The world’s best basketball player Kobe Bryant in Turkey, Carmelo Anthony in China along with New Orleans Hornets star Chris Paul, Kevin Garnett, Amare Stoudamire and Deron Williams all talking publicly of overseas trips: the NBA is in real danger of losing its best.
And in the midst of all these names, Australian guard Patrick Mills may be one more with international flights booked and a return home to compete in the NBL.
When the time ticked over to 12.01am EST in the US on 1 July 2011, an NBA lockout began.
Negotiations involving owners and players with representation from the National Basketball Players Association have at present failed and are on hold.
Lockouts aren’t unheard of for the Americans, with comparable events taking place in 1995 and 1998-99. In 1995 it came when all games were played and an end result was reached in the off-season. 1998-99 was witness to a different outcome when only 50 games were played by each team – 464 regular-season games were lost, all because of money.
The NFL had a lockout in recent times and there is a slight chance of if happening to our very own AFL.
But let’s get back to the court. Mills will be extremely sought after from NBL boss and former North Melbourne Giant great Larry Sengstock, and Adelaide 36ers and ex-AIS head coach Marty Clarke. He should be, and needs to be.
In Australia, basketball is little by little starting to get noticed once more following a period in the dark where lack of interest profoundly set in – radically dissimilar from the golden age in the early to mid-1990s.
The homecoming of Mills would be an immense acquisition for the NBL and optimistically situate basketball back in the spotlight.
However, there are walls standing in the way of this happening including the lockout being resolved and the second best basketball region Europe attaining the signatures. Mills may well join with players of the ilk of Amare Stoudamire in answering calls from teams in Spain, Turkey, Israel and China.
Can Mills be the answer for Australian basketball? We will have to wait and see. I know what would be a great upshot for the sport – the big names applying their craft in China and then having the NBL set in motion a strategy to penetrate that market, even though Singapore failed.
We all have dreams.
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