Paul promises to help spark 36ers
Why radical plan will save next Warner, World Cups
ACCOMPLISHED NBA, European and Asian guard Brandon Paul has vowed to bring “energy” to the Adelaide 36ers’ NBL campaign as their key import.
The 36ers announced Paul’s signing for the remainder of the 2021 season on Thursday, replacing the departed Donald Sloan.
The 29-year-old Illinois native played 64 NBA games for the San Antonio Spurs in the 2017-2018 NBA season.
He displayed his capabilities at the highest level when he chalked up 18 points and five rebounds against Boston Celtics in October 2017.
Paul will arrive in Australia next week and must complete a 14-day quarantine before joining his new Adelaide teammates.
He declared he felt no pressure replacing Sloan and was focused on helping the 36ers win games as the club faces a month on the road for the NBL Cup in Melbourne.
“I’m excited and ready for the challenge,” said Paul, who hasn’t played since mid-December.
“I’m a combo guard who can put the ball in the basket as well, so you can expect a lot of energy out of me and a lot of spark.”
ST KILDA defender Ben Paton faces a season on the sidelines after breaking his leg in intraclub action at Moorabbin on Thursday.
An ambulance was called to RSEA Park after the collision and medical staff held
Paton’s leg in place as he lay on the ground.
The Saints said Paton broke both the tibia and fibula when tackled by assistant coach Jarryd Roughead.
Paton, 22, played 19 games last year, proving himself to be an excellent small defender.
St Kilda co-captain Jarryn Geary fractured his fibula in January, leaving the club short on lockdown defenders.
This week the club revealed ruck-forward Rowan lockdown
Marshall would be off his legs for at least a month with a foot injury.
Midfielder Zak Jones (hamstring) is also out while Dan Hannebery has been slowed by yet another calf complaint.
THE next David Warner could slip through the widening cracks in domestic cricket unless the marginalised one-day cup is revived, Cricket Australia has been warned.
Australia has won just one out of the past nine T20 and ODI World Cups – the 50-over edition at home in 2015 – and its stars say unless the whiteball imbalance is corrected, it will fall further behind powerhouses England and India.
Former Test batsman Callum Ferguson, one of the most respected voices in domestic cricket, backed the radical push to separate red and white-ball state contracts and for Big Bash League clubs to take over the Marsh Cup.
“If we keep cutting fixtures each year we’re going to leave ourselves in a real hole with regards to developing enough white-ball cricketers in this country,” Ferguson said.
“We’ll fall behind countries like India and England, where there is a lot more white-ball cricket played. Everyone will go, ‘why aren’t we performing at international level?’
“You reap what you sow and if we’re not offering enough opportunities and other countries are, well you know what we’re going to fall behind and it won’t be a surprise.”
The Marsh Cup was cut from 10 rounds to eight when the city-based Big Bash League was created, and has since been slashed to as little as five rounds – a grand total of just 21 games.
England’s 18 counties play a combined 77 matches in its one-day cup while India’s 38 teams play 169 games, followed by a round-robin tournament between India A, B and C.
England’s young T20 weapon Tom Banton steeled his temperament with two centuries and three half-centuries in his most recent 50-over domestic cup while India’s Boxing Day debutants Shubman Gill and Mohammed Siraj went head-to-head in the last India B-India C representative final.
But Big Bash stars including Chris Lynn, James Faulkner, Chris Green, Fawad Ahmed, Alex Ross, Ben Cutting, Jono Wells, Dan Christian and Ben Laughlin can’t play 50-over cricket because they don’t hold state contracts.
Similarly, Ferguson would be keen to play 50-over cricket next summer but conceded he was unlikely to score a state contract at South Australia without playing Sheffield Shield.
“I look at someone like Jono Wells. He is a prime example of someone who should’ve been playing 50-over cricket somewhere over the last couple of years,” Ferguson said.
“He’s just got the game built for that format and he would be a great asset for any oneday team – but there’s just no way in for him.”