It may be very premature to put this out there, but is Australian basketball on the up? There’s no denying that the past decade has been a very tough period for basketball in this country.
Since the high point of the mid 1990s, Australian basketball seems to have declined steadily.
The NBL has shrinked from relevance, disappeared off free-to-air TV screens, and is virtually absent from newspapers.
Many NBL clubs have gone under – the Newcastle Falcons, Hunter Pirates, Sydney Kings, West Sydney Razorbacks, Sydney Spirit, Brisbane Bullets – and we’ve seen a string of our greatest players retire – Gaze, Heal, Bradtke and Longley.
But after all the bad things that have happened in basketball in this country in the past ten years, has the sport finally turned the corner? Is it time for some optimism?
Let me set the scene.
At the moment the men’s basketball team is at the World Championships and opened their campaign with a close win over Jordan. Overnight they play Argentina, the world champions.
This is a team that is missing probably Australia’s best player, the NBA’s Andrew Bogut, as well as former NBA big man Nathan Jawai.
Going into this tournament the Boomers have looked very good. They won nine games out of ten, and have a deep roster with some talented and experienced players, especially in the centre/power forward area.
Some players are in the NBA, like Patrick Mills, while others are seasoned veterans from Europe’s best leagues like Matthew Nielsen and Al Maric.
If the Boomers had Bogut and Jawai, who are both injured, they might possess the most talented Australian men’s team ever. Even without them, they have a very good chance of achieving some success at the world championships.
This is a tournament where powerhouse countries like the US, Spain and Germany are under-strength and also missing players. The Boomers have had a great warm up to the world championships, something missing from previous outings, and seem to have developed a strong defensive culture.
In coach Brett Brown they have someone who’s got coaching experience in both the NBA and the NBL before.
Moving away from the Boomers, the NBL seems to be slowly clawing its way back.
The Sydney Kings are back in the competition this year and there are rumblings about the Brisbane Bullets making a comeback.
Both the Kings and Bullets went under largely because of financial trouble, the Kings through the collapse of Firepower and the Bullets through ABC Learning Centres owner Eddy Groves’ bankruptcy.
The flow of playing talent to America and Europe doesn’t seem to have hurt the national league. Australia continues to produce great basketballers, who are going on to gain experience in tougher leagues overseas. Many have gone through the fantastic college system in America.
Has there ever been a time when we had more basketball players starring in the best international leagues? I don’t think so.
At the same time participation rates for basketball in Australia are doing well. The grassroots of the game appear strong.
The launch of Network Ten’s One channel has helped basketball by screening more games. Fox Sports have continued to keep the sport alive with its coverage and women’s basketball in this country continues to soar to great heights.
We have the best female player in the world – Lauren Jackson – probably the second best team in the world, in the Opals, and a strong local league in the WNBL.
I believe if the Boomers can do well at the world championships, say reaching the final or claiming third, then it will be a major coup for the sport.
If the Boomers can back that up with a medal in London in 2012, then basketball will really be on the up and up.
These remain big ifs. But Basketball Australia needs to make sure it capitalizes on the recent momentum the sport has. It needs to ensure the NBL remains viable and stable, and increase the marketing and promotion of the sport.
It needs to attract more sponsors and entice those fans of the mid-1990s who strayed away, back to the fold. And this will all be helped along by some Boomers success in Turkey. Here’s hoping.
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