New tune to jive to - Its been no secret that Dejan "DJV" Vasiljevic has been in the Sixers sights for sometime - now it seems Adelaide has landed its feature act to accompany the Flowers and Kell show - Photo Credit to Adelaide 36ers/NBL
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4-Minute Read
NBL ROUND 4
Adelaide 36ers vs South East Melbourne Phoenix/Perth Wildcats
When: 7:00pm (ACDT), Thursday 19 October, 7:30pm Saturday 21 October
Where: Adelaide Entertainment Centre – The Ken Cole-seum
Broadcast: Kayo Freebies, ESPN, www.nbl.com.au
SWOOP BACK IN HISTORY
Next Star raising thunder against Phoenix
We saw that breakout from Trentyn Flowers last week – lets go back to when Giddey put his claim on the Sixers guard position after starting behind Donald Sloan back in NBL21.
A famous second home game for the Adelaide 36ers where the next star and NBA bound rookie Josh Giddey emerged with 13 points after three quarter time and an engrossing duel between former teammates DJ and Mitch Creek.
Have a read and watch the highlights of this one…
For something different listen to our pre-game Cluch Basketball Radio show the SA Shotclock here for our preview of the Adelaide 36ers against the South East Melbourne Phoenix and the Perth Wildcats
THREE QUESTIONS TO SWOOP ON
How does Dejan Vasiljevic fit in this 36ers team?
The Sixers have gone for the scoring punch so you can’t see him starting on the pine what so ever – the most likely move is shifting Kell to the three where he can be that multi-faceted player (DJ Newbill was a good mention by Pick and Roll’s Jordan McCallum in his piece this week) with Dejan at the two shooting guard position.
The lineup of McCarron, Vasiljevic, Kell, Wiley and Humphries appears the most likely one we’ll see with that combo – that gives you the backup of Cadee, Marshall, Dech, Starling/Tohi-Smith Milner and Galloway. That on paper looks much better but the on court is where we want to see it lift.
This weekend features another three coaches with question marks in CJ, Mike and John – but who will be the biggest casualty of the weekend if their team drops these fixtures?
I’ll start with least regardless of result I don’t think its Mike Kelly – win or loss he’s got time to figure this out. The Perth game Saturday becomes a n intriguing one for the losing coach. The spectre of Trevor Gleeson looms for both coaches that can’t be denied but even with a Sixers loss there is an expectation from Wildcats faithful and if they fail again- Rillie will sadly have plenty of pressure on him from the weekend onwards.
If Adelaide do get both wins this week – how does that change their next few weeks?
Crazy thing is they play Perth again with New Zealand in between which looked pretty much like 0-7 a week ago. But if they were to launch on the road from a 3-4 record – then the belief could rise to make it 4-5 or even 5-5 then its home against Tassie and then Phoenix again.
After a tough start Adelaide could find itself back ay close to 500 by end of November if they play their parts and pieces right…
So who wins?
The impact of DJV will tell us much about the team and if they have the right makeup in the back court now – the question mark is still over the front court and whether another piece is needed. In terms of getting these two right now is the best time to force two wins and launch into the next quarter of the season in a much better position then maybe most were anticipating.
COD Prediction: 36ers by 7 points (Phoenix) and 5 points (Wildcats)
Catch all the action this weekend at the arena on Cluch Radio with our SA Shotclock call team whether you’re at the game or watching from home
CROSS OVER DRIBBLE 