Where's Your Team At? Part 2

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It’s been six rounds of NBL23 action and it’s safe to say that no one can predict how this crazy season is likely to end. There will likely be a lot of teams thankful for the new play-in finals system, due to their slow starts. However, across the first six rounds we have seen some teams surprise, some disappoint and some doing exactly as we all expected.

Check out Part 2 of our two-part series below and find out where your team's at.

PART ONE: Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Illawarra, Melbourne

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

I for one am not surprised by this start from the Breakers, considering all the signs that were evident from the pre-season. Coach Mody Maor has done an outstanding job of setting a blueprint for what he wants and then getting buy-in from every single piece to their puzzle. You’d be hard pressed to find an import trio who have been more perfectly recruited than the Breakers so far. They've found a group of players who are exactly what the team needed.

Maor wanted to set the tone on the defensive end in NBL23 and his team has delivered, allowing just 75.7 points per game. That’s on pace to be one of the best we have seen for a very long time. Since the 2016 season, only four times has a team held teams below 80ppg in a season. Three of those were Perth teams at 79.8ppg and the other was United last season at a similar number. Derek Pardon has set the tone down low as their defensive leader and everyone else is playing their role to perfection. The currently sit tied first with the Kings in terms of rebounds per game, which is not surprising when you look at the overall ladder standings.

Basketball in New Zealand is back, and if you’re a Breakers fan, you need to get on board with this team quick because they’re going places.

Mody Maor and the New Zealand Breakers.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Three straight wins to begin the season had the Red Army thinking everything was back to normal for their beloved Wildcats. Until it wasn’t. Five straight losses that followed had alarm bells ringing for Perth and left a lot of people scratching their head about what is going on. 

Bryce Cotton continues to be at his best and putting up big numbers every single night. However, the Wildcats just have not found enough consistent contributors to help their superstar, and hence sit seventh on the ladder at this point. If there is one way you want to head into the FIBA break, it was with a game like they played against Adelaide to end round six. Can they build on it?

Statistically, it’s no surprise that Perth sits bottom of the rebounding differential to this point. They are yet to win a single rebounding count in a game and subsequently have a -7.6 average difference per game. One positive that they may look to build off is that they’re comfortable the best team in terms of not turning over the ball, with just 10.3 per game after six rounds.

Bryce Cotton. 

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Simon Mitchell said it best after the Throwdown to describe the team’s defensive performance ... “trash”. He looked understandably frustrated, because for their four game winning streak prior to that, the Phoenix looked legitimate title contenders. Granted, they had two big outs for that Throwdown, which was always going to be tough to cover, but their lack of energy on the defensive end was alarming. 

The Phoenix have struggled to shoot from deep to begin the season, sitting bottom of the league at just 30.7 per cent. A lot of that could be put down to the roster having to deal with many changes in terms of injuries and sickness, so players could be struggling to build consistency and rhythm. What Mitchell wants is that no matter how things are going offensively, that the team locks in on the defensive end. 88.6 points allowed per game has them third worst in NBL23. 

At full strength the Phoenix look like a force to be reckoned with this season. Perhaps their biggest challenge is finding a way to still play at their best when adversity hits. If they can do that, they have more than enough talent to compete for a title. 

Simon Mitchell described the Throwdown performance as "Trash". 

Rating: 5 out of 5

Yes, they may have lost two games to this point, but if anything, I think that only makes them stronger as a team going forward. The two games they lost were to Adelaide and Cairns, who both play incredibly fast and shoot a lot of threes. Being able to learn from those two losses early is going to help Chase Buford down the stretch when they face those teams again.

The Kings average 93.2 points per game and do it with a variety of contributors. Xavier Cooks has been a beast on both ends to begin the season and is likely the MVP to this point. What’s been most impressive to me is how deep this roster is. Look no further than the last four minutes of their recent win over Cairns. Shaun Bruce, Jaylin Galloway and Kout Noi all played in those clutch moments and capped off a big time win. Buford has all the trust in every player on his team and they once again look like a team that is going to be mighty hard to beat across a final series.

With Xavier Cooks set to miss two to four weeks, there is no greater test of Chase Buford’s team depth. You simply cannot replace what Cooks brings on both ends of the floor with one player. Can the rest of the squad pick up the pieces?

Derrick Walton Jr. 

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

It’s crazy to think how at half time of the Brisbane game in round two, the Jackjumpers were down double-digits and staring down the barrel of a 0-4 start. They came back to win that game in overtime and it seemingly turned their entire season around. Since that game, JackJumpers opponents have scored over 80 just one time, and that was when the Breakers put up 94. Other than that, their defence has stifled opponents and the wins have flowed.

They’re nearly back to their very best defensively, slowly grinding teams down and never giving up in any game. After being down double figures once again to Brisbane in round six, the JackJumpers clawed their way back to lose a tough one on their home floor. That last quarter defensive effort in Perth against Bryce Cotton, is the definition of Tasmania basketball. They held the superstar to just one field goal attempt in the final 10 minutes. 

Offensively they could still find a spark outside of Milton Doyle and Jack McVeigh, but the most impressive thing is that they still find themselves with a chance to win, regardless. 

Jack McVeigh.