The Adelaide 36ers could be even better

Posted: Thur Oct 1, 1998 at 11:21 AM ET

Adelaide 36ers coach Phil Smyth declared yesterday his 1998-99 team could be better than the one which won last season's National Basketball League championship. Speaking at yesterday's official launch of the NBL's inaugural summer season at Sydney's Bondi Icebergs Club, Smyth said the recruitment of former North Melbourne Giants' big man David Stiff and the expected improvement of championship players Paul Rees and Rupert Sapwell could create a better, more balanced unit. "By getting Stiff we've certainly bolstered our big-man department but people don't realise he is not just a good inside player but good from the outside as well," Smyth said. "He'll improve us no end while Rees and Sapwell have had super off-seasons and we expect them to be even better for us. Mark Davis has come back fitter than ever." The 36ers' major off-season loss was guard John Rillie, who joined new NBL club West Sydney. Star 202-centimetre forward Kevin Brooks arrives back from the United States today and will be eased into the new season with the 36ers beginning their campaign against the Perth Wildcats in Perth on Saturday week.

Smyth conceded the 36ers would be the hunted this season and expected their toughest competition to come from the newly-formed Victoria Titans (an amalgamation of the North Melbourne Giants and South East Melbourne Magic), the Andrew Gaze-led Melbourne Tigers and Perth. He tipped the Wollongong Hawks to be the surprise packets. "The Titans have a host of outstanding players and are definitely the team to beat," Smyth said. Among the initiatives outlined at the launch, to mark the switch from the normal winter competition, was the first NBL game to be played outdoors (at Melbourne Park between the Titans and Brisbane Bullets on February 20) and games played on Boxing Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. NBL chairman Ric Charlton pronounced the move to the summer season as the start of an exciting new era for Australian basketball.

*This article taken directly from the Advertiser