SuperCoach NBL pre-season watch list: The players to put on your radar
Value players who can score above their price are the key to SuperCoach success. The gurus at the Basketball Blokes name the players to watch at every club.
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The NBL Blitz pre-season competition gives us our best opportunity to solidify our impressions of new players, evaluate position battles and give us an insight into regular season roles that a player may have.
In preparation for this year’s tournament, which runs from Saturday September 7 to Saturday September 14, the SuperCoach experts at the Basketball Blokes have gone through each team to look at the position battles we are watching that will impact our cash cow selections for SuperCoach NBL.
These are the names to put on your SuperCoach watch list this season.
Adelaide 36ers: Which Wing Wins?
With the four big names at the 36ers locked in as starters (Kendric Davis, Dejan Vasiljevic, Jarell Martin and Isaac Humphries) there is one big question for SuperCoach NBL coaches out there – who gets that last remaining starter gig? There are four options for the 36ers, and it could be any one of them.
Nick Marshall ($105,100 FWD) is coming off a stellar campaign with Mt Gambier, leading the NBL1 South in scoring at 23.5 points per game, while also grabbing 8.35 rebounds per game. He only averaged 8.6 SuperCoach points in NBL24, so if he gets that last starting position, he surely increases this average. When given an opportunity late last year, Nick did have four games of 21 SuperCoach points or more over Adelaide’s last six games.
Sunday Dech ($104,700 GRD) is another option for new coach Mike Wells. Dech averaged 8.5 SuperCoach points in NBL24 due to inconsistent minutes and a lack of role certainty. He was listed as the starter in Pete Hooley’s recent article and if that role becomes the fifth Adelaide 36ers starter, does that bring Sunday into your SuperCoach NBL calculations?
Lat Mayen ($133,100 FWD) has come across from Cairns, where he averaged 11.35 SuperCoach points over approximately 17 minutes per game. However, over the first 10 games of the season Lat averaged around 15 SuperCoach points in a stretch where he averaged almost 23 minutes per game.
Jason Cadee ($119,500 GRD) might be an outside chance for those starter minutes, although it’s more likely the veteran will see plenty of back-up guard minutes compared to last season when the rotation consisted of Vasiljevic, Kell, McCarron, Dech and Flowers in addition to Cadee.
Brisbane Bullets: Does Prather turn back the clock? Is it Zikarsky’s time to rock?
Brisbane is probably going to be the most watched team in the Blitz and pre-season games for SuperCoach NBL players, and for good reason! The Bullets possibly have two of the best cash cows in the league this year in Rocco Zikarsky ($95,700 CTR) and Casey Prather ($139,200 FWD/GRD).
We all saw a glimpse of greatness from Rocco for Brisbane last year, although he averaged only 7.1 minutes a game with Tyrell Harrison and Aron Baynes playing 20 and 14 minutes per game respectively. With Baynes no longer on this roster, Rocco becomes the main man behind Tyrell. Even if Tyrell plays an extra five minutes in Baynes’s absence, Rocco can expect to see increased minutes – and with his 1.1 SuperCoach points per minute average last year, production is sure to increase.
Prather could manage only seven games for the Bullets after coming in halfway through the NBL24 season for the injured DJ Mitchell. Prather spent significant time injured himself, prior to signing with the Bullets. He averaged only 11.4 SuperCoach points in 14 minutes per game, but did pop up for a 22 SuperCoach point game against Melbourne United when he played 23 minutes. This is the kind of SuperCoach return and opportunity we are hoping for on the regular for Casey, which should provide a nice little valuation appreciation for him.
The bad news with the Brisbane duo for SuperCoach is the terrible schedule to start the season. They have no double game rounds until round 9 but then come home with a wet sail!
Cairns Taipans: Guards, Galloway and Gak!
As always seems to be the case with the Cairns roster builds, there are plenty of possible cash cow options from up North should things go to plan!
With Taran Armstrong given the keys to the starting PG position (at $199k he is too highly priced for this article discussion) we are going to look at his back-up options in Jackson Makoi ($58,500 GRD) and the newly signed Kyle Adnam ($69,000 GRD).
Makoi is the interesting one for us, with Cairns coach Adam Forde suggesting that he is the back-up for Taran, and will be seeing minutes from game one. With a $58,500 starting price, that is what we like to hear in SuperCoach NBL! This usually means we are going to see solid SuperCoach scores from Jackson, and with his price being at an average of five SuperCoach points, it won’t take much to get his price appreciating.
Adnam is an interesting one. We think he is signed as a mature head to play and train with both Taran and Makoi, but might see court time as well once he is over his recent knee injury. Will his minutes be at the expense of Taran and Makoi minutes? That is the risk here.
The other cash cow possibilities up North come from the battle of the back-up bigs in Kyrin Galloway ($147,500 FWD) and AK Gak ($136,200 FWD/CTR). Galloway comes across from Adelaide looking for more opportunity, and with what we saw in limited minutes last season, he could be an option for SuperCoach NBL. However, as we saw with AK Gak last year, those minutes aren’t always guaranteed with Coach Forde.
Illawarra Hawks: Do we get Olbrich quick?
This time last year, everyone who played SuperCoach NBL had their eyes focused on Lachy Olbrich ($121,400 CTR/FWD) following his huge NBL1 Central season prior to NBL24. Unfortunately, given the SuperCoach NBL beast that was Gary Clark entering the Hawks roster, Lachy didn’t perform to the expectation we had for him in SuperCoach. This year, after an MVP season in the NZNBL, we are again getting hyped for Lachy to come in and be a serious cash cow. He put up 20 points and a tad under 12 rebounds per game in the NZNBL; and while we can’t expect that sort of production, if Olbrich is destined to be the Hawks’ back-up big behind Sam Froling should the Hawks not sign an import four quickly, we may see Lachy starting. This scenario is where he could become that cash cow we crave.
Will Hickey ($106,000 GRD) was a revelation in the finals for the Hawks last season. He was given the back-up ball handling responsibility and collected 25.6 SuperCoach points per finals game. We think he may move back to the third guard on the roster with the acquisition of Trey Kell; and this has us questioning whether or not Hickey will be a legitimate top-three cash cow. Hickey seemed to be at his best production wise last season when former Hawk import Justin Robinson was down on minutes and form, and the Hawks will be hoping for a better performance from Kell.
Melbourne United: Battle of the bigs!
With Jo Lual-Acuil and Luke Travers no longer on the Melbourne United roster, we will be seeing a new big rotation starting for them in Marcus Lee ($203,600 CTR) and Jack White ($232,000 FWD). While these two are possibly looking at appreciating in value early in the season, they are not at the $150k or under price range, so we won’t go into detail too much here. One candidate under that price range is Kyle Bowen ($127,000 FWD), who had six games of 19 SuperCoach points or more in NBL24.
Bowen had an average of 10.4 SuperCoach points in 14 minutes per game, but perhaps if we see him getting up to around the 20 minutes per game, we will see his production increase in line with those minutes.
Flynn Cameron ($106,000 GRD) is the other cash cow candidate at United. He averaged 8.75 SuperCoach points in only 10 minutes per game in NBL24. However, with a couple of the United guards ageing another year, will we see Flynn’s minutes increase in NBL25? If so, he could become a prime cash cow on that United roster.
New Zealand Breakers: NZ takes a break
With the Breakers’ schedule meaning they will not play their third game until round 5, we have a little more time than the Blitz to peruse the New Zealand roster for cash cows. Our eyes are firmly on Next Star Karim Lopez ($115,000 FWD) to see if he comes in and starts producing SuperCoach scores higher than his Next Star $115k starting price.
Perth Wildcats: Is the best Next Estrella, a big Spanish fella?
Speaking of Next Stars, there is one out west that not only the Red Army are getting excited for; and that is Izan Almansa ($115,000 FWD/CTR), the Spanish fella! There are question marks over his role despite the early hype that he could be the starter on this Wildcats roster. We will be watching the Blitz closely and if he produces some good play in the Blitz, we are bound to see some minutes in the regular season from Almansa; and we think he could be a cash cow for your SuperCoach NBL side in NBL25.
The other name that is heating up following Perth’s first couple of pre-season games is Elijah Pepper ($69,000 GRD). Those that started with Ben Henshall last season will know that young back-up guards aren’t always given playing time in Perth, so take it with a grain of salt, but with no Corey Webster there to play back-up minutes, could Pepper be a cracking cash cow?
South East Melbourne Phoenix: Angus Lover?
After a NBL24 season where Angus Glover ($110,500 GRD) saw a 30 per cent decline in his SuperCoach average, we are expecting a reversal of form coming into a new team for NBL25. We are hoping Glover will play 20 minutes per game as the Phoenix’s sixth man, which could see him producing SuperCoach scores far above his price of $110k based on his average of 9.4 in NBL24. The red flag here is that the Phoenix have a bit of a roster glut at the back-up guard and wing positions with Glover, Ben Ayre, Matt Kenyon and Owen Foxwell all capable.
Sydney Kings: The King has returned
Goorj is back in the NBL with a stacked Kings roster, so it might be hard for a cash cow to see enough minutes to warrant a SuperCoach NBL selection. If there are any, it would be the college returnees in Tyler Robertson ($69,000 GRD/FWD) and Keli Leaupepe ($69,000 FWD) that we would be keeping an eye on due to their mouth-watering $69k price. Both played for Kevin Goorjian in Box Hill before heading to college, and Brian was recently quoted stating “on one hand I have to win for the organisation, but two, there’s got to be a heavy level of skill development”m so perhaps we may see some on-court development in the regular season.
Tasmania JackJumpers: Who plays a stack without Jack?
That question is what it all comes down to in assessing cash cows from Tasmania. With Jack McVeigh absent from the starting line-up, who gets his almost 29 minutes per game he averaged in NBL24? Majok Majok Deng ($142,100 FWD)? The replacement signing Reuben Te Rangi ($116,700 FWD/GRD)? Fabian Krslovic ($90,500 FWD)? Even Clint Steindl ($101,400 FWD/GRD) should see extra minutes as a result of the McVeigh-sized hole in the JackJumpers.
Deng has shown the propensity to prosper when given the opportunity in Cairns, having averaged over 20 SuperCoach points per game before moving to Tasmania. The NBL Blitz will give us a glimpse of who will benefit from McVeigh’s absence, and this is why Tassie needs to be on your pre-blitz watchlist.
Get more expert advice to help pick your team from the Basketball Blokes at nbl.com.au and basketballblokes.com.
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