Adelaide prepares for life after Davis

It had been no secret that the Adelaide 36ers had the desire to re-sign Kendric Davis this off-season, with General Manager Matt Weston discussing on NBL Now why the team is now looking to build in a different direction.

“I went and saw Kendric in China, spent some time with him there ... and there was massive money on the table ... we knew where he wanted to get to,” Weston said on NBL Now.

“I think if we could do three years, we could build into something. But the one year for us was probably not going to get us to where we wanted to.

“We’ve probably gone through a bit of a reset here to what we’ve done.”

Weston understands the business side of professional sports and that finding exceptional talent like Davis is an important process of building a contending team.

“At the start of last season, no one knew Kendric, right?” he said.

“He came in unknown; he worked his tail off and proved himself. That’s the business and we’re all in it as well.”

With Davis joining the Kings, Weston appreciates that it will take some getting used to for 36ers fans, at least initially.

“It will be a little unusual to see him there (in a Sydney jersey), but best of luck and best wishes to them all.”

With the 36ers having made a strong start to free agency with key local signings, Weston’s attention now turns to imports.

With his and Mike Wells’ connections to numerous NBA teams, it looks as if the next 36ers stars will have a similar pedigree as what they had this past season.

“There’s a good chance that probably both will (have NBA experience),” he said.

“We will look at three imports ... and I’d say two of them will have that experience.

“I’m looking at them to sort of get a feel of where they’re at. Are they a legitimate chance to get a two-way next year? If they’re not, then they’re in our price range.”

Once those players are identified, Weston now has the perfect blueprint to lay out to his potential signings.

“What we sell them on is ‘look what happened to Kendric,” he said.

“He came in here, he went to China and made a bucket load of money after us and he’s gone on, right?

“We can actually develop you and get you to that platform. This is what we can do here.”