R1 Preview: Adelaide 36ers vs Melbourne United

Friday, January 15, 2021

Jock Landale leads a locked and loaded Melbourne United head to the City of Churches for a Round 1 clash with Donald Sloan's new-look 36ers.

When: 7.30pm (AEDT), Friday 15 January

Where: Adelaide Entertainment Centre

Broadcast: ESPN; SBS On Demand

The Last Time
Adelaide 100 (Randle 23, Griffin 21, Johnson 19) d Melbourne 86 (Goulding 26, Long 16, McCarron 10), Round 15, Adelaide Entertainment Centre

Things looked promising for the 36ers’ finals hopes after this comprehensive Round 15 win over a struggling United brought them to 11-11 with six games to play. It was trademark Adelaide basketball too, raking in 76 percent of their defensive boards, scoring 23 points from turnovers and getting to the free-throw 35 times behind the aggression of Jerome Randle and Eric Griffin and the guile of Daniel Johnson.

The Now
Unfortunately for Sixers’ fans, that game was their team’s last real yelp of 2020 and ultimately the Joey Wright era. Now, after seven seasons of run-and-gun basketball, they wait to see what the new trademarks will be under veteran play-caller Connor Henry.

While Adelaide certainly have some exciting young talent in Josh Giddey, Keanu Pinder, Sunday Dech, Isaac Humphries and Jack McVeigh, it’s the veteran import pairing of Donald Sloan and Tony Crocker that is likely to decide whether this new-look team can get the job done often enough at crunch time to be a playoff contender.

While the 36ers only have two or three returnees who are likely to play significant on-court roles, Melbourne has learned from last season’s mistakes – where import recruits Melo Trimble and Shawn Long took most of the season to fit Dean Vickerman and the team’s defensive ethos – by retaining key pieces and making predictable and talented additions.

Chris Goulding, Mitch McCarron, Shea Ili and Dave Barlow form the nucleus, with Duke graduate Jack White sure to fit the United mold and Jo Lual Acuil expected to make further significant strides. Add to that the proven brilliance of small forward Scotty Hopson and the world-class all-around game of Boomers big man Jock Landale and this team is well stocked.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jock Landale finds space on the inside and THROWS DOWN the 'Dunk of the Night' ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GameON?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GameON</a> <a href="https://t.co/3wNZH3g2GO">pic.twitter.com/3wNZH3g2GO</a></p>— Turkish Airlines EuroLeague (@EuroLeague) <a href="https://twitter.com/EuroLeague/status/1235872257970450433?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 6, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Key Men
Scotty Hopson – Wherever he plays Hopson is a key man, and last season he almost carried the Breakers to the playoffs, averaging 19.2ppg as NZ went 9-1 when he scored 20 points or more. With a bunch of quality team-first players around he and Goulding, this dynamic pair’s aggression will unlock opportunities for their teammates and make United click.

Of course, it’s how they perform at the defensive end that could decide if Melbourne are true championship contenders, as the late-season conversion of Trimble and Long in 2020 showed. Goulding has improved that area of his game to be serviceable for coach Vickerman, if Hopson can provide more starch than he did in NZ last season, he could land himself a championship ring and an MVP trophy.

Donald Sloan – It’s been an important question for any incoming Adelaide point guard for an eternity, how can you defend the ball screen? From Luke Schenscher to Daniel Johnson to Eric Griffin, opposition sides have long targeted 36ers big men lacking in lateral quickness, and this year will be the same with both Johnson and Humphries.

While there is little doubt Sloan will provide crunch-time scoring and playmaking for his new club – he showed Randle-like offensive aggression in last week’s practice game in Cairns and his career scoring highs are 31 in the NBA, 35 in the G-League and 46 in the CBA – just as important is his ability to organise and lead the team defence to avoid the rotations that have forced the 36ers into switching defences for the best part of a decade.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">?? Donald Sloan <a href="https://twitter.com/dsloan15?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@dsloan15</a> <br> ?? <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NBA</a> experience<br> ?? plenty.mp4<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeAreSixers?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeAreSixers</a> <a href="https://t.co/m7vGxYp1s0">pic.twitter.com/m7vGxYp1s0</a></p>— Adelaide 36ers (@Adelaide36ers) <a href="https://twitter.com/Adelaide36ers/status/1296258147636531200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 20, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Stats
- Last season, Adelaide ranked 9th in points conceded, personal fouls and opposition assists, 8th in defensive rebounding percentage and opposition three-point makes, and 7th in opposition free-throw attempts and defensive field-goal percentage

- In wins last season the 36ers scored 103ppg, but were 3-15 when they failed to reach triple figures

- In Melbourne’s final eight games they conceded just 81ppg at 43 percent from the field to finish the regular season 4-1 and take the first-placed Kings to the wire in the semi-finals

- In their opening 23 games they conceded 94.2ppg at 47 percent and had an 11-12 record

The Quotes
While there are learnings for both clubs from last season, both will look at NBL21 as a new beginning. Bringing in Landale and Hopson is arguably as good a recruiting double as the NBL has seen.

Their addition to international veterans Barlow, Goulding, McCarron and Shea Ili certainly has big Jock excited, especially after he unloaded 21 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists on Cairns last week.

"It's a monster of a line-up and I have monstrous expectations for this team," Landale told ESPN.

"Having seen how good we can be when we're on I think we have the potential to go undefeated. It will be so hard for teams to beat us."

His coach is just as excited at having the 211cm sharp-shooting pivot in Melbourne blue, given his already strong connections with his ‘new’ teammates.

“Jock’s been training with us for a long time. There’s been a connection with him for a little while with him dropping into our practices before national team commitments,” coach Vickerman told SEN.

“He’s so multi-skilled as a player. He’s the modern-day five that can really step out and shoot the threes, he has great post presence, he’s a great passer, he has unbelievable connections with his teammates that is so important for our group."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL21?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL21</a> Spotlight: <a href="https://twitter.com/MelbUnitedHQ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MelbUnitedHQ</a> <br><br>"As players, we hear things. We know what people are saying on other teams and there are specific names that I want to go out and show - hey enough of that!" <a href="https://twitter.com/JockLandale?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JockLandale</a> tells <a href="https://twitter.com/Adrian_Arciuli?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Adrian_Arciuli</a> <a href="https://t.co/iZEuVsoZ8N">pic.twitter.com/iZEuVsoZ8N</a></p>— SBS Sport (@SBSSport) <a href="https://twitter.com/SBSSport/status/1348129984972353537?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 10, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Those connections will be tested by an Adelaide team looking to exorcise their past defensive demons, with coach Connor Henry turning to former NBL hard man Jamie Pearlman to lead the way as his defensive assistant.

"My relationship with Aaron Fearne and Jamie over the years has been a good one, so I knew that Jamie was the right selection for me coming here to Adelaide as my right hand man,” Henry said.

"He has just been exceptional and he comes from a defensive mindset like I do from early on in our coaching careers, so we feel that defensively we have that emphasis in our team already.

"We play with a pace and physicality now on the defensive end, and we've asked the guys to embrace that part of it. "

Most importantly, there will be a new look to how the 36ers execute at the defensive end.

"We're not a team that switches much and we try to be very good with our pick-and-roll coverages,” Henry revealed.

"We feel good with where we're at defensively because of what we've focused on as coaches, and the guys have met the challenge of playing hard at that end.

"I don’t know if as a collective unit they have played that hard together over the years in this system, so we're pleased with where we're at defensively and now we just have to go out and play, and see where we are at."