New NBL season: a cause for optimism or pessimism?
Columnist 
The 2011-12 NBL season is here and on a number of fronts, there’s solid reasons to get around it. Patrick Mills has returned home due to the NBA lockout. Andrew Bogut, once insurance is all sorted, will join him.
The best bit? The Boomers pair will be playing out of Melbourne and Sydney, respectively. As far as promoting the league goes, you couldn’t have scripted a better one-two punch.
The lockout in the States also means that, for a while at least, the NBL will be the only prominent option for those looking for their pro basketball fix. This creates an opportunity to win back fans that have lost interest in the local league.
Coming off a season where TV viewership increased by 298 per cent, many were hoping that this season would see the NBL’s momentum continue to build.
However, the one gigantic asterisk heading into this weekend is Network Ten’s decision to show games on One delayed by approximately three hours.
That means broadcasts will start around 10.30pm.
Ten, in fairness, had offered the league a live game on the main network 12pm Sundays instead of three games delayed. But such an arrangement had numerous issues – the fact games in Perth would start 9am, that sponsors been sold on three games being shown, etc – and Basketball Australia in the end opted for more games rather than less.
It’s hardly ideal for a league that requires growth to regain a healthy position in our sporting landscape. The NBL hierarchy would be hoping the new arrangement doesn’t alter that “momentum” experienced last season too much – but there’s a real risk it will do just that.
On the court, there are a few teams sticking their hands up as contenders. At the head of the pack once again is the Perth Wildcats.
The 2009-10 title winners couldn’t quite back it up last season, but already have already claimed the pre-season tournament. With huge depth and Luke Nevill now on board, they are deserved favourites.
Closely following the boys out west are the Gold Coast Blaze, a team that looked dangerous on paper last year but had some horrible luck on the injury front. A cleaner bill of health and two imports that look the goods in Will Hudson and Mike English has them a real decent chance to claim their first NBL championship.
After that, there’s the Melbourne Tigers and Sydney Kings. The Tigers have raided last year’s runners-up Cairns with the addition of Ayinde Ubaka, Ron Dorsey and Daniel Dillon. Throw in Mills and you’ve got a good team.
The Kings looked impressive in the pre-season and have importantly added some quality players to the roster that finished with the wooden spoon last season. Throw in Bogut and, well, you get the idea.
The big question is, as Shane Heal asked in the Illawarra Mercury this week, “What happens if they get to January and they leave?”
The end of the lockout could significantly alter the course of the season.
New Zealand have lost Kirk Penney, which puts a big dent in their title defence but by no means rules them out of contention. Adelaide should improve and push for a playoff spot.
Finals, though, will be a tough ask for the regional trio of Wollongong, Townsville and Cairns. Not that you should ever rule out any of these teams.
When it comes down to it, fans of each team have reason to be optimistic about success in the season ahead.
Fans of the game, well, they’re probably more divided.
My final ladder prediction:
1. Gold Coast
2. Perth
3. Sydney
4. Melbourne
5. New Zealand
6. Adelaide
7. Wollongong
8. Cairns
9. Townsville
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October 7th 2011 @ 7:50am
mds1970 said | October 7th 2011 @ 7:50am | Report comment
The TV situation is a disgrace. If Ten/One don’t want to show the games live, they should on-sell the rights to Fox Sports.
Last season was interesting from a Kings perspective. They struggled on the court, but pulled very encouraging crowds. Partly a novelty value after a 2-year absence; but the Kings did work hard to engage their supporters.
Hopefully Andrew Bogut can get his insurance sorted and will play in the Kings’ first home game on Saturday week. I’ll be there, and may do a match report for The Roar after the game. Go Kings!!
October 7th 2011 @ 8:17am
Global said | October 7th 2011 @ 8:17am | Report comment
I was hoping the NBL would get some more coverage in the media this season… Doesn’t look like it obviously… Lets home the game continues to grow despite of the media coverage. Go Blaze!
October 7th 2011 @ 9:55am
Dr Bones said | October 7th 2011 @ 9:55am | Report comment
The reason the NBL struggled for so long is due to lack of coverage. Children these days that play and love basketball follow the NBA or nothing. On sell the rights to FOX so the games can at least be seen by someone. 3 hour delays are ridiculous and will destroy any chance the NBL has to get going again. As far as I can tell the delay of the Tigers Kings blockbuster tonight is the first nail in the NBL coffin.
October 7th 2011 @ 12:11pm
Michael DiFabrizio said | October 7th 2011 @ 12:11pm | Report comment
For anyone interested, here’s the petition to get NBL games shown live: http://anzballaz.com/2011/09/25/how-you-can-help-get-nbl-live/
Put your name down and spread the word!
October 7th 2011 @ 9:59am
PaddyBoy said | October 7th 2011 @ 9:59am | Report comment
Bogut just tweeted he can’t get insured so he won’t play. Pretty bad news.
October 7th 2011 @ 10:29am
Michael DiFabrizio said | October 7th 2011 @ 10:29am | Report comment
Update: As PaddyBoy says, Andrew Bogut will not be playing for the Sydney Kings or any NBL team this season because insurance wouldn’t cover him. Unfortunate news, would have been great to have Bogut in the NBL.
October 7th 2011 @ 11:52am
Chris said | October 7th 2011 @ 11:52am | Report comment
Bogut’s insurance situation seemed astonishingly complex. Real shame it couldn’t have been sorted out. Imagine an NBA superstar at the peak of his career playing in the NBL…
October 7th 2011 @ 12:13pm
Gus said | October 7th 2011 @ 12:13pm | Report comment
Interesting that you waited to almost the end of the article to mention who the defending champs are and how they’d go.
October 7th 2011 @ 12:50pm
Michael DiFabrizio said | October 7th 2011 @ 12:50pm | Report comment
Hard not to do things that way when the two standout contenders (Perth, Gold Coast) are followed by teams from Australia’s two biggest cities who both have – or had – an NBA sub-plot (Melbourne, Sydney). Not sure it would have been right to bump one of those teams further down the order for NZ. If Penney was still around they’d still be in the first category, as standout contenders, but alas, that’s not the case.
October 7th 2011 @ 12:44pm
B-Rock said | October 7th 2011 @ 12:44pm | Report comment
No Bogut is a shame but I would have been shocked if he did play given the insurance situation – he is still recovering from a near career ending injury and has $40m to run on his contract. If I was a Bucks fan I would be livid if he played in Aus.
Michael – where does this place the Kings now? They seem to be a bit of one man show again, with imports the wildcard. I would unfortunately have them in the bottom 3.
A bit shocked at Cairns in 8th – Still have reasonable Australian talent, strong defensively and their bigs will dominate again once all healthy. New PG looks good but is no Ibaka.
I feel for the Crocs losing both bigs pre-season, will struggle with current lineup.
Tigers have a lot of quality guards and swingmen but lack size with only Burston at the 5 – If Mills goes mid-season they will struggle to make the finals.
GC also have heaps of scoring but look a bit unbalanced – where are the bigs? Will have to see how they defend.
Perth look the goods – NZ is still strong without Penney – I would have them 1 – 2 due to their strong home courts and tyranny of distance for visting teams.
October 7th 2011 @ 12:57pm
Michael DiFabrizio said | October 7th 2011 @ 12:57pm | Report comment
B-Rock, Kings should still do alright without Bogut. Reckon they’ll avoid the bottom three this season.
Khazzouh would still have to be an MVP candidate and this year he’ll have more support. Guys like Jerai Grant, Alex Gynes and Kevin Ratzsch, who weren’t a factor last season, were on fire in the pre-season. There’s also huge wraps on young Bose. Making the final of the PS tournament and looking impressive with Khazzouh on the sidelines in that game indicates they’ll be a bit tougher to beat this year.
October 7th 2011 @ 2:06pm
B-Rock said | October 7th 2011 @ 2:06pm | Report comment
I surely hope so – Kings fans need to see wins to stay interested.
Wouldnt read too much into the pre-season – lots of players rested for injuries and experimental line-ups, etc.
Good thing about the NBL season is that there is enough time to go through a tough patch then recover and make the finals – we will get a better idea on the up and coming Kings after the first month or so of the season.
February 2nd 2012 @ 4:39pm
Gus said | February 2nd 2012 @ 4:39pm | Report comment
Interesting to re-read your predictions a few months later B-Rock, looking very accurate, nice one…
October 7th 2011 @ 1:38pm
Ryan O'Connell said | October 7th 2011 @ 1:38pm | Report comment
Above all, the NBL needs to do some promoting. I realise that funds are tight, but approach an ad agency to do a campaign, and in return give the agency a fully catered box for each match. The agency can entertain clients, or reward staff, and the NBL/club gets a low cost, high quality ad out of it.
The game needs better promoting. There are few products in the world that thrive with marketing.
October 7th 2011 @ 2:59pm
B-Rock said | October 7th 2011 @ 2:59pm | Report comment
I think it has come to the point that they have to do something.
I would guess that at least 80% of Sydney sports fans would not even know the opening games are on tonight – I love the game and have mates in the league so that is the only reason I am aware of it. It has been totally lost in the GF weekend and RWC finals.
The NBL needs to get the message out somehow. Rent some billboards if nothing else.
The TV deal is a real kick in the pants – no one outside of the die-hards will be watching at 10:30pm. Better than nothing but surely the NBL can negotiate better deals than this?
October 7th 2011 @ 1:38pm
Ryan O'Connell said | October 7th 2011 @ 1:38pm | Report comment
And everyone get into Michael’s NBL Dream Team comp!
October 7th 2011 @ 1:42pm
Michael DiFabrizio said | October 7th 2011 @ 1:42pm | Report comment
League code 446934 – plenty of spots left!