NBL Champion on Adelaide's Unrivalled Depth, Cover

Two-time NBL champion Adam Gibson has praised the Adelaide 36ers for putting together a strong offensive performance without star scoring guard Craig Randall II.

Speaking on the NBL Today podcast, Gibson said Adelaide’s 96-80 win over the Illawarra Hawks without Randall II was highly encouraging.

“It’s great for them that he sat out, now he can see that he can rely on the other guys, and he can see where the ball moves,” Gibson said.

Randall missed the clash due to a chest injury after a collision with Zhou Qi and Reuben Te Rangi in last week's game against the Phoenix. Randall is currently ranked second in scoring, averaging 21.8 points per game.

Adelaide’s star-studded roster enables them to overcome the absence of Randall, according to Gibson.

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“All these guys would be dominant players on any team, so you take Craig Randall out, it doesn’t matter because DJ’s (Daniel Johnson) a star, Robert Franks is a star, (Antonius) Cleveland’s a star, so everyone gets to share the ball and everyone’s happy,” Gibson said.

“Obviously Randall’s very ball dominant and he can make his own plays one-on-one.

“With that team they need to move the ball like that (game against Hawks).”

Sixers coach CJ Bruton and star centre Johnson shared similar sentiments to Gibson.

“We’re still progressing, but how we shared the ball, how we played defence today, it was good,” Bruton said.

“I think as a group we kind of moved the ball better and we’re passing a lot better than previous games,” Johnson said.

“Tonight’s a big step in the right direction, obviously Perth coming in is going to be massive as well and you know if we can get that, we kind of sit at the start of our season.

“It’s a good thing that everyone’s filling their roles ... we’ve got different guys that can step up on different nights.”

Adelaide takes on the Perth Wildcats at home on Saturday at 8pm AEDT.