"Clearly the best team": MVP's huge call

Heading into the FIBA Break, Melbourne United has established themselves as the "benchmark" of the Hungry Jack's NBL26 season.

Fuelled by a franchise-best 13-2 start to a season, United defeated every team in the competition at least once this campaign.

The ladder isn't the only place Dean Vickerman's squad sit in first, with them also setting the pace in offensive rating (120.5), defensive rating (106.3), net rating (14.2), rebound percentage (52), points per possession (1.21) and true shooting percentage (57).

This led to 1990 MVP Derek Rucker stating that United are "clearly the best team in the competition", on Monday's episode of Moments That Mattered, presented by Mitsubishi Motors.

"I think they'd be exceptionally happy with where they are at because it's really hard to continue to be great," he said.

"This is a team that's lost consecutive championship series' and here they are atop the ladder.

"[They're] clearly the best team in the competition, however, [they have] some slight vulnerability. They've been played closely and they're not invincible, so they have to stay sharp."

One team that Rucker believes could expose some of those chinks in the armour is Adelaide.

"They came in against a very good team in South East Melbourne and they handle their business," Rucker said.

"And Bryce [Cotton] is playing very complete basketball. He knows how to get off the ball when he needs to and it's just making everybody better.

"Right now, I don't have them [Adelaide] far off the mark in terms of if Melbourne United is the standard.

"Adelaide's ability and ceiling is starting to approach the same ceiling height of Melbourne United."

A big part of reaching that ceiling, along with the exceptional play of five-time MVP Bryce Cotton, is the performance by athletic import Zylan Cheatham.

"He is an extraordinary athlete and with what he can do from that perspective, while being a connector [is brilliant]," Rucker said.

"It's a bit of a paradox in the sense that a guy who is so finessed and so able to make his teammates better can then throw down that vicious tomahawk lefty put-back dunk.

"His athleticism probably has masked his brilliance as a basketball player. He does tremendous things for Isaac Humphries, who's having a brilliant season.

"He [Cheatham] is a key piece and once they get Troy Brown Jr to understand how he fits in during this FIBA break, Adelaide can go to that level I talked about before regarding Melbourne United's ceiling."

Once the Hungry Jack's NBL26 season resumes for Round 11, Melbourne plays Throwdown 31 against South East Melbourne, while Adelaide host Brisbane.