Bryce Cotton is doing all he can and Nick Rakocevic has stepped up impressively for the Adelaide 36ers, but coach Trevor Gleeson knows for them to get themselves out of an early NBL season hole they need others to take on more responsibility.

The Sixers have started the season without three of what could potentially be their first choice start line-up with Bul Kuol, Flynn Cameron and Isaac Humphries sidelined.

They are now 2-3 following two tough losses in Round 3 firstly by 22 points on the road to the Illawarra Hawks and then on Sunday by 16 points at home to the New Zealand Breakers.

Across the two games, what stood out was that Cotton and Rakocevic are not getting enough help. And while there's no doubt what Cameron, Humphries and Kuol can provide, they can't help right now and they also can't be looked at as saviours when they do return.

On Sunday against the Breakers, Rakocevic and Cotton combined for 48 of Adelaide's 72 points with shooting 22/40 from the field opposed to 8/28 from the rest of the team.

Quite simply, others need to stand up and the first two players that came to mind were imports Zylan Cheatham and John Jenkins III who combined for 16 points on 5/17 shooting against New Zealand in a combined 67 minutes.

But it's more than just those two.

"We've gotta have energy from the young guys too so that's from Whitey (Isaac White), Keanu (Rasmussen) and Jacob (Rigoni)," Gleeson said.

"I know there's some injury replacement guys and DP's in that, but we need them and we've got to get energy from them.

"That means hustle, deflections, offensive glass and we have to get that. We're in a bit of a grind at the moment and we're facing adversity, now we've gotta respond and we can't sit back on our heels. We have to be aggressive."

The great positive out of the season so far for the 36ers has been the way Rakocevic has embraced his increased role and responsibility with fellow centre Humphries sidelined with a knee injury.

He put in a power of work once again in Sunday's loss to the Breakers finishing with 29 points, 16 rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block on 14/22 shooting while playing almost 35 minutes.

Gleeson couldn’t be happier with what he's doing, but knows he needs help.

"His role was really at the start of the year coming off the bench giving us some energy and to be that guy," Gleeson said.

"He's really stepped up and I'm really proud of him that he's focused and locked in, and really stepping up when we need him.

"We just need some other guys to do the same and I know we're young with the bench and especially with Flynn out we need some energy in that position.

"I think Keanu's doing a good job, but we need some help and I think John was down today and Zylan was down today. We haven’t got that much depth to have our two imports down today, we haven't got the bench depth for that."

The Breakers did do a good job in applying pressure on six-time MVP Cotton on Sunday too with that defensive effort led by Mojave King.

They did everything to make his life tough and succeeded with Cotton shooting 8/18 from the field and having five turnovers to go with 19 points and six assists.

But it was more to do with those around him for Gleeson.

"They just kept bodies at him and it's nothing new, I thought we were too slow and were getting the rebounds, and just walking," Gleeson said.

"We don't want to walk the ball down the court kind of stuff, we want to play a little up tempo and that's something that comes back to not having enough pop.

"Our bench have to come in high energy, rebound and run hard. I thought we were too worried about just dribbling the ball 16 times before the half court and then getting into late stuff.

"That gave them the chance to set their defences up and that's something that we've gotta change."

While there's no immediate relief to come on the personnel front for the 36ers in the form of Cameron, Humphries or Kuol, the 36ers need to figure things out within the group available with a short turnaround to Wednesday night.

They will be hosting Melbourne United in an Ignite Cup match up and Gleeson hopes his players find some shooting confidence at least before then.

"We have to get in the gym and make some shots. In Wollongong we had 22 per cent from the three and today we shot 20 per cent from the three," Gleeson said.

"We'll go back and see how we're creating shots and executing, and you keep a team in the 80's which is pretty good, but our offence was pretty half-court stuff. We want to play up-tempo a little bit more."

Chris Pike

Sixers support cast need to stand up