Wells wary of Taipans challenge

Adelaide 36ers Head Coach Mike Wells has spoken of the respect he has for the Cairns Taipans and the danger posed by star recruit Jack McVeigh ahead of Thursday night's meeting between the sides.

The 36ers departed Adelaide to travel to Cairns on Wednesday hoping to maintain an unbeaten start to the Hungry Jack's NBL26 season after the first-up win over Brisbane at the weekend.

While the 87-80 win over the Bullets marked the first time in a decade that the 36ers started a campaign with a win, Wells was open with the fact it was not a polished performance.

And speaking at the airport before heading north, he was wary of the threat posed by the Taipans.

“They are a really well coached team,” Wells said to local media. “I have a tonne of respect for Coach Forde and what they try to do.

“Obviously, Jack McVeigh is an outstanding player, you know, he played in the G League last year in the States, and we all know what he's done in the NBL.

“He's the (Taipans’) best player, he's kind of the head of the snake.

“They have a wide-open style, they have a really talented roster in Schofield, and Andrew Andrews and some of those things, and you’ve got to take them off the three point line and you just try to make things difficult.

“The things they do will be an interesting challenge for our group.”

Sunday’s win over Brisbane was just the second time the 36ers had played with both Isaac Humphries and star signing Bryce Cotton.

While there were some promising signs, Wells said he knew the side was capable of so much more but would take time to gel.

“We're going to try to just keep getting better each week, with each challenge that we have,” he explained.

“I mean, the ideal thing would be to peak at game 33, so you're ready for the playoffs, right? (but) we know how important it is to win in this league, and I think we know how important it is to win early.

“We've got the most new players of any team in the league. There's going to be growing pains.

“You saw some really good stretches on Sunday, you saw some stretches where we'd like to have a little bit better rhythm.

“We'll try to reconnect the group and just keep moving it forward.”

Wells confirmed new import Nick Rakocevic would meet his new teammates in Cairns and he hoped the 6'11" big man would be able to play some minutes.

“He's on a flight right now,” he smiled.

“We've got to get a chance to get with him, see how he feels after the long flight.

“If he's comfortable and there's no injury risk or anything like that, then he'll play. If not, we'll wait until we get back home.”

As to what 36ers supporters can expect from Rakocevic this season, Wells was excited.

“You're talking about a high quality, high character, high IQ player,” he said.

“(He’s) 6'11 that can shoot threes and knows how to play.”

The Sixers take on the Cairns Taipans at the Cairns Convention Centre on Thursday night from 7:30pm AEST / 7:00pm ACST.