The Season
The Blaze
started slowly, going 1-3 in the first five rounds but had some quality wins to
get them to 6-5 by round 12. After that
they powered through the rest of the season with an 11-6 stretch to grab hold
of the third seed. That meant they would
face off against the second seed Perth in the semi finals and were able to steal the second
game by two points even though they shot a woeful 36% from the field. Shooting 29 free throws will get most teams
out of trouble though. They fell in the third game to lost the series 2-1.
What went
right?
They had
some bonafide stars on this team and after the initial gelling period this team
was in the elite tier of teams. Mark
Worthington and Adris Deleon were handed second team All-NBL positions from
this blog while in the official awards Worthington was named to the First Team, Deleon on the Third Team with Adam Gibson wedged in-between on the Second
Team. They shared the honours with Perth
and New Zealand with having three players on the All-NBL teams. Will Hudson was also decent, picking up the
Dabster Award for round two.
What went
wrong?
Not much, it
was just unfortunate that Perth and New Zealand were in a league of their
own. The team had everything you could
want from a squad – an elite point guard (Gibson), a dazzling import (Deleon),
a savvy veteran (Worthington), good role playing big men (Hudson and Anthony
Petrie) and some guys who could give some spark (Chris Goulding and Stephen
Hoare). Unfortunately this team was kind
of inconsistent, shown by their poor shooting percentages. Only one player shot above 50% from the field
(Hudson) while their three best players were all below 42%. That just doesn’t cut it and shows the
glaring weakness of a jump shooting team.
They didn’t rebound particularly well either with Worthington and
Hudson being the only two Gold Coast players to average six rebounds or more.
Most
Valuable Player
This team
has some stars but none more than Mark Worthington. Sure he shot 41.9% from the field and has
been known to exaggerate contact to get bailed out by the refs but he is a top
notch player. His First Team All-NBL
team selection probably tells it all but he won two Dabster Awards this season
and averaged 15.6 ER points, more than eventual league MVP Kevin Lisch.
Targets
They have
already lost James Harvey and Tom Garlepp to Sydney and Jason Cadee to Adelaide
as this team has been put under voluntary administration which is never a good
sign. Unfortunately there is a chance
that this team won’t be around next season but we will get to that when it
happens. As of right now they have
Gibson, Petrie, Goulding and Worthington under contract and would be wise to
re-sign Deleon as soon as possible. He
was great for the team and with another pre-season under his belt I’m sure the
team will be better for it. For the
other import I won’t be surprised if Hudson comes back but if he is lured
somewhere else another big man would be imperative. If Deleon was not to come back getting a
definite shooting guard would be the way to go as Gibson would be given the
complete reigns to run the show at point guard.
Losing
Harvey and Garlepp isn’t a big deal as Harvey needed a change of scenery if he
is to get back to his dominant self while Garlepp hasn’t shown me anything to
say that he will be a quality rotation player.
Cadee is a little disappointing as I believe that he could be a
fantastic player in this league so hopefully he gets plenty of court time in
Adelaide. They are right on the edge so
if they can get some good role players to compliment the big three it will be a
big step in the right direction.
Next Season
If the team
comes back next season (and I have confidence that they will) this team will
again be in the hunt for the third spot but I don’t think they will be up with
Perth and New Zealand in the guaranteed championship contender level.
Grade
A-
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