In April, the Adelaide 36ers made a great signing with promising local prospect Flynn Cameron. That news was surpassed in colossal fashion when they secured the most prominent signing in league history with Bryce Cotton. That news sent shock throughout the NBL and ended up in the re-signing of Montrezl Harrell who openly lobbied for a return after seeing his new potential teammate. Three seismic signings from a team with an extensive history of questionable signings were a hat trick that have now been surpassed with the completion of a haul.

Zylan Cheatham was announced today as the 36ers’ third import for NBL26. The forward spent last season playing in Japan with the Nagoya Diamond Dolphins of the B.League where he averaged 12.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists. Cheatham has also played in Germany and the NBA G League after a brief career in the NBA with the New Orleans Pelicans and Utah Jazz; his one-game tenure with the Jazz in 2022 saw him acquainted with assistant coach Mike Wells who is now head coach of the 36ers. Sure enough, this is the second former Jazz player to partner with their former coach after Cotton had a similar connection as a result of his 2015 stint.

Cheatham has familiarity with the league after playing for the New Zealand Breakers during the 2023–24 season where he was looking like an All-NBL nominee before his performance was interrupted by injury. He had averaged 18.8 points and 5.5 rebounds in the first four games of the season when he was sidelined by a fractured foot in October 2023. Cheatham returned in December and finished the season with an average of 15.2 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. He was regarded for his athleticism and was a contender to play a second season in the NBL during 2024–25 before he decided for Japan. Only one year later and he is back; albeit with the 36ers.

The 36ers roster is now complete with their 11 players. Five players are returned from last season: Ben Griscti, Harrell, Isaac Humphries, Keanu Rasmussen and Dejan Vasiljevic. Six new players join: Cameron, Cheatham, Cotton, Michael Harris, Matt Kenyon and Isaac White. The coaching staff too has been bolstered with the recruitment of seasoned NBL assistants – Luke Cann from the Brisbane Bullets and Kerry Williams from the Cairns Taipans – to partner with fellow assistant Marko Marinović and head coach Wells. This is the best that the 36ers have looked in many, many – maybe to an infinite degree of – years.

Last season, the 36ers were regularly in emotional turmoil. No other team in the league experienced such widespread pandemonium with player conflicts and coaching doubts. The chaos started before the season had even started with head coach Scott Ninnis fired towards the end of preseason after he had given a contract extension only a few months prior. His alleged assistant Wells – who had been recruited to be an assistant in the NBL despite having almost 30 years of coaching experience in the NBA to make him one of the most credentialed hirings in league existence – was thrust into the top job. The season had again still not commenced when footage from a training session showed Wells berating the team for tardy performance. Their new import signing Jarell Martin – a former All-NBL forward – arrived to the team injured and out-of-shape. Their two other imports Harrell and Kendric Davis were suspended after a clash with fans during a game against Melbourne United. Confrontations in the locker room were alleged to be happening between the players and coaches. Humphries was once interviewed after a game and stated that the players had no idea what they were supposed to be doing on the court. Ninnis reincarnate Nick Marshall was stripped of his playing time. Jason Cadee was retired.

This is not to say that all was bad. Davis finished second in MVP voting. Harrell became the entertainer of the league. Vasiljevic and Humphries posted solid seasons. Rasmussen emerged from a motley crew of development players to earn a full roster spot. The team made their first postseason appearance in seven years albeit a play-in loss to the South East Melbourne Phoenix after a fourth-quarter collapse.

To go from the knowledge of that happening to the hope of this occurring is a truly stunning turnaround. Yes, the 36ers failed in their attempt to bring back Davis but replaced him with the only true better player than him: his MVP victor Cotton. Harrell is returned after it was expected that he would go elsewhere. Their lessons from Martin are learnt with the signing of Cheatham who is not injured and clearly in good shape after a 60-game season in Japan. They bring in Cameron who is bursting with potential. They elevate Rasmussen to a full contract after he demonstrated his ability in numerous games last season. They attempt to cover the losses of defensive stalwart Sunday Dech with Kenyon and reserve playmaker Cadee with White. Harris is there to shoot up a three-pointer when needed. There is a good mix of experience and potential throughout the roster.

I wish not to gloss over what is the most incredible element of this: the import tandem of Cotton, Harrell and Cheatham. This is perhaps the most star-studded set of imports in league history. It will be an unbelievably exciting experience to see these three share the court together. Expect Cotton fastbreaks, Harrell post-moves and Cheatham dunks in abundance. Harrell – known for his outspokenness and energy – is partnered with two of the coolest personalities to play here. Harrell can be himself this season and have tempers cooled by those around him.

There will always be negatives though. The first is that the 36ers have a seemingly endless list of guards. I have seen people suggest using Kenyon as a power forward (???) which only highlights the desperation of the situation. Cameron will almost certainly have to be utilised at small forward despite being a shooting guard so I will exclude him here. The 36ers will have a guard tandem of Cotton, Harris, Kenyon, Rasmussen, Vasiljevic and White. It could be that all six of them are considered as shooting guards; regardless, there are no true point guards on the team. Fortunately, they all possess some semblance of ball handling ability but it will be completely unknown as to who will be trusted to run the offence this season. Davis averaged a league-best 8 assists last season; I doubt anyone will average more than 5 assists this season.

Another is defence. It was a glaring hole last season where Dech was often the one above-average defender on the floor. He has been replaced by Kenyon who will be fighting with five other guards for playing time. Cameron has shown some ability too. The 36ers’ import tandem is decent defensively but Humphries will be tasked with a great deal of rim protection which will only be exposed further due to …

… there being a lack of big man depth. Humphries will likely be the only player above 6’9″ getting any reasonable playing time. Griscti is still an unknown commodity and only appeared in 7 games with an average of 3.3 minutes last season. If anything happens to Humphries, there will be a huge void at centre that can only be filled by a sudden Griscti awakening. Harrell was of course used as a centre last season but stands at 6’7″. A huge problem last season was rebounding and this will likely not be corrected this season. The 36ers would have been wise to omit one local guard and instead pursue a rebounding forward/centre.

The final is again roster composition. Cameron was recruited here undoubtedly with the promise that he would have a sizeable role. Humphries could have expected a better role this season. They have since been swamped by the signings of Cotton and Cheatham. There are only two possible starting combinations and either one will see Cameron or Humphries moved to the bench. The first is the sensible defensively-minded Cotton–Vasiljevic–Cheatham–Harrell–Humphries line-up which gives good height at the cost of Cameron’s development. The second is the experimental offensively-minded Cotton–Vasiljevic–Cameron–Cheatham–Harrell line-up which is small ball to the extreme at the cost of Humphries’ abilities. The 36ers absolutely needed another forward so Cheatham was the correct direction but it does mean someone else is to lose out.

I have seen comments complaining about Cheatham because he is not a stretch forward and not a prominent shooter. Perhaps these people have not noticed the continued existence of Vasiljevic and the signings of Cotton, Harris and White. There is no problem with shooting and they did not need another shooter. Big man depth and defence are their glaring issues.

Cheatham is a great signing. The 36ers have put together one of the strongest rosters in league history; for now, that only exists as a suggestion of what will come. Working out responsibilities and playing times will be fascinating to watch. Big ups to the 36ers on getting another deal done.