'Roth of Can': Scott's Jackies soar while 36ers dig hole

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Five-time NBL championship head coach Trevor Gleeson’s Adelaide 36ers are in a hole.

The preseason NBL27 championship favourites have lost two straight – poorly – and are 2-3 and minus 23 (95.04%)

“We’re in a bit of a grind at the moment,” Gleeson said after the 36ers lost to the New Zealand Breakers 88-72 at home on Sunday, October 4, 2026.

“We’re facing adversity now. We’ve got to respond, and we can’t sit back on our heels.

“We’ve got to be aggressive. We’ve got to get in the gym and make some shots. I think in Wollongong we had 22% from the three, and today we shot 20% from the three. We’ll go back and see how we’re creating shots and executing.

“You keep a team in the 80s, which is pretty good, but our offence was pretty half-court stuff.

“We want to play up-tempo a little bit more.”

36ers (2-3) starters: centre Isaac Humphries ($265,300) is out; Flynn Cameron ($241,700) is out; as well as Bul Kuol ($156,100), but they aren’t as hard hit as Scott Roth’s (3-1) Tasmania JackJumpers, who are going in a different direction.

Roth is without import Bryce Hamilton ($293,100), Anthony Drmic ($97,800), Majok Deng ($214,500) and Ben Ayre ($117,700), so he’s been forced to bring in Injury Replacements Biwali Bayles ($78,000) and Kody Stattmann ($116,800).

“Just extra bodies for us,” Roth said.

“This is probably the first week we’ve had a practice where we’ve actually had a normal session in probably four weeks, actually playing five-on-five every single day and having guys on the floor so that we could try to find some rhythm.

“We’ve been playing all these small-sided games for I don’t know how long.

“To have those two guys in is obviously extremely helpful, and we’re going to use them, obviously, too.

“Our practice this week was as good as we’ve had, but we have a huge amount more to get done.”

More than 20 NBL27 players are injured after Round 3, and it has shaped the start of the season and the ladder. Only South East Melbourne Phoenix is carrying an Injury-Report-free roster, while the 3-0 Kings already knew they’d be without Keli Leaupepe ($145,200).

It’s only early, but the 36ers (2-3), South East Melbourne Phoenix (2-3), and Adelaide (1-3), with losing records after three rounds, weren’t on anyone’s Bingo cards.

New Zealand-American 100 NBL-game veteran Mojave King ($189,100) joined the team as an Injury Replacement for Josiah-Jordan James ($277,000) after he tore his hamstring in the preseason.

King, 24, has been outstanding in four games, averaging 12.1 points (56%), 1.2 assists, and 2.2 rebounds. He had 18 points in the Breakers 16-point win on the road to Adelaide.

But it’s Roth short-handed JackJumpers who have been the prototypical Scott Roth’s JackJumpers ... grind, grind and then grind some more.

Hometown hero Taran Armstrong ($304,700) has been elite and threw the pass of the season – behind the backboard, off his feet behind the back bounce pass to Josh Bannan ($317,500) for an easy layup to put the JackJumpers up four against the Bullets with 23 seconds left on Saturday night.

Adelaide’s injuries have forced Gleeson to start or give big minutes to NBL1 stars Jacob Rigoni ($69,000) (20+ minutes per game) and Keanu Rasmussen ($69,000) (18+ minutes per game), as well as Development Player Deonte Williams ($58,500), who played 12 minutes against the Breakers for 12 points.

Gleeson’s depth challenge has given 2.11 import Nick Rakocevic ($188,400) more minutes. He’s averaging 18 points (55%), 11.2 rebounds, and 2.6 assists.

“His role was really, for the start of the year, coming off the bench to give us some energy and to be that guy. He’s really stepped up,” Gleeson said.

“I’m really proud of him that he’s focused and locked in, and really stepping up when we need him.

“Obviously, [Isaac’s] down, and we need some other guys.

“I know we’re young with the bench, and especially with Flynn out, we need some energy in that position. I think Keanu’s doing a good job, but we need some help.

“I think John was down today and Zylan was down today. We haven’t got that much depth to have our two imports down today. We haven’t got the bench depth for that.”

The 36ers are back at it at home against Melbourne United in the Ignite Cup on Wednesday, October 7, 2026, at 7.30pm (AEDT), while the JackJumpers face Illawarra in Wollongong on Friday, October 9, 2026, at 7.30pm.

For both Adelaide and Melbourne, it’s as close to a must-win as you can get this early in the season, while a win for Roth’s JackJumpers would push them to 4-1, while the Hawks’ would drop to 1-5.

The stakes couldn’t be higher.