Hoops

NBL imports on the hot seat

I used to detest DeLeon’s game at the Hawks but he is really useful in Adelaide. Seems very keen to contribute defensively.

DeLeon had a stinker shooting the ball tonight.

But he was responsible for putting the ball back in the Sixers hands on at least 8 occasions - 3 steals, two charges, and at least 3+ forced turnovers. He was a beast defensively.

I wouldn't need to eliminate the noise. As a coach you take the plus-minus and investigate the why, as you do with all stats. But I can't see any competent coach cutting the guy who clearly leads his team's plus-minus unless there were off-court issues.

Once the sample size gets big enough it's one of the best ways to assess value

Once the sample size gets big enough it's one of the best ways to assess value, it's all about getting ahead on the scoreboard after all. He's +8 in a tied ball game at 3/4 time tonight.

DeLeon leads Adelaide in +/- so far this season, he won't be going anywhere for a while yet.

Cairns should have put a big gap in this one, Adelaide couldn't throw a beach ball in the ocean early, Taipans doing a good job of disrupting them but didn't capitalise at the other end.

Don't worry, after another 2 or 3 bad performances in a row DeLeon will have 28 points on 8/14 contested 3s and buy himself 6 more games to do the same again.

No article needed. Paige will be the first to go

It depends on the club, player etc, but certainly I've heard of some good money over there.

That league is where the NBL was 25+ years ago, with all the money going to imports, whereas now good Aussies get a lot of the big money. You have to be a Randle/Cotton etc level player to get really big money here, whereas the 3rd import guys you mention would possibly be the budget signings here, as opposed to good coin in Japan.

Rick Rickert set up over there at the end of his career and got himself a nice retirement next egg, as did Chris Williams in Korea. He could have kept working really hard for the big coin in Europe but chose to get paid at a lower level without as much stress.

Japan pays imports way more than NBL.

Insightful commentary Benno, maybe you can write the articles for the nbl now.

Ryan Kelly is shit

paul - in your experience how much do you think imports get in the Japanese league.

Watched a (pitiful) game here in a Tokyo last night. final score was 62-61.

I saw Ryan Kelly and Rob Sacre playing for Shibuya.

Made me think why those guys arent further south in the NBL as 3rd imports. Do they get paid better in Japan we reckon?

AFAIK the only player the league employs is Brian Bowen, so as long as they're not running articles about him being in the hot seat I don't see an issue. Imports being replaced is a very real part of professional basketball, if an import isn't aware of that he needs a new agent!

I'm really like the NBL's comms style of embracing good and bad, generating talk and being the driver of a lot of their own news, it's a mature approach that allows them to generate more content that people find of interest, one way of the other.

Editorial content is going to happen. Fans are interested in that stuff. As long as it is not being written or biased by the people who run the league I don't see it as a conflict of interest.

Yes. Especially coaches. Just recently it was trade time and leading up to that there was plenty of speculation about which players wouldn't have a job next season. There is not an equivalent to imports in the AFL but there are always players who are discussed in terms of dropping them from the main team or being past their prime and should be cut from the team to make room for someone younger.

The AFL still does its own content for the website and turns over more than half a billion dollars a year so if that is bush league then the NBL would be happy to be bush league too

Nothing wrong with it since the mainstream fake news media continue to blacklist NBL. While not ideal this is the substitute we needed. Pressure creates diamonds.

Coming from the NBL itself is pretty bush league... I'd like to see the actual stats on the traffic of the article but I seriously doubt if it's anyone other than NBL hardcores talking about it and that's not nearly enough to offset the lack of professionalism that it gives off...

I think it is totally fine the league produce something like this in the interrim. Long term they may look to set up a small "NBL media" to distance themselves from this. But you are stupid if you don't realise it is good for the league in the absence of any other media outlets really producing this sort of content.

Good point paul. As poor form as it appears to bag your own players and potentially discourage imports from signing here, they still need to produce this type of content because the media isnt yet. They still need to provide a service to the fans that want to read about this type of stuff that you cant get anywhere.

So far majority of media interest so far is mainly about Bogut and not much else.

This article is like school in January. NO CLASS

Egwu is an injury replacement and it is understood that has finished.

The fact this article is generating quite a bit of discussion on social media shows exactly why the NBL produces it. Once media shows enough interest to generate this sort of content themselves the league would step back from it, but hoops isn't at that stage yet.

Egwu's short-term contract with Brisbane has finished and he is heading to a gig in Malaysia I think.

They seriously didn't name Egwu as well?

I think it’s good that the nbl publishes the article. Imports come and go, this is professional sport. no different to what the afl or nrl do. I think the nbl should include aus players in the article to.

Yeah tacky that the league is buying into that bullshit.

I would have said Wear before the NZ game but he bought himself some time. Looks like hed be a low maintenance guy too which helps.

Havnt seen Holts numbers but you'd think he'd be more aggressive this year considering how passive he was last year.

I think Richard has class, differently keep him and Gee is obviously out of shape.

You can't come to Australia 5-10kg over your optimal playing weight anymore and expect to have success.

Wear hit some open jumpers. Improvement for sure, but still think he's a bad fit.

AGree with anon above too - I don't think articles like this should go on the official NBL site.

Didn't wear play well in his most recent game?

The David Wear and Stephen Holt signings just didnt make sense no surprise they're struggling.

Shawn long looks good to me! You’re reaching mate. They need to move Armani Moore, and get another scorer in the backcourt with Webster to take some of the double team pressure off.

Wear for sure.

A bit unprofessional for the league to be publishing articles like this IMO.
tabloid style

It's only Round 3.

Why would the NBL do an article so early?

Does anyone know much about Chuck Long as a candidate for an import spot with Adelaide.

In the latest SEABL game against Mt Gambier he had 28 points including 6 from 10 from downtown

He had 8 rebounds but most importantly he won the game for his team with big shot's down the stretch

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"The production of Witherden and Hankin off the bench for the Blues was the crucial factor in the game. However Frankston import Chuck Long scored a triple to send the game into overtime and then once again to send it into double overtime. He sealed the victory with another triple to win the game"

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To have some perspective, Brad Hill had 40 points plaing for Mt Gambier