Hoops

2014/15 NBL considering marquee players, three imports

probably should be..... 1 x import + 1 x "bring an aussie home"

Wildcats had a nice half-page advert showing off Ennis in his Miami Heat gear in the inside cover of the The Wests's sports pages. Nice to see them putting in the yards to capitalise on the signing.

What, so just keep doing what we have been doing for the past few years a die a slow agonising death, no thanks, let's try something at least...

@Hawkeye, everything is a risk mate, but doing nothing at all is the biggest risk of all!

I like the idea of - 2 x imports + 1 x "bring an aussie home" a 10 point player not included in salary cap,but with increased points cap(85)

No so sure the NBL is quite ready for the marquee player yet.

I tend to agree with HO on this one, don't compare a game played outdoors in a 50,000+ capacity stadium to Hoops when looking at something like a marquee because Soccer has that broader audience (makes it easier for soccer to promote the marquee concept)!

The other ideas seem pretty good, but I think the money that a club would throw at a single player 'marquee' if you like, would be better served with three imports and no restrictions on the points...

Improve the product, sure, but we still need to walk before we run IMHO.

I hope that the league can upgrade his sponsorship from Virgin (Australia) and players and support staff can get free travel through out the season and if we go into Asia then you'd gather that would help make it beneficial to our community based teams.

I'm not sure how I feel about 3 imports as I've always been a fan of making imports naturalized and rewarding teams for their loyalty with players and hope that this continues long into the future

Love the idea of a marquee rule.

Look at what A-League clubs have been able to attract ( who cares if they're at the back end of their career...look what Del Piero did for Sydney!)

The idea would be for clubs to get maybe 2 average imports and one absolute stud (the latter being the marquee player).

I don't know how effective it would be for those teams that just went out and got another average/run of the mill import.

If they did that then theyd see no return on the 300k or so they used to get the marquee import....because average imports won't help drive TV viewership, crowd attendances nor league interest and media coverage.

@paul totally agree, they are all pretty easy things to change which gives the league a great outlook. Someone just needs to implement them. Thankfully it seems like things are changing.

I think we need to focus more on AUS and NZ and not worry as much about the Asian market until we get ours right. We should however get some nba stars to come to AUS after their china tours, they will get similar receptions to kyrie so hopefully kyrie can start a trend.

76ers v boomers would be nice in a few years once bbrown gets em going.

@igotmadskills

Well, it sounds like people are starting to agitate in that direction, even people from Those Teams We Aren't Mentioning. The off-season changes make it sound like they're pushing to change the philosophy towards excitement/athleticism.

I think it would definitely be a good move.

will allow NZ to replace CJ Bruton with Kirk Penney when he retires and still keep the pieces they have built/developed.....great news.

I do like the marquee idea. I follow the A-League as well and the Marquee rule has, by and large, worked very well, especially this last year.

Clean the game up, call the fouls when they are there and bring back the silky skills. You will see more dunks if the game is more free flowing and the players can play clean bball. Won't matter how good the import is if they cant get past the defender as he is hanging on with both hands.

Some teams (we all know who) would have no players left on court if they actually called the hand checks/dirty defense tactics. Id go as far to say goorg wouldnt have won any championships if they called the over the top physical D.
As Johnny F stated its way too physical in the NBL when the player has the ball, no advantage hence the low scores and boring games for non basketball lovers..

If you want entertainment then clean it up firstly so players can actually entertain and show off their skills..

Okay, waiting patiently, with interest...

I like the idea that entertainment may be big on the front line of their agenda, let's make sure the officials tow the line on that one and I'm sure the players will deliver!

What about all that talk about formalising links with the NBA? Could this be it?

I immediately thought it was all over too.

Regional teams?