Post Season Review - Cairns

The Season

Cairns were unlucky to be on the outside of the playoffs looking in, as they were tied with Townsville with a 15-13 record.  They started out slowly, going 2-4 through six rounds but picked it up with two three winning streaks.  The team was very consistent, not going on massive streaks of either kind but kept plugging away.  Unfortunately they lost three straight from round 22 to 24 and in retrospect, if they won at least one of those games they would have been in the playoffs.

What went right?

The Taipans unearthed a great import guard in Jamar Wilson who came runners up for the Most Valuable Player award as well as being selected for the All NBL Second Team as well as being selected as a second teamer in this blog.  Ian Crosswhite was good after he came back from injury while Brad Hill showed glimpses of magic that had this blogger salivating.  Too bad nothing came of it.  Their defence was great as they played gritty basketball, not always scoring much but more often than not coming out with the win.

What went wrong?

Injuries hit pretty hard with only four players suiting up for all 28 games while key members like Dusty Rychart, Crosswhite and Alex Loughton missed more than a handful of games.  Andrew Warren was OK, but not the game changer that imports are usually compared and as said before Brad Hill was a disappointment after his hot start.

Most Valuable Player

Without a doubt Jamar Wilson was the best player on this side and his accolades highlight his performance.  Many a time he was called upon to put the team on his shoulders and will the squad to a victory and he never stood aside.  The team has signed him for the next two seasons so it would be great if he becomes a fixture of the Cairns Taipans for years to come.

Targets

The Taipans have already made some quality moves, like re-signing Jamar Wilson and Aaron Grabau, stealing Cameron Tragardh away from the Tigers and bringing over two quality college graduates in Clint Steindl and Cameron Gliddon.  Unfortunately they lost Ian Crosswhite to Sydney but all in all so far they have done well.  With Tragardh slotting into the centre position like he was in Melbourne has freed them up to play Alex Loughton beside him, with Wilson and Brad Hill/Clint Steindl/Cameron Gliddon locking in the point guard and small forward positions respectively.  That means that the Taipans should focus on snaring a quality shooting guard import that would be a great defender and can be on the end of Wilson’s penetrations for a corner three.  Maybe they can steal Luke Nevill off the Wildcats seeing as Perth has let him go and have Tragardh coming off the bench as a super-sub.  I’m not very high on Nevill but he is a huge guy and that always works to an advantage.  Plan A of getting a quality import shooting guard is the way to go first and foremost.

Next Season

With this squad I can definitely seem them top four and anything less would be a disappointment for the team and the fans.  There are a few questions – if they get a SG import they have a bit of a big man shortage and if they get an import big man then Jamar Wilson is going to have to take care of a lot of the ball handling duties.  Hopefully the two college guys can pick up a bit of slack.  All in all, this is one dangerous team.  Coupling the previous year’s defence intensity with the recent signings of quality offensive players I won’t be surprised to see this team battling it out for a championship.

Grade

B