"The work starts now": Ninnis targets stability

Stability is the key word for the Adelaide 36ers this off-season, according to newly appointed head coach Scott Ninnis, who says he’s looking to retain “three or four” off-contract players from this season.

The 36ers announced Ninnis and the club have agreed to a two-year deal which will see the four-time NBL champion player continue as head coach of the club following a successful NBL24 as interim boss.

Adelaide currently has four players contracted for the NBL25 campaign in DJ Vasiljevic, Sunday Dech, Jason Cadee and Nick Marshall, and sharpshooting guard DJ Vasiljevic looms as a potential centrepiece for Ninnis’ new group.

Ninnis says figuring out which players to hold onto and hashing out a deal with off-contract centre Isaac Humphries will likely be his first priorities.

“The hard work starts now for us. We’ve got some important parts we need to retain, and we’ve only got four guys under contract for next year. Isaac Humphries is someone we’ll speak to straight away to see if we can get that deal done, as well as a couple of the other players,” Ninnis said.

"To me, and I have said it consistently throughout the year, I feel he's the best big man in the competition.

"For him not to make a first or second All-NBL team, I think is disgraceful. People are obviously watching different basketball to what I watch.

“Stability is really important for us going forward, we can’t keep chopping and changing and bringing seven or eight new players each year for various reasons, that has happened pretty regularly in the past. A bit of stability, getting the right pieces in place, it starts now. Stability is a real key for us going forward.

“I think there’s probably three of four guys to add to the four we’ve got. We had some good success in the second half of the season, but we do need to get better. Change is inevitable ... we’ll leave no stone unturned to put together a successful 36ers team next year.”

Ninnis added he’s looking at the processes undertaken in the recruitment space by another NBL team, and hopes to replicate their success in the immediate future.

“It’s no secret I admire Scott Roth and what he’s done with the Tasmania JackJumpers, and the way they recruit and look for character people as much as they look for basketballers, I think, is a really important thing to do,” he said.

“It’s exciting for me, because now we have the opportunity to put the right team together, I get them from day one and we’re able to really expand on my philosophies, what we want to do and what we want to stand for as a basketball club.

“I’m just looking forward to getting hold of it. I wish the season was starting tomorrow.”

The 36ers had been reported to be in discussions with Australian coaching legend Brian Goorjian ahead of Ninnis’ appointment, and executive chairman Grant Kelley opened up more on that move. 

He also added Goorjian’s decision to voluntarily remove his name from the coaching race was also reported correctly, and that he respects the Boomers head coach’s reasons for doing so.

Kelley says he’s impressed with the way Ninnis conducted himself during the ‘due diligence’ period ahead of his signing.

“In terms of the process given some missteps in the past it was crucial we did our diligence, but I think because of our relationship we were able to actually navigate a very exhaustive due diligence process that was incredibly thorough as has been reported, but do it in a way that was completely transparent and preserved goodwill between Scotty and I, but most importantly enabled him to resuscitate this team,” Kelley said.

“We spoke to several candidates, we did very thorough due diligence on all of them, and as part of that process you refine your thinking. My thought was consistently that if it was to be Scott it would be terrific.

“We did speak to Brian – we have enormous respect for him – we know he’s the most winning coach in the history of this league so of course we had to speak to Brian and others, but we couldn’t be happier Scott is an appointee.”