Hoops Heaven’s Basketball Hustle is a weekly podcast with NBL writer Chris Pike and former Sydney Kings and Illawarra Hawks forward Cody Ellis brought to you by Hoops Heaven and TABtouch
Episodes
Thursday Oct 17, 2024
Thursday Oct 17, 2024
Mike Kelly leaving the South East Melbourne Phoenix, could Chase Buford be the quick fix, Tyrell Harrison dominates for Brisbane Bullets, Wani Swaka Lo Buluk does the same for Illawarra Hawks, inbounding the ball woes and Jason Cadee's 400th NBL game.
We open up this week's episode by looking at the major difference in the Cairns Taipans without their young gun of a point guard Taran Armstrong, and how if he hopes to realise his NBA dream he needs to stay on the court more.
The big news of the week was the South East Melbourne Phoenix sacking coach Mike Kelly after going 0-5 to start NBL25. We look at why it was unfortunately the right move, Nathan Sobey's first game up against the Brisbane Bullets and why Chase Buford might be the ideal quick fix.
As for the Bullets who scored their first win of the NBL season, Tyrell Harrison was outstanding, James Batemon stepped up and the leaders, Mitch Norton, Casey Prather and Josh Bannan all stepped up.
The Perth Wildcats snapped their losing slide with Kristian Doolittle every bit as crucial in that as Bryce Cotton while Jesse Wagstaff continues to prove his worth as he closes in on Ricky Grace's games played record.
The Adelaide 36ers might have had a tough double and it showed backing up in Melbourne but they need to be able to back up better while it's good news that Montrezl Harrell appears to be staying.
Wani Swaka Lo Buluk's defensive job for the Illawarra Hawks on Tasmania JackJumpers star Milton Doyle was remarkable while the Hawks continue to show they are the best team in the NBL right now.
The JackJumpers don't have the same depth of talent they did to win the championship last year and someone like Craig Sword might be running out of time to show that he deserves to stay for the rest of NBL25.
Nothing frustrates Cody Ellis more than teams struggling to inbound the ball at the end of games so he gives his thoughts on why it's happening so much, and what needs to happen for teams to fix it up.
We then get Damian Martin's votes in our Best Defensive Player award and Simon Mitchell's Sports Card World Player of the Year votes before previewing Round 5 and look at the 400th NBL game of Cody Ellis' former teammate Jason Cadee.
All made possible thanks to the support of Hoops Heaven (www.hoopsheaven.com.au) and TABtouch (www.tabtouch.com.au).