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The Taipans have won just one of their first four matches - all of which were at home - and face an in-form Hawks side tonight, which you can watch LIVE, FREE and in HD on SBS on Demand.
“They’re under the pump,” Santamaria said on NBL Overtime.
“You open the season with all these home games, you gotta win a few of them at least.
“One (win) and three (losses) - and it’s not just the results as well. It’s what has taken place and what (Taipans coach) Mike Kelly has seen from his squad.
“Huge issues at the defensive end, having all kinds of trouble staying in front of people. Having all kinds of trouble being on the same page, communicating, just standing up and defending.
“I’m looking at guys like Kouat Noi, Mirko Djeric, Majok Deng - they guys we flagged at the start of the season who need to be really good at that end of the floor for them to do what we thought they were going to do.
“Mike Kelly made the change for that last game - he brought Majok Deng off the bench and started Fabijan Krslovic, now that’s not what you want to be doing.
“You don’t want to have to be doing that because guys aren’t defending at the level that you need.
“They were able to work their way back into that game against Melbourne. They had a shot to win - terrific. But I think he (Kelly) has big concerns at the defensive end.
“He said after the loss to Sydney: ‘We’re not defending at a Championship level’ - they’re not defending at a playoff level.
“They're not defending at a level to be involved even in that conversation about that playoff bubble."
After four games, the Taipans have the worst points differential in the league (-25) and on average are conceding 91 points per match - tied with two other teams for second-worst in the league.
However, 2010 NBL MVP Williams was not as concerned as Santamaria.
“It’s round 2, nobody is ‘under the pump’ in round 2,” Williams said.
“Do you know how many games we are playing this year?”
Each team is set to play 36 games this season.
“Ain’t nobody under the pump yet. It’s too early," he continued.
“We (the Taipans) gotta adjust a couple of things and that’s it.
“How did they start last year? They were under the pump last year in round 2, what was their record last year? And what happened?"
The Taipans lost their first three games of the season by round 2 of NBL 20.
“They went all the way to the playoffs,” NBL Overtime host Cameron Luke responded.
“They lost one game to go to the Grand Finals! They ain’t under the pump,” Williams said.
Santamaria continued to question their home form, given the schedule will see them only play 14 of their 36 matches at home.
“Ahead of the season I said they need to turn that ‘Snag Pit’ (Cairns’ pop-up arena in a former Bunnings store) into a fortress,” Santamaria said.
“Playing 36 games a season, you’re going to play eight of them down here in Melbourne during the Cup.
“You’ve only got 14 home games, well they’re four down. One and three in that stretch. They’ve only got 10 left. They haven’t turned that place into a fortress at all. That’s a big cross in that box so far.
“I think they’re doing some up-hill skiing at this point.”
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