Basketball On The Internet.

THE verdict is in. CJ Bruton, Olympic Boomer, six-time champion at three different clubs, long-time knowledgeable assistant, currently is way out of his depth as an NBL coach. Last night’s 85-102 home loss to South East Melbourne reinforced a prospect only Illawarra has challenged, that the 36ers are the worst team in the league.

Buoyed by the signing of dual-championship winner Dejan Vasiljevic, who provided great early impetus with an 11-point first quarter, Adelaide briefly resembled a contender, scores locked 28-28 after one and the Sixers unlucky not to be ahead.

Working mainly through a quintet of Trey Kell, Mitch McCarron, Vasiljevic, Jacob Wiley and Isaac Humphries, the 36ers looked likely. Then the subs started happening, and happening, and happening.

From a 40-39 lead in the second period, the 36ers were hopelessly overwhelmed in a 15-0 Phoenix run masterminded by Mitch Creek but with players such as Matt Kenyon, Rhys Vague, Alan Williams, Will Cummings and Reuben Te Rangi all bobbing up with important contributions.

And Gary Browne continued to be terrific.

From 39-40 to 54-40 before a late consolation Sixers bucket to close the half, South East had mapped its course to an easy road win and another celebration for Creek against the club he grew up in.

Bruton’s substitution pattern resembled that of an under-10s coach trying to give everyone some court-time to keep their parents happy.

In the previous round’s win over Illawarra, he tightened the rotation and even threw out a couple of DNP-CDs to ensure the win was secured. No courtesy court time, no token minutes.

The line-ups he had on the floor during the Phoenix’s decisive 15-0 run – the final margin was 17 – were appalling and smacked of trying to keep people happy, not win a ballgame.

The coaching staff was at a complete loss for how to stall or counter the SEM avalanche – something we have all seen previously during this particular era.

And one of his assistants, Craig Simpson is so blatantly auditioning for the role when Bruton inevitably falls on his sword or is pushed onto it, that it is embarrassing.

Jumping up all the time with what has to be just absolutely unmissable game-changing advice, it is way past the time he stayed in his lane. If he thinks he’s next in line for the coaching gig, maybe he should factor in the role he also is playing in this team’s demise.

There’s no buy-in from the players because there’s nothing to buy into. Conscientious objectors play better defence than half the 36ers’ road cones and the offence seems to be drive and hope for the best, or dish out and hope someone sticks a shot from somewhere.

It is haphazard nonsense, with no clearly defined roles.

Let’s be frank. The Alex Starling experiment has not worked. Unlike Eric Cooks back in the day when he made the step up from SEABL to NBL, Starling left it too late. Wasting minutes on him is depriving someone else from emerging or evolving.

Tohi Smith-Milner is a terrific complimentary player in the right situation. This isn’t it.

Overlooking Lachie Olbrich or expecting Daniel Johnson to accept having his singlet retired just shows where this club’s thinking is at. Someone should tell them how Aaron Grabau had his singlet retired in Cairns and continued playing.

Smith-Milner over Olbrich or Johnson were not smart moves. The minutes are spread too thin now among the burgeoning backcourt so when Trentyn Flowers, Sunday Dech, Kyrin Galloway or, heaven forbid, Nick Marshall finally hit the pine, you can expect a couple of early bad shots as they desperately try to show their value while their confidence steadily erodes.

This was a very winnable home game and after the win over the Hawks, plus the injection of Vasiljevic, the road to victory instead was scuttled.

CJ Bruton is one of the greats of the game in Australia. Not a soul wanted to see him fail as a head coach. In Year 1 he inherited an awful Jeff Van Groningen team so he had a honeymoon season. Year 2 produced the win over the Phoenix Suns and nothing else.

Year 3, with a team he has to take responsibility for, Adelaide was unanimously picked for last. Even a miraculous performance now to beat an equally shaky Perth would not make a huge difference.

The verdict is in. Is he an NBL coach? Not guilty.

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 102 (Creek 23, Browne 19, Cummings 18, Williams 15, Kenyon 11; Williams 13 rebs; Browne 8 assts) d ADELAIDE 36ERS 85 (Kell 21, Vasiljevic 17, Wiley 14, McCarron 12; Wiley 8 rebs; Humphries, Smith-Milner, Dech 2 assts) at Adelaide Entertainment Centre. Crowd: 6,870