It's been a Wiley - The Adelaide 36ers will welcome back fan favourite Jacob Wiley for the first time since 2019 but can he have the same impact and a bit more in NBL24
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4-Minute Read
NBL ROUND 1
Adelaide 36ers vs Melbourne United
When: 1:30pm (ACDT), Sunday 1st October
Where: Adelaide Entertainment Centre – The Ken Cole-seum
Broadcast: 10 PEACH, Kayo Freebies, ESPN, www.nbl.com.au
SWOOP BACK IN HISTORY
Game 4 Grand Final Series 2018: DJ spins the series back in Sixers favour
Checkout this swoop back to a pivotal game in the 2018 series against United
Key Matchups
Trey Kell III vs Chris Goulding
Started in Sixers colours on fire before fading late in the game – but already looks like a piece missing from previous seasons. That kind of outside scoring threat is what the Sixers have lacked in recent seasons. The Sixers were ranked ninth in three point makes in NBL23 and the former South East Melbourne Phoenix import fills a huge need for Adelaide no question.
Then at the other end is the man that has hurt Adelaide consistently especially in more recent years. According to spatial jam, Goulding has averaged 16 points and three triples made the past half a decade – but its the big moments when he’s hurt the Sixers in the past as we know. He’ll be a key to lock down in this one given his history of finding points when it counts against Adelaide.
Jacob Wiley vs Luke Travers
It was solid opening night for Wiley in his return to the Sixers with a near double double of 15 points and nine rebounds. Has had plenty of experience in recent seasons overseas with Gran Canaria, Panathinaikos, Basket Zaragoza, Shiga Lakes and most recently Vaqueros de Bayamon. These are very familiar clubs to the worlds players with Wiley averaging 12 points and five rebounds. Since then across various leagues he’s averaged 14 points, four rebounds and his efficiency continued to grow averaging 12 per match. The pressure without Franklin now and an import hole is squarely on him in the opening round as the Sixers fans will be expecting him to be at the better level than his NBL19 stint.
Luke has Travers”ed” his way to Melbourne as a man on a mission and taking out player of the game on opening night with 20 points at 46 percent and eight rebounds. What was notable compared to his role at Perth was his outward attack on the rim – scoring ten of his points within eight feet. He’s that mid-sized dynamic player Adelaide have always had trouble guarding.
Jason Cadee vs Tanner Krebs
They needed some stable and perimeter presence and thats what Jason Cadee provides for the Sixers on his return. Cadee I feel has been highly underused in recent seasons averaging just 10 points per game – it’s a long distance from his Kings days in 2015-2016 where he was up around the 14 points mark. He’s coming off another dominant Gold Coast Rollers season in NBL1 North where he took out MVP and averaged 26.1 points, 12.2 assists. He enjoyed his time in Adelaide when he was last here with Brisbane scoring 18 points in the Ken Cole-seum so he knows the venue well and can get his eye in early in front of the Sixers fans.
It’s a case of same departure lounge but different destinations with Krebs looking to further his career in Melbourne. He comes off a career average of 5.86 points and 2.5 rebounds after three seasons with the Bullets – he started with 8 points and four rebounds on Thursday night against the Phoenix. His impact off the bench for United in the absence of Ian Clark will be key to the backup unit’s contribution.
THREE QUESTIONS TO SWOOP ON
How much do we read into the happenings during the blitz?
Clearly not that much given the Sixers have won the last two and finished outside the playoffs. Maybe this time around its a case of the slow build and while yes Franklin is another import cut joining a long list of imports released early in the season the past half a decade including Deleon, Deshon Taylor, Donald Sloan and Craig Randall II – at least they have given themselves time to turn things around before it became a bigger issue.
Maybe they should have something “cooking” behind the scenes just in case anyway.
How do you unsettle United?
It’s a tough one as defensively they are very tough under Vickermann. In NBL23 United were number one in the league for points conceded with 98 points which was incredible strange. Roll it back to NBL22 and they were number one with 79.4. They started by holding the Phoenix to 67 points which included 20 points of their own from turnover. The Sixers looked their best on the turn off their rebounds straight into transition offence so perhaps where they can get United is pushing the ball hard up the floor and attacking the rim early in offence with Hukporti the only genuine big in this team currently minus JLA.
Is it a point guard or a forward centre Adelaide need as a third import?
I’m not sure even the club knows right now – if we look at the small sample size its not even that clear. Averaging around 20 turnovers during the blitz but only conceding 12 on Friday night shows maybe its not a point guard. After a 28 point opening quarter they scored 12 and 13 in consecutive quarters so perhaps a scoring guard. Lastly it was 62-47 on the glass and Humphries (17 points and seven rebounds) as good as he was perhaps needs the extra help.
Today will tell us more about the Sixers needs and more pressing desires.
So who wins?
The Sixers showed some good signs early on Friday night but clearly are still a work in progress with missing pieces. After Sobey and Smith managed to hit the scoreboard for the Bullets I’m not sure the Sixers are quite ready yet.
United has also won eight of the last ten against Adelaide since 2021 – their recent record is too good to go against with so much uncertainty – but I hope I’m wrong.
COD Prediction: United by 11 points
Catch all the action today at the arena on Cluch Radio with Tristan “TP” Prentice and our special comments guests Scott Freer and Louis McKenna whether you’re at the game or watching from home
CROSS OVER DRIBBLE 