Young, exciting and challenging would be my best description of what I expect from this squad. A team "lead" by NBA draft hopeful Josh Giddey with a sprinkle of veteran guidance from Ex-NBA point guard Donald Sloan and EuroLeague journeyman Tony Crocker.
What an interesting team they've put together down in South Australia as we see a nice blend of talented distributers mixed in with some handy scorers and versatile offensive bigs.
Let's start by talking about this teams offensive playmaking which will be a strength this season no doubt.
Donald Sloan and Josh Giddey. If you indulge in any Adelaide 36ers content throughout this season there is a strong chance it'll be focused around these two.
Watching Giddey early on, then watching Sloan join in the other night has given me optimism that the 6ers aren't going to be the easy beats a lot of people thought they might be. These guys have NBA levels skills and IQs, hence why one had a "semi decent" career in the league while the other is fastly becoming a talking point within NBA circles.
I expect we will see plenty of pick and roll action as an attempt to highlight Giddey's size and passing vision. Sloan on the other hand will look to create advantages for himself with these screens to hide his aging athleticism while highlighting his advanced fundamentals and high quality basketball experience.
Combine these two with a pair of experienced and skilled big men you start to see the theory of their offense.
I expect this team to high up in the league for pick and rolls and would also not be surpised if they incorporated some "screen the screener" or "spain pick and roll" to seriously weaponise Giddey's ability to see over the defense.
Per Jordan McCallum Daniel Johnson also ranked 5th in PnR as the screener for number of possessions while his ex-teammate in Erik Griffen was 6th. Obviously this is a vastly different 36ers team but the heavy pick and roll offense they ran last year might still be around, atleast in fragments.
Tony Crocker. Adelaide's second import behind Donald Sloan projects as an outside shooter who can a little bit of everything on offense. I would assume he will likely be used as a spacing forward to give Giddey and Sloan room to breath while also keepinh their bench offense afloat when those two are inevitably off the floor at the same time. However this team could see a lot of staggered rotations.
Between Dech, Humphreys, Mcveigh and throw Pinder into that mix as well, this team could definitely be competitive throughout the season, however I believe there is potential for mild disaster.
Talent wise it's hard to put this team above anyone on paper. Defensively what are they going to bring to the table? Giddey has length, but will he be mentally engaged off ball at all times? A problem that does come up with plenty of young and talented guys, *cough* Lamelo *cough*.
If they play two bigs on the floor at once can they do enough to prevent being smoked by the talented bunch of electric guards the league has to offer?
Personally I don't see these guys clicking together on that end of the floor. I like Mcveigh and Dech, however Donald Sloan can't be expected to bring 100% intensity all the time at his age, Giddey will have his lapses, he's young and he will have a heavy offensive responsibility to burden as well.
All in all this team will have patches where they look phenomenal. Giddey will be flinging passes and creating for him self and others, Donald Sloan will have some big games, Humphreys and Johnson I expect will consistently bring solid minutes in the big rotation.
Sunday Dech I expect to have an excellent season full of defensive highlights while the play of Jack Mcveigh could be a serious swing factor for this team.
At the end of the day this league comes down to talent, and Adelaide just aren't there. But there's no chance I'm not watching every Josh Giddey possession this year and I hope the rest of the NBL fanbase does the same, this kid is going to be fun!
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