Cairns in this group before Waardenburg went down now battle with SEM, Brisbane for the bottom spots.
But really who truly knows, the refs, injuries and unhappy campers may help decide this years champs.

Interesting that you count travel as a benefit for NZ and perth knowall. With the bulk of the games on the east coast they usually have to travel more and further which i think counts against them

Kolzee while both teams do travel more than most, they have to factor in travel and recovery sessions are just their norm.
Not so for teams having to travel occasionally to different time zones and if it's part of a double header body cloaca’s get mucked around.

Kolzee is quite correct

Historically teams who faced the Doomsday Double are 4-137 all-time.

In light of this please bring it back.

My prediction for the season:

LK finds a buyer for the league.

Big call Perthworld, with the league potentially having its best season timing would be great for investors one would suspect

Perthworld, if you're right, then the planned, LK trip to Vegas(?) might be just the place to hold an auction.

Whichever way you see it , there is 10 good teams this year.Basketball is going to be great to watch night after night & injuries are going to play a part on where teams finish.
League way too hard to predict but in every professional sport there is always one off the more fancied teams that fail to live up to their hype.
I think by about round 8 or so when everybody has their full team of players & had time together we will sense where every team falls on the ladder.
It will be interesting to see what people opinions are around this time in about 7 to 8 weeks & how many changes they make to their predictions

For me

Melbourne United
Adelaide
Tasmania
Melbourne Phoenix
Perth
Sydney / hawks
Sydney / hawks
Brisbane
New Zealand
Cairns

20 /21 wins will take top place
15 /16 wins will get in the top 6
10 / 11 wins will probably be last

Probably all completely wrong with my ladder but time & injuries will tell

I agree with your summary/comments but think that your w/l records are too spread out. I think that the w/l %'s will be very close throughout the season with round-by-round wins and losses hard to predict.

"Final 4" may take on a new meaning this season, "Final 4 Weeks of Reg Season". All positions, top to bottom, will be up for grabs.

Two rounds done and it's been entertaining. Some good, some bad, some better and some crackers.
Been forced to change my order as I imagine a couple others.
Refs have declared the style they are going to officiate and so far I like it.
Some new studs and already some flops.
1) United. Vickermans just with his guards, they have the horses to wear down the opposition. Goorg and Tatum rank Melbourne the current team to beat.
2) JJs. Roth looks and sounds like he is enjoying this group, couple of important early wins.
3) Hawkes. Tatum could arguably have scored the best import of the year.
All 3 of the coaches above not only have well constructed teams, as coaches they are at another level to the rest of the league.
4)Cairns .Forde has a great eye for spotting future stars and getting them punching above their weight class. Has shown already that his imports are more than capable of finishing.
5)Perth. JR will be fine when the game is flowing freely but when the heat gets applied to his back court they will come unstuck
6)Kings and
7)36s the two teams busting with talent, who speak of culture, values and being good people. But play and are encouraged to play such a selfish style of game, will take a lot of good will from role players for success.
8)SEM just not enough depth to play the style King wants against a league full of talent and some better constructed teams
9) NZ has failed, to find the right imports, to make this team work. Vets should not be starting.
10) Brisbane injuries have exposed a lack of player depth and will test the durability of the coaching staff.

JLA, Doolittle and Windler showed how dangerous they could be together. All tough to defend with single coverage, all had moments where they took over and bullied their opponent.

If the guards play smart and use them for their advantage Wildcats can beat anyone. They made Junior look good by making sensible passes and plays. Keep it simple.

I think Wildcats will be amongst the midst just due to their talent level.

I could see swapping Mason for a smart point guard helping the team, but I don't think Wildcats will dump their star "Cotton Replacement"

I wouldn't be worried about Mason Jones just yet. Rayjon Tucker was a G-League star who struggled early before becoming a star who was arguably unlucky to miss the All-NBL 2nd team. It can take an adjustment period.

Sixers and united certainly looking best so far, like the JJs as well. Injuries will play a major role as season progresses, bullets already behind the eight ball.

Kings moving into the equation, not ruling Sixers out yet but better get better game plans and need a long defender.