Santamaria's Fear For Struggling 36ers

Adelaide needs to lift. 

It’s not exactly time to panic, but if you’d have said a month ago after a famous win against the Phoenix Suns that the 36ers would be languishing in eighth place on the NBL ladder, not many people would have believed it.

Put simply, according to NBL commentator Liam Santamaria, “the highs are really high … but the lows are pretty ugly right now”. 

CJ Bruton’s team has gone from a 25-point loss to a JackJumpers team that boasted a 1-3 record at the time, to beating a red-hot Sydney away from home, to being smashed by New Zealand on their own home court.

Their talent is undeniable. In fact, Craig Randall is the league’s leading scorer. Robert Franks and Antonius Cleveland are clearly two of the league’s best imports, Mitch McCarron a key figure for the Australian Boomers and Daniel Johnson a star of the league for the past decade.

So where are things falling down? 

“Coming into the season, I looked at this Adelaide squad and I feared for the 2014/15 (Melbourne) United, who were touted at the time as one of the greatest rosters in the modern era,” Santamaria explained on NBL Today. 

“They had a guy called Jordan McRae on that squad who was the second-leading scorer, but the team didn’t get along and they didn’t make finals and it just didn’t become what it needed to become.

“My feel is that as a worst-case scenario this Adelaide group would become like that and so far they are.

“The highs are really high … they beat Sydney in Sydney; they beat the Phoenix Suns … but the lows are pretty ugly right now.

“That whole group need to come together and get this thing right.”

Bruton said the 36ers took big strides on Sunday, despite a close-fought loss to the South East Melbourne Phoenix.

“Better … it was a quick turnaround and I thought our guys responded from getting a butt kicking at home and playing this one out all the way to the end,” he said.

“We had every chance to win that game, it was a great response from us.

“It’s early in the season and I’d like to think that where our guys are at right now and what we have had to go through, that was a good response from what just happened to us.”

Adelaide will have another chance to respond this weekend, with must-win games against Illawarra, away, and Perth back at home on Saturday night.