'Never a dull moment': Inside the Adelaide 36ers eventful offseason

Where were you when the Adelaide 36ers parted ways with head coach Scott Ninnis?

The players were told while they were lifting weights, by Ninnis himself. He approached some of the players and told them, "This c--t just fired me," motioning to the 36ers' new General Manager of Basketball, Matt Weston, who made the decision and was standing to the side. For the players, it was disbelief at first, before the reality set in. The playing group debated whether to practice that day; they did, but most would admit it felt like a blur.

That was a Monday. The day before, Mike Wells was at an AFL game, watching Adelaide FC smash the Western Bulldogs at Adelaide Oval. "There were some text messages late that night," Wells, who replaced Ninnis as the team's head coach, told ESPN.

"The next morning, there was a meeting, so it picked up steam right when I was about ready to go to bed."

Kendric Davis -- the 36ers' dynamic import point guard recruit -- was still in the U.S.; his arrival to Australia was delayed because he had to obtain a passport. When he heard the news, he reached out to Weston.

"I don't think I'm coming," Davis recalled. The point guard had some concerns about how that coaching change may affect his role.

Weston immediately called his new import.

"We talked and we talked, and I got a chance to talk to Mike, seeing how he wanted to do things as a scheme," Davis said.

"Knowing him as an NBA coach, as an unbelievable coach in the NBA for 28 years -- that's a long time as a coach, and he's been around some legends -- so I knew I was in great hands. But, sometimes it's bigger than basketball. I wanted to know what he was like as a human being, what he stands for, and it aligned with what I stand for... And, I knew basketball-wise, he was a genius.

"I had dudes in the NBA text me, telling me I was in good hands. So, I just wanted to get to know him as a coach, as a human being, and that's what won me over. I told Matt: man, you made a great decision with Mike, just because of who he is."

It's a sentiment a lot of the players held in the immediate aftermath of the change. There was an affinity for Ninnis, but an acknowledgment that, despite Wells' lack of experience as a head coach, his basketball IQ and coaching acumen was undeniable. The playing group knew they were about to hit the court under a proven and respected basketball mind, so the transition wasn't a particularly difficult one.

Wells' resume was enough to garner an inherent respect from his playing group. The most important thing he had to do, though, was win over the trust of the 36ers' two most important players: Isaac Humphries and Dejan Vasiljevic. Weston calls them the team's "pillars". Both signed three-year deals this offseason to remain in Adelaide, with the assumption that it would be under Ninnis for at least two of them. A high-level, demonstrated local player on a multi-year contract is arguably the most valuable asset any NBL team could have, and the 36ers have two of them.

"I think he's very knowledgeable," Vasiljevic said of Wells.

"He kind of reminds me of Chase Buford, when I was in Sydney. He knows his stuff; 30 years in the NBA, he's been part of FIBA with Team USA. I think he can be really good for us. His Xs and Os are off the charts, ATOs are off the charts. It's just now about getting the whole playing group playing together."

Humphries has experienced both ends of the spectrum thus far under Wells over the preseason and start of the regular season -- shining in some games, while looking uninvolved in others -- but largely echoed the sentiments of his long-time friend and teammate.

"His experience is, I think, unmatched in the league," Humphries said of Wells.

"He's extremely experienced in the basketball world; the NBA, in particular. That can also come with challenges, because we play so different to the NBA, but he's so knowledgeable and so quick with his basketball IQ, that I think it's gonna be a quicker adjustment than what you'd think it would be.

"He's a great coach. I've been coached by many people now, and he's a great coach; there's no doubt about it. He's a great person, too, which always helps. We're all getting to know each other. There'll always be teething, but there's no question of his knowledge and coaching ability, at all."

Teething is inevitable for any person who enters a new ecosystem, no matter how experienced he is. Any expectation that Wells' assistant coaching experience in the NBA would immediately transfer to success in the NBL is probably unfair, but his resume is enough to trust that he'll implement effective processes to get there.

Internally, the 36ers' decision-makers don't see the 2024-25 season as do-or-die. They're hoping to turn last season's ninth-place finish into postseason basketball this time around -- the franchise hasn't been in a playoffs since the 2017-18 campaign -- with an eye toward continued growth beyond that. Making the postseason is step one, before hopefully becoming a perennial playoff contender. It's a measured approach under a new head coach in Wells, who's on a three-year deal with the 36ers, sources told ESPN.

"He's got a good growth mindset in terms of wanting to learn," Weston said of Wells.

"He's one of those coaches, like a Dean Vickerman, a [Brian] Goorjian, all your elite coaches, he's that. I think he's gonna bring us that ability to build a platform.

"That's going to help us build into a window. Perth have it, the Kings have it, Melbourne United has it; they had to build into that. It didn't just come. Chris [Pongrass] has done a great job in Sydney, building into that. Perth has a legacy. We want to do that. If we can get to a point that, pretty much on any given year, we're gonna be respected as a top-four team, I think we're doing well. That puts you in a position to get into a three and five game series to try and win it. That's where I see Mike being able to take us there, because there are so many things you've gotta do right and got to do well."

But, before Wells looks too far ahead, he has a unique task directly in front of him, with the roster he's been tasked to lead.

There's some continuity within the team in Humphries and Vasiljevic, along with complementary players like Jason Cadee, Sunday Dech, and Nick Marshall, but adding a new, young American point guard to an NBL team can come with its challenges.

Davis was a unique recruit for the 36ers. He's a 5'11 scoring guard who's a supremely talented offensive player, but had never played basketball outside of the U.S. The 25-year-old signed in Adelaide after just one year in the NBA G-League, where he averaged 18.1 points and 7.4 assists per game for the Santa Cruz Warriors, and everyone in the organisation knows the transition won't come without a learning curve.

"It's gonna be a really unique challenge for him because the FIBA style, and the NBL style, is so unique," Wells said of Davis.

"The pressure, how hard people play, a 30-game schedule, a 77-possession game, and the value that's not only on each game, but the value that's on each possession, which is totally different than the G-League or the NBA. It's about him getting used to that sort of physicality and full-court pressure.

"With young scoring, ball-dominant guards, there's always gonna be a fine line between getting others involved and getting yourself involved. It's a very hard thing. You've got to figure out, as a young guard, when it's time to get your shot, and you've got to have the pulse of the group; 'hey, man, DJ hasn't had a shot in a while, or Isaac hasn't had a touch for a while'. That's a hard balance."

When Davis first arrived in Adelaide, Vasiljevic quickly noticed some of the FIBA nuances that his point guard hadn't quite grasped yet. In one of Davis' first practices with the 36ers, he kept moving his foot in and out of the paint on defence.

"I'm like, 'bruz, you need to understand there's no defensive three seconds; you can just sit in the paint as long as you want'," Vasiljevic said.

"He's like, 'I didn't know that'. So then, I think, maybe we go out to lunch or whatever and I explain these rules. And, he gets them now. But, basketball is basketball. You've gotta let a man who can score like that go and hoop, and he's been doing that so far.

"He reminds me a bit of Casper Ware, the way he plays. I think it's kind of incorporating him, [so he can] understand the FIBA game."

The signing was necessarily a gamble -- bringing someone in who's never played the FIBA game before -- and has had its ups and downs thus far. There were positive glimpses in the preseason, but the beginning of the regular season has been shaky.

Over the 36ers' first two games -- both losses -- Davis is averaging 12.5 points and 8.0 assists, while shooting just 30 percent from the field, including 30.1 percent from downtown. The extremely small sample size has to be noted, and it's the sort of thing both Davis and the team are hoping can be a constructive awakening for Davis of the level of the NBL as they aim to tap into his potential.

"We're still learning what each other likes and doesn't like," Davis said.

"It's easier playing with DJ, because our games are similar; we're both in the backcourt, and we both have our goals we wanna set. Me and DJ, we talk, we wanna be the best backcourt in the NBL. It's easier to gel, knowing we need each other to win. Ice, I'm still learning where his spots are, where he likes it on the floor. Does he like alley-oops? Bounce passes? What types of pocket passes? Where does he like it on the block? Defensively, where does he like to move? It's a fun process learning guys, but I think sky's the limit for us three. We're all great teammates, so I know it'll work."

The 36ers' offseason wasn't just eventful because of their surprise head coach firing. One of their key import recruits -- former Sydney Kings forward, Jarell Martin -- had a setback, suffering a foot injury that would have him out for a significant period of time.

Weston had already demonstrated that he isn't one to sit on his hands, so he quickly went searching for a replacement. Former Bullets wing Lamar Patterson was in the 36ers' building for a period of time, but the team didn't feel he was in a position to make an impact for them.

The 36ers then played a preseason game against the Bullets in Mount Gambier. Through that contest, some of the holes in the team became evident, particularly from a frontcourt perspective: "We knew there was a significant void there, in terms of a presence around the glass," Weston said.

With NBA teams locking in training camp rosters and two-way spots, some players were suddenly available and willing to sign internationally.

One of those players was former NBA Sixth Man of the Year, Montrezl Harrell.