Pressure on Mike Kelly to rally his Cairns Taipans team

Cairns Post NBL columnist Brady Walmsley says there is pressure on first-year mentor Mike Kelly to rally his Cairns Taipans team in the NBL.

• Wildcats prolong Taipans’ suffering
• Perth extend Cairns’ losing skid in crazy overtime game
• Snakes on back foot before season began
• It’s time to make a stand

Coach Mike Kelly has been a beacon of care and support for his players, but I’d expect his public leadership will ­become more demanding given the situation they now find themselves in.

The Snakes competitiveness has obviously improved in the last two games but the patches of isolation play, and poor shot selection, still exist, proving to be fairly damaging down the stretch against Perth.

That’s largely a by-product of asking your primary decision makers to also be your home-run hitters and probably increases the value of a ball-moving point like Jarrod Kenny.

The eye test may suggest that the Taipans are an ­improved offensive team relative to the rest of the league but the traditional statistics ­suggest otherwise: last in points per game (85.4), equal last in field goal percentage (43) and last in ­assists per game (17.4).

When you don’t score, shoot poorly and aren’t assisting on plays, it paints a dire picture for your team offence.

During the last few weeks, the primary concern has been the Taipans’ defence.

CAIRNS, AUSTRALIA — NOVEMBER 17: Taipans coach Mike Kelly signals during the round six NBL match between the Cairns Taipans and the Perth Wildcats at Cairns Convention Centre on November 17, 2018 in Cairns, Australia. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

However, the Snakes need to balance that with a continued focus on being great at what they are naturally good at: pace offence.

If they can show an ­improved offensive efficiency, then they only need to count on being league average defensively to win games.

This round the Taipans face a couple of young guns who are very well known to the Queensland from time in the state league: Harry Froling and Jack McVeigh.

Froling in particular has carried his QBL form into the NBL season for ­Adelaide.

Brady Walmsley is the former Basketball Queensland state performance manager for North Queensland and current coach of Gladstone in the QBL

Originally published as Pressure on Mike Kelly to rally his Cairns Taipans team