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Kane Pitman and Olgun Uluc react to the suspension handed down to Jesse Wagstaff for ‘unduly rough play’. (1:51)
A controversial and enthralling weekend of hoops is in the books, with every team in the league suffering at least one loss. Cairns upset Sydney, Melbourne turned the corner and then put it in reverse and the good vibes Breakers continued their strong start to the season.
Kane Pitman, Olgun Uluc and Peter Hooley are back for 3×3 as they are every Wednesday throughout the season to discuss some of the intriguing talking points across the league.
Have you been more impressed by Cairns or New Zealand thus far?
Kane Pitman: New Zealand’s ability to get it done on the road.
For all the talk of the Breakers returning home, three of the first four games have been on the road in a strange scheduling quirk. The only loss of the season came in overtime against Melbourne United and two of the wins have come without import Barry Brown Jr. who had put up 18 points a night across his first two appearances. New Zealand have a deep roster that might not carry big name superstars, but it does have a large cast of solid NBL players who appear from the outside to be having a lot of fun out on the floor.
Olgun Uluc: New Zealand.
It’s a tough one because the Taipans’ win over the Sydney Kings is the most impressive of the lot, but what the Breakers are doing feels slightly more real. Mody Maor’s team have started the season 3-1, while largely on the road, and have guarded a whole lot better than I thought they would. They’re second in the league in defensive efficiency, and have shown to be pretty deep when it comes to the weapons they have at their disposal on the offensive end.
Peter Hooley: Cairns.
If you told me that the youngest team in the league would be 3 -1 to start the season, I’d probably say you’re crazy. Particularly with star import Tahjere McCall averaging just eight points per game. Yet here we are.
The Taipans may be young, but the high-octane style of play that Adam Forde has rolled out for his team is one that is both highly effective and enjoyable to watch. The loss to Perth was concerning, but it’s something that will likely happen every now and then with how fast they play and how many shots they get up. The self-belief in the Cairns locker room is evident and with the confidence of each player growing from game to game.
Are you more concerned about Brisbane or Melbourne?
Kane Pitman: It’s Melbourne for me.
A slow start for Brisbane was to be expected with underdone stars and a brutal schedule, but Melbourne’s issues appear a little more complicated. Nothing is coming easy on offence, while finding the right lineups appears a challenge for Dean Vickerman. Xavier Rathan-Mayes, Rayjon Tucker and Chris Goulding are all clocking over 30 minutes per game early, a number that no United player got close to last season. Additionally, David Barlow is logging 22 minutes a night, up from nine per game last season. Vickerman is searching for players he trusts, I’m just not sure there’s a whole lot of them right now.
Olgun Uluc: Melbourne
At least with Brisbane, it’s easy to point to a tough schedule to contextualise their winless start to the season. United still needs to add Shea Ili back to the mix but they’re just not playing a brand of basketball – the usual Dean Vickerman type – that’ll consistently win games in this league; the ball is stagnant on the offensive end and that issue may be too big for even the Kiwi point guard to fix on his own. The big problem: the nature of the team’s imports and their lack of depth may mean they can’t get there without some sort of change.
Peter Hooley: What happened to the preseason Bullets?
In preseason, the Bullets looked a completely different outfit than last season. They were flying around the court defensively and sharing the rock on the other end to get great looks. For whatever reason, the preseason seems like an eternity ago for Brisbane. They’re rotating a lot of guys to try and find an answer, but right now they’re struggling to put it all together. Tyler Johnson said that it’s just adversity that they’ll overcome, and whilst he may be right, how long can they afford to wait? The last time Brisbane started 0-4 was back in 2003 when they began 0-10.
A random thought from the first three rounds of NBL23.
Kane Pitman: The new delay of game interpretation is bizarre.
There has been a clear instruction to enforce delay of game warnings on players shooting the basketball after a whistle. In principle, this seems fine, but early in the season the officials don’t appear to have a good feel for sensible application of the rules. Early in the first quarter against Tasmania, Rathan-Mayes attempted a shot soon after a whistle in what may have been continuation in recent years. Instead, a delay of game was issued – which actually held the game up further while everyone figured out what was happening.
Olgun Uluc: The Illawarra Hawks’ decision to barely promote the signing of Will Hickey — he went from a development player to a rostered guy — was quite odd.
The ‘announcement’ was hidden at the bottom of a news story on their website ahead of opening night, almost as a throw away. For a team that’s had a good track record of highlighting Indigenous-Australian players, one would think there’d be a slightly larger acknowledgment of a First Nations athlete signing his first full NBL contract.
Peter Hooley: Is it time to change the coach’s challenge to the NBA way?
It’s only been three rounds and we have seen numerous instances of the challenge being used incredibly poorly. Is it time to give coaches one single challenge for the game, regardless of the outcome?
That way we don’t see coaches use back-to-back challenges in the span of thirty seconds and it might save a couple from using it in the first quarter on a an out of bounds decision. I believe there’s a place in the game to have the challenge involved, but it might be time to tweak it.
