The Adelaide 36ers are getting close to filling their import spots for the NBL25 season, with the club targeting two key roles to complement stars DJ Vasiljevic and Isaac Humphries.

Vasiljevic and Humphries are among the top Australian talents in the league, and GM of Basketball Operations Matt Weston says the 36ers will settle for nothing less than the perfect fit for their roster in the import spots.

“Positional wise we’re looking for a play-making one [point guard] … a guy that can score, but ultimately get the ball to DJ and Isaac in the right spots as well,” Weston said. 

“We’ve got the best off-guard and the best five man in the league in my opinion.

“It’s someone that’s going to be able to control the tempo of the game.

“We’re also looking at a stretch-four [power forward]. Someone that can also play some five when we want to play some small ball.”

Weston said the 36ers were undergoing a rigorous process to find the right imports, adopting a “quality over quantity” approach, and said the club was in a position to land some high-end talent. 

They’ll target two quality imports to start, with insurance for a third if the club is impacted by injuries during the season.

“The players we’re talking about are very good players. They don’t go cheap and they’re in demand,” Weston said. 

“Especially as you get later on, people can say ‘he’s available, let’s just get him’, but we’re not going to stand for that.

“We’re going to dare to dream and go after the people that we want, because they’re going to fit our key components and bring to our club what we want. 

“We have a shortlist of probably about three in each (of two positions), but we also really want to drill down and find out the character of this person.

“Do we have the money to get good imports? Yes … I’d rather go quality imports over quantity imports.”

While the 36ers boasted strong depth last year and a deep rotation, Weston admitted that ultimately played against them. 

“When you look at last year’s roster, we had 12 guys on it because we had a Next Star and all 12 could play between 12, 13 minutes a game. Most probably thought they could play 20 … there’s not enough minutes,” he said. 

“What you have then is disengagement at the end of the bench. 

“You’ve got to have role players. People that come in and go ‘that is my role, it’s six minutes a game and that’s what I do for the team’.”

Weston pointed to the club’s South Australian talent as an exciting feature, with talented center Ben Griscti signing a three-year deal, and Jacob Rigoni on-board for a further two seasons. Nick Marshall also played his first season as a fully-rostered player in NBL24 and will only improve with experience.

“It’s coming together the way Scotty (Ninnis) would want it to be,” Weston said of the 36ers’ squad build.

“Getting in the local talent I think is really important, because we want to play an Adelaide style of basketball again – you really want South Australian kids and men, because they’re going to embrace the culture that we want to deliver here.”

Adelaide tips off its season against the Sydney Kings in Perth on September 22, as part of the HoopsFest event.