Scott Ninnis and 36ers Part Ways

Hey everyone! There was some shock news on Monday when the Adelaide 36ers announced they have parted ways with head coach Scott Ninnis before the season has even started. Ninnis took over the team in the middle of last season replacing CJ Bruton. It was a tough time for the 36ers when Ninnis took over but you could see the difference in intensity immediately and he finished the season with an 8-7 record. Players have voiced that they backed Ninnis to be head coach and thought he deserved it so it's no surprise they were shocked when they got the news he was no longer the coach. Personally I thought Ninnis did an amazing job taking over a team he hadn't put together during an extremely tough time and finished the season on a positive note.

There were signs that something like this could be in the works but I thought they would at least give Ninnis a chance. To start with the team didn't allow Ninnis assistant coach Graham Kubank to return this season which was not a great sign. The 36ers also brought in multiple high level, experienced coaches as assistants which could have meant they didn't fully trust Ninnis or had something like this planned for a while. They were also given interesting titles as well with Mike Wells being named Lead Assistant and Marko Marinovic named Senior Assistant. I did also find it interesting someone of Wells experience at the highest level for such a long time to come all the way to the NBL just to be an assistant. Finally Matt Weston who is GM of basketball was hired after Ninnis had already re-signed so there was always potential Weston wouldn't agree with the decision.

The club stated in a press conference that they didn't feel Ninnis was meeting the standards they expected over the course of the offseason and wanted to make the decision now as opposed to during the season. I'm definitely sad to see Scott go as I think he did an incredible job given the circumstances but from here on Mike Wells takes over as head coach. It will definitely be interesting to see what happens from here.

Photo via: adelaide36ers.com