Hoops

Fixing the NBL

Tovey described by those commentators on OneHD
Gaze and Carfino last season.
It just struck me kinda funny Weigh next.

Don't spose we'll see Al Green 72points Adam Ballinger 48points agen. Todays heros get 10points in 32minutes and the League's most versatile player has retired (Cam Tovey)

@Mick,

I think it's still open for debate whether OneHD/Ten have in fact been attempting to destroy the League ;)

NBL Clubs need to partner closely with firms, businesses and their sponsors so that bench players can get some kind of additional employment to top up their income.

More and more teams should sign up returning college basketball players. It's a win-win. Teams get them at good prices and can get good bench production from them. And the players get exposure in a good basketball league aiding their development.

Would love to see a team get Delly back:

Delly(180k)/Tomlinson(55k)
Gliddon(80k)/K.White(40k)
Newley(335k)/Henry(45k)
Petrie(80k)/MacMillan(45k)
Bairstow(95k)Trueman(45k)

Mick, good post, agree with Pts 1 and 5-10.

The German football Bundesliga, from what I recall, operates under a system where there is no hard cap, but to both maintain viability yet also encourage growth and innovation, player salary expenditure is limited to a certain percentage of club salary.

I wonder sometimes if the salary cap+points system, rather than ensuring competitive balance, is simply enforcing a level of mediocrity.

Look at the A-League, there is a soft cap that stops teams from blowing themselves up, but there is also the marquee system so they can bring in names that actually benefit clubs all across the league. This includes an Australian marquee slot for bringing home some of the top Aussie talent (a problem for the NBL which has been raised a few times in this thread already).

Between things like this and things like more offensively-minded refereeing, we can do a lot for the entertainment value of the league.

From all signs, Nick Marvin is trying to shove the Wildcats away from a defense-heavy game and into a more exciting style, even if it proves detrimental to the win-loss columns. After all, its exciting games that will fill the arenas around the country more than anything else.

If a game at the moment is 60-55 in 40 minutes how can we expect the score to double in an extra 8 minutes?

Sort out the officiating and the way the game is called and let the game be the free flowing, fast paced joy to watch and play that we know it can. Hell here's an out there idea, play/referee it to the rules of basketball! Holding, hand checking, bumping the ball carrier bringing he ball up wasn't allowed when I first learned how to play the game so why is it now? If we allow the players to showcase their skills and athleticism rather than have a wresting match Im sure we will see higher scores and more crowd pleasing games.

The way things are now increasing game time simply masks the root cause of the issues IMO

There are controversial options like changing the months of competition(to a Winter comp) or amending the salary cap/points cap scheme.

However, I think one option that pretty much everyone can agree on is that the NBL needs to return to 48 minute games.

A game where the score is 60-55 is really no fun to watch. Maybe to a defensively-orientated, old-school purist. But those games don't market the game well.

This would be an ideal game (48 mins game) 36ers vs. Breakers..the score is 121-120.

Ervin scores 40 points, Cedric goes for 35.
The battle of the imports, going tic-for-tac.
Abercrombie dunks (like he did in that 36ers game a few years ago).
Creek high-flying dunks
Bruton,Gibson,Webster, Corletto canning threes all over the place.
A see-sawing affair..50 lead changes, 3 in the last minute and an Ervin or Ced gamewinner or gametier of which an unbelievable OT plays out.

All it takes is an epic game like that to get the fans to come

In the NZNBL (40 min games) a few weeks ago Otago beat Taranaki in a 4OT game 145-137.

Was crazy! The crowd for that game was 800ish,
The next game, the stadium sold out and about 2100 turned up.

I'd like to think that getting fans to a game is like getting a rookie golfer back on the course:

"All is takes is one good shot" (or in the case of the NBL, one good game)

OzHoops - GREAT POST!!!!!

Whilst I'm not sure about playing in summer in Darwin, I think it could work and as for Hobart... Please make it happen, with the AFL very hesitant to create a new team down there, the time is absolutely now to get a consortium together and try and get the advertising $ that Cricket and V8 Supercars aren't cashing in on.

We also have a couple of Tasmanians in the league... Just off the top of my head Lucas Walker, Adam Gibson and Matty Knight. You throw in a couple of imports and you'd automatically create some excitement and who knows how competitive.

As for Darwin... Don't the Madgen's do work in the Territory, I'm sure they'd have a good opinion on whether its viable and couple them with WNBL teams if you can.

As for the original topic... I was watching I think it was the 1997 grand final game 3 between the Magic and the Tigers and Steven Quartermaine said the Tigers were pitiful and atrocious because their FG% was like 36%... Whilst it looked ugly compared to the pretty play of the magic, by contrast with say the Crocs or Wildcats last season and it wasn't that bad.

I've bought my Perth Wildcats membership and that's a start of what we can do but other people wielding far greater power need to fix this league and you gotta believe they are putting things in place to get us the spectacle and competition we desire

Hopefully we won't be the boring as hell team this year <.<