Kelley: “We didn’t just open the chequebook”

Adelaide 36ers Executive Chairman Grant Kelley has outlined the club’s deliberate recruiting strategy, aimed at bringing championship success to the city for the first time since 2002.

While much of the focus has been on the off-season recruitment of five-time NBL MVP Bryce Cotton, the club has brought in five other players, each with experience in the competition.

Speaking on the Straight Shooter podcast, co-hosted by Sixers star DJ Vasiljevic, Kelley said the club’s recruitment had a strategic focus on individuals who were both of high character and highly talented.

“The key to this year's recruitment was that we wanted literally the best starting five in the league,” Mr Kelley said.

“I should add that the bench that's been recruited, who are going to be pushing for starting spots - you look at Isaac White, Keanu Rasmussen, Matt Kenyon, of course, Flynn Cameron, who we haven't mentioned, but we're expecting to start, (and) is an exceptional young man and an incredible prospect.

 “I think the 11-person roster is just really, really stacked with talent, but it's also stacked with character.

“In the off-season we didn't just open the chequebook. We also did the proper evaluation to get the right people into the program.”

The 36ers made their first finals series in seven seasons last year, winning a final before bowing out to South East Melbourne.

Kelley – who has also owned the club since November 2016 – was optimistic the side would go further this season, but warned there was a lot of work to be done first.

“I mean, we're probably suffering, if you will, from raised expectations through a great off-season of recruitment,” he said. “But we have to remember we haven't played a competitive game yet.

“I think it's important to stay grounded, to treat every quarter as an objective, that we need to win that quarter, to win the games and then to see how the season progresses.

“But we can't get ahead of ourselves, no matter how good the off-season recruitment's been.”

With record membership numbers of over 8100 and strong ticket sales, the Sixers are on track to add to the 21 consecutive home sell-outs they’ve experienced going back to NBL24.

And Mr Kelley says the side is focussed on repaying supporters for their loyalty.

“I think what 36ers fans have historically been known as the most knowledgeable fans in the league, but I'd also say they're the most loyal,” he said.

“People forget that during much of the last nine or 10 years we didn't have winning seasons, and yet we were close to sellouts even in those seasons.

 “I'm extraordinarily grateful and quite humbled by the faith which the South Australian sporting public has put in our organisation.

“Now that being said, of course… Sixers fans have been starved of success for too long.

 “We had some success last year, perhaps could have gone further with a little bit of luck, but this year, we hope to give back to them for the faith they've put in us with a really successful year.”

Mr Kelley said he knew playing and winning finals meant a lot to South Australian basketball supporters.

“There's no question that as a state we sometimes are considered a poor relation to the eastern states in terms of our economy, we've had our issues over many years,” he explained.

“Now all of that has been changing in the last four or five years.

“And I can think of no better way to put a cap on that sort of turnaround than a Sixers championship.”

The 36ers will get their season underway at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre against Brisbane on Sunday, 28 September.

Limited tickets are still available.