Riders host pre-season Sharks game

Theres not enough people laughing at Leicester for losing in this thread for my liking

Plus Mike Tuck was coughing on everyone

I’d hope that if the PPV goes ahead there might be a more professional camera set up. Maybe some added sound effects etc

There's literally a stats link two posts up.

The guy hasn't played a game in over a year. Not sure we'd expect 20 and 10 first game out. He was also carrying a knock. Dan mentioned it at the start. Tweaked his back possibly. Can't remember. Having said that you are right that we will need a lot more from him if we want to be successful if/when the season gets going. Feel like we will go as far as he can take us.

He looked like he was a playing his first game in over a year. But it didn't help that some of the entry passes were pretty average. Turned it over a few times trying to get it in to him. He's definitely a big strong guy though, was shifting Tuck/Koch out of the way when he did get the ball down low. Be a handful for any defenders once he's fit and we've figured out how to work our offence around him.

I'm not sure the box score even tells the story of how poor Walker was. Looked every bit like a guy who was playing his first competitive game in about 16 months. Our mostly futile attempts to force feed him the ball in the post, possession after possession, made for pretty grim watching and resulted in as many turnovers as points. And whilst I realise he's never been particularly fleet footed, I don't remember him looking quite that slow before. Made Nelson-Henry look like an Olympic sprinter. We'll call it 'rust' for now I guess but certainly a pretty inauspicious, long awaited debut.

Quiet first outing from Lee too. Looks on paper and on tape like a guy with the ability to impact games in a lot of ways at this level but made very little impact at all in this one. A lot like the ineffective version of TrayVonn Wright we saw second time round at Riders. Was hampered by foul trouble throughout.

Mixed bag from Jackson. Felt he made some poor decisions with the basketball. Passed up some pretty open perimeter shots only to dribble himself into trouble and force up some contested mid-range brick or turn it over. But the good was good enough to persuade me he'll do fairly well in this league. If it somehow happens.

Crandall the pick of our debutants by a distance in my view. Based on an interview I listened to a few days ago it sounds like Cam Rundles really rates this guy. I also got the impression Rob had been genuinely impressed with what he'd seen from him in practice. His efficiency as a three point shooter has been all over the place during his career to date. Was given a fair bit of separation on the perimeter in this one and seemed a little reluctant to shoot but he did knock down the one three he attempted. And off the dribble I thought he looked a real handful. Produced some nice passes and some very tough, acrobatic finishes. Also felt he looked pretty sharp defensively. He's a really big PG at this level, he's a pretty good athlete. Confident we've got a good one here.

Production could have been better. Aside from their insistence on pronouncing Crandall 'Cran-Dell', Routledge and Rowe were fine on commentary. But issues with the camera lagging being the action and going blurry in transition. And it took them three and a half quarters to get the clock on the on-screen scoreboard working. But if we organise some more of these friendlies the club will definitely get a few more fivers out of me. It's for sure better than nowt. 

If, as had been suggested here, he has a back problem, that would really affect his mobility and freedom of movement. At his height flexibility is something that has to be worked on all the time, and a back injury would very severely restrict his movement, which combined with the rustiness from not having played for over a year wouldn't help his performance.

Nothing to worry about right now, but if there's no improvement after a few more games then it would be a concern.

Fortunately Riders have one of, if not the, best sports medicine and medical support of any BBL club, so as long as Mo puts the work in, he'll be given the best treatment and support to regain full fitness.

Maybe bigz or others who have played at a high level correct me if I'm wrong but does rustiness really exist?

I mean while Mo hasn't played a competitive game for 18 months I cant imagine Rob runs non competitive training or even potentially runs inter squad games. Im sure he posted he played in a summer league stateside too (Canadian side maybe

Anyone who has suffered a back injury will understand how much it limits and impairs normal movement. To even try to play through that shows someone who is determined to do his best for the club.
Riders have the best medical back up in the BBL, I'm sure he'll be back to his best soon.