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The new NBL is fighting a raft of problems before it even gets off the ground, but the man who helped put the former competition on the map remains confident it can still be a success.
Andrew Gaze is undoubtedly the greatest player in the history of the old NBL, winning two championships and seven MVP awards during 21 years with the Melbourne Tigers.
The new competition is to be launched in October, with officials hoping to announce the participating teams this week.
But it has already emerged major markets Sydney and Brisbane won’t be represented, while on Friday the defending champions South Dragons also pulled out.
The Tigers are on the verge of doing the same and will decide their course of action at a meeting on Monday.
Gaze is extremely critical of Dragons co-owner Mark Cowan and has queried the merits of Melbourne’s movements, but can still see a silver lining for Australian basketball – eventually.
“I’m supremely confident,” Gaze told AAP.
“When you look at the strengths of the game, the participation rates, the skills we have, the quality of the players, there is no doubt we’ve got the talent and the infrastructure to put together a very good league.
“I think it is going to take some time.
“The expectation that we would launch a season this October and it would be bigger and better than anything we’ve had before, that is unrealistic.
“But if you take a longer-term view about building towards something, then I – despite the situation right now – still believe eventually we will put together a very good, high-quality, elite-level competition.”
Some, including Tigers owner Seamus McPeake, believe the league needs to take a year off, but Gaze feels the upcoming season must go ahead.
“I personally think that we need to have a season,” he said.
“I don’t think we necessarily need to have a full-blown season with the expenses and budgets we’ve had in the past.
“But I think the sport needs some form of season.
“To say this is it, this is the answer and we move forward, I don’t think it’s ever going to work that way.
“I think we need to grow and introduce new clubs and build the sport back up, rather than say we’ve got some magic panacea to all our problems.”
And Gaze laid the boot into Cowan and said there was no guarantee the Dragons would get back into the competition when it suits them.
“Certainly the announcement by the Dragons was a surprise,” he said.
“Mark Cowan was a very strong supporter and was driving the need to have a season.
“It was a complete and total turnaround from the position he has maintained for an extended period of time to come out on Friday to say ‘no, we no longer think it’s viable’.
“Without any explanation, any consultation, absolutely nothing, someone does that. It is somewhat indicative of the problems that we face.”
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