Wells embraces the weight of winning

The buzz surrounding the Adelaide 36ers has reached fever pitch this off-season, and it’s easy to see why.

With Bryce Cotton, Montrezl Harrell, Zylan Cheatham, DJ Vasiljevic and Isaac Humphries forming a powerhouse core, it’s a roster the envy of most.

That brings with it a weight of expectation, something Mike Wells is more than willing to embrace.

When asked if the 36ers have the pieces to finally end their 23-year Championship drought, the second-year coach didn’t hesitate to back his group.

“I think that we have to put it on the board,” Wells said on Monday.

“I can't imagine a team starting the pre-season without the goal of becoming a champion or being the best version of themselves.

“I mean that seems like it would be the goal, if that's not the goal, that would be kind of weird, but I think that has to be the standard and the goal, and we're going to try to do everything we can to get there.”

When a player like Cotton headlines your squad, sky-high hopes naturally follow. But this group wasn’t assembled by chance; it’s the product of months of planning and a clearly defined vision.

“Since our last game that we played, we systematically, (GM Basketball Operations) Matt Weston, myself, (Chairman) Grant (Kelley), and (CEO) Nic Barbato set out with a plan to really try to change the entire team and the culture and everything that the Sixers had going,” Wells explained.

“I think we've been, right now, pretty successful and with what that looks like and where we're at at this point, and now it's time to get on the court and play basketball and really see how it looks.

“One of the fundamentals of that, well I think number one, was just trying to change the group of players and you know, we had some really good pieces that we brought back and DJ (Vasiljevic) and Ice (Humphries) and obviously Trez (Harrell) is back and then, you know, there was a bunch of guys that we wanted to try to go after.

“Things change a little bit when Bryce (Cotton) says yes, and that speeds up the process of where we want to go and how we want to change things, but all the other guys that we brought in, starting with Flynn Cameron and bringing back some local guys in Isaac White and Michael Harris, and Matt Kenyon joining us, and then adding in Zylan (Cheatham) it was all part of the plan.”

The 36ers have revamped their coaching ranks too, bringing in Kerry Williams from Cairns and Luke Cann from Brisbane to inject fresh perspective and NBL experience.

Wells said the lessons from his first season at the helm were significant. Despite a rocky start, Adelaide made the Finals last year, and now the bar is set even higher.

“It’s probably 100% different,” Wells said, as the players returned for their first session as a group, minus their star imports who will arrive in a fortnight.

“Last year it was kind of a whirlwind to hit the ground. It was the first time I'd been to Adelaide and you're trying to figure out the team and how things are going and then, obviously, becoming the head coach had its challenges.”

“I mean, I know where I'm going, I kind of know the city of Adelaide, I kind of know how things work.”

Adelaide will launch its pre-season with a showdown against the reigning champions, the Illawarra Hawks, on August 27 at the Blitz in Canberra.