Gleeson: High expectations but work to be done

New Adelaide 36ers Head Coach Trevor Gleeson is embracing the expectation that comes with taking over a side that made last year’s Grand Final series.

While the roster has seen just one change with Bul Kuol arriving from Sydney, Gleeson’s signing has been seen as a marker of the club’s desire to end its 24-year championship drought.

A five-time NBL Championship winner already, Gleeson arrives knowing what it takes to get to the top, and after taking charge of his first week of pre-season, says he doesn’t feel any pressure of expectation.

“Noone's got any more higher expectations than I do,” he smiled before training on Thursday.

“Adelaide had a great year last year. It was a phenomenal year, a great run, just falling short, but last year's done, it's finished. It's over.

“We got a new challenge of getting to the top of the mountain. We're not there yet. We're starting to do our work now and we'll see how the journey goes.”

While six-time NBL MVP Bryce Cotton and imports Zylan Cheatham, John Jenkins and Nick Rakocevic are yet to join the group for pre-season training, Gleeson has been putting the side through its paces at high intensity in the first week of training.

And he’s seen some things he’s loved from the group as it builds towards games against Illawarra and Cairns at the Code Sports NBL Blitz in Bendigo next month.

“It’s like building a house,” Gleeson explained. “You've got to have the foundation strong.

“And so this preseason is pretty important for us to get our foundations strong and build it up.

“You want to build from what's already there, the chemistry.

“Obviously, they were a very, very tight group but we didn't get to the top of the mountain so that's our aim to get to the top of the mountain.”

Having been working in the United States and Japan for the last five years, Gleeson has been impressed by the growth of the NBL, including the strength of the rosters being built by the clubs across the competition.

“The personnel, the talent level in the NBL is just rising every year,” he smiled.

“It's like Melbourne have got three guys that all played in the NBA last year. coming directly from the NBA to the NBL.

“That's a big achievement for Australian basketball.”

And while the competition has certainly strengthened, Gleeson appears comfortable with the players at his disposal, promising to be more “old school” in his mentality about game time – rewarding those who are performing well in any given game.

“I'm not worried about other teams,” he smiled. “I’m just all worried about us.

“We’ve got a great roster. Now we've got to turn that into a championship roster.

“But, there's been rosters that have been great before on paper. It's what you do on the court and how you get the chemistry, how you gel together on the floor, and how you handle adversity. That's the key now for preseason.”

The Sixers will tip off the Hungry Jack’s NBL season away against Melbourne United on September 19.