Cotton and Rakocevic need backup, and fast

Bryce Cotton is doing everything he can and Nick Rakocevic is thriving in an expanded role, but Adelaide 36ers coach Trevor Gleeson knows his two stars can't dig the Sixers out of their early-season hole on their own.

Back-to-back Round 3 losses, a 22-point beating on the road against the Illawarra Hawks followed by a 16-point defeat at home to the New Zealand Breakers on Sunday, have left Adelaide at 2-3 and searching for answers.

What stood out was that Cotton and Rakocevic are not getting enough help. And while there's no doubt about what injured stars Flynn Cameron, Isaac Humphries and Bul Kuol can provide, they can't help right now and can't be viewed as saviours when they do return.

On Sunday against the Breakers, Rakocevic and Cotton combined for 48 of Adelaide's 72 points, shooting 22/40 from the field compared to 8/28 from the rest of the team.

Quite simply, others need to stand up, and the obvious candidates are imports Zylan Cheatham and John Jenkins III, who managed just 16 points between them on 5/17 shooting in 67 minutes against New Zealand.

"I think John was down today and Zylan was down today. We haven't got the depth to have our two imports down, we haven't got the bench depth for that," Gleeson said.

But it's more than just those two.

"We've gotta have energy from the young guys too, so that's from Whitey (Isaac White), Keanu (Rasmussen) and Jacob (Rigoni)," he continued.

"I know there's some injury replacement guys and DPs in that, but we need them and we've got to get energy from them.

"That means hustle, deflections, offensive glass and we have to get that. We're in a bit of a grind at the moment and we're facing adversity. Now we've gotta respond and we can't sit back on our heels. We have to be aggressive."

The great positive of the season so far for the 36ers has been the way Rakocevic has embraced his increased role and responsibility with fellow centre Humphries sidelined by a knee injury.

He put in a power of work once again in Sunday's loss to the Breakers, finishing with 29 points, 16 rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block on 14/22 shooting in almost 35 minutes.

Gleeson couldn't be happier with what Rakocevic is doing, but knows he needs help.

"His role at the start of the year was really coming off the bench, giving us some energy and being that guy," Gleeson said.

"He's really stepped up and I'm really proud of him. He's focused and locked in, and really stepping up when we need him.

"We just need some other guys to do the same. I know we're young on the bench and, especially with Flynn out, we need some energy in that position.