Kalamunda's men were disappointing in 2011 but the women showed promise and finished in sixth spot. Check out the moves they've made to try to improve on those results by reading the next of the SBL.asn.au season previews.

Kalamunda Eastern Suns Season Preview

Men -

2011 Recap: The dreaded curse of the import continued. After the infamous Kenny Brunner experiment proved a huge disappointment in 2010, the Suns hoped Cedric Crawford and Dean Hadley could deliver better results in 2011. Hadley could, averaging 22.8 points per game and only missing one match in a largely impressive season. But Crawford only made five appearances before he and the club parted ways following a series of indiscretions. Even when he was on the court Crawford was below par, averaging just 9.4 points per game. That disappointment made life hard for Kalamunda and they missed the playoffs with a 10-16 record, only good enough for 10th place. They sat in the top eight at one point midway through the year but a tough run home always meant a finals appearance was unlikely.

Off-Season Grade: B+

Off-Season Summary: Can third time be lucky for the Suns? Again they've gone hard on the import market, bringing in 23-year-old guard Greg Palmer and veteran forward Matthew Smith. Palmer, who has played in the American Basketball Association and in Macedonia, is best noted for his outside shooting ability, helping to fill an area which was a weakness at points for Kalamunda last season. Smith is best known to MSBL fans for his stint with Southwest in 2011, where he averaged 14.9 points and 8.5 rebounds per game in a winless team, and he figures to be a solid pickup. Otherwise it's a similar Suns team to the one that took the court in 2011, featuring the likes of former NBL centre Justin Brown and young forward Nebojsha Franich.

2012 Fixtures: In the opening four rounds, Kalamunda face Perth and Goldfields away and Wanneroo, Lakeside and East Perth at home. Of those five, only the Giants missed the finals in 2011. That stretch will certainly be a huge early season test.

Women -

2011 Recap: The Suns finished sixth for the third time in their four years in the competition, this time doing so with a 12-10 record. That set up a quarter-final match-up with East Perth, who were always going to be extremely difficult since they went into the playoffs as one of the form teams. Yet Kalamunda came within just two minutes of causing a huge upset and advancing to the final four. They won game one 69-61 and were ahead with two minutes to go in game two, but the Eagles grinded out a win in that one and then were comfortably victorious in game three. Import Leah Rush was one of the Suns' best performers throughout the campaign, averaging 15.2 points and 10.3 rebounds per game, while Melissa Moyle (14.8 PPG) was also impressive.

Off-Season Grade: C-

Off-Season Recap: Kalamunda will be without Rush and have also lost solid contributor Sarah-Jane Knox, but the addition of Emma Berryman from Stirling is a very useful one. Berryman averaged 9.5 PPG with the Senators last year while also playing solid defence. Apart from those changes, the Suns side is similar to how it was in 2011. Moyle is back and will once again be the focal point of opposition planning. Youngster Adrienne Jones has also been retained and, after showing impressive progress over the past two seasons, could be in line for a breakout campaign. One concern for Kalamunda will be a lack of size and an interior scoring presence.

2012 Fixtures: Just five of Kalamunda's first 13 games are at home, with plenty of tough early tests on the road in the likes of Mandurah, Perry Lakes and Willetton.

What the Grades Mean: The grades are a subjective way of analysing whether each team has improved over the off-season. A grade of C- or better indicates they are well positioned to improve on their 2011 performance, while a grade of D+ or below indicates they're expected to be weaker. They are not intended to predict each team's ladder position.

Article by Jacob Kagi
Photo by Grant Lauterbach

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