Sixers to sacrifice for success

Adelaide 36ers gun DJ Vasiljevic has given a glimpse of the team-first mentality that he hopes will guide the side to its first NBL championship since 2002.

The 36ers have recruited strongly this off-season with the arrival of five-time league MVP Bryce Cotton, imports Zylan Cheatham and Montrezl Harrell and NBL experienced talents Flynn Cameron, Isaac White and Michael Harris.

Speaking on his new podcast Straight Shooter, Vasiljevic said the Sixers are targeting a title, though he knows it will require hard work and sacrifice.

“Everyone calls us championship favourites, but we’ve got to do the work behind the scenes,” Vasiljevic said on the podcast. “And having guys like big Monsta (Harrell) back, we’ve got Zylan now who is an athlete but is also shooting the three-ball well and someone like Flynn Cameron who was with (Melbourne) United the last few years and has a kind of championship feel – he’s going to bring that into our group.

“It’s championship or nothing for us now… (but) everyone’s got to sacrifice some.

“We know Bryce Cotton is the best player in this league, and I think he’ll get a lot of the attention, which will open things up a little bit more for myself, for Isaac Humphries, for Zylan.

“At the end of the day, it’s all about winning. You get remembered for winning championships and not for individual accolades.”

Vasiljevic described the line-up as running “11 deep” and reminiscent of the Sydney Kings 2022 Championship side he was part of.

“We called this a ‘death line-up’ when we had it at the Sydney Kings when we had Ian Clarke, myself, Jaylen Adams, Jarell Martin, and Xavier Cooks, in that anyone can get theirs on any night.

“We were able to sacrifice to make sure we were getting the win.

“Obviously, we didn’t start great during that year but we ended up winning 13 in-a-row and you end up winning the championship so I think, (for the 36ers this season), anyone can get theirs on any given night as long as we stick to the coach’s principles, the basics and we play hard.

“At the end of the day it’s all about winning for us.”

You can tune in to Straight Shooter live at 10:30am on Fridays on SEN SA 1629am, via DAB+, or stream online and through the SEN app.