Popovic impressed with NBL24 pre-season start

Adelaide 36ers Head of High Performance Nik Popovic has been thrilled with the opening week of the NBL24 pre-season.

The NBL24 roster were put through their paces this week under the guidance of Popovic and he’s excited with the initial results.

“I’ve been very impressed after the opening two days of pre-season,” Popovic said.

“We have been testing to see where the baseline is for our athlete’s fitness.

“Fitness for basketball, as in strength, speed, power, skill, finesse, and agility.

“They are all qualities these players need and we have athletes that are at all different levels, they play in different leagues.”

Popovic said every player is different and the testing will give him a guide on what each player must focus on as the NBL24 pre-season progresses.

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“We are trying to get everyone on the same page, our goal is to make them the best athlete they can be,” Popovic said.

“The effort has been fantastic; everyone has bought into the testing and the communication has been great.

“We have got a new staff and how we marry up the strength and condition side with the performance side and the team unity, that’s the goal.”

Popovic said there were some fantastic results and all the playing roster are in good shape for the start of the pre-season campaign.

“Each player had their moments of showing their athleticism,” Popovic said.

“We have got some great athletes. Alex Starling was impressing, Kyrin Galloway jumped really high, all the guys were impressive.

“Kyrin was strong in the weight room, Isaac (Humphries) was great from what he has come back from, and he was able to do everything.

“(Mitch) McCarron was great, and Jason Cadee was super impressive in his conditioning test.”