The first round of the NBL season was a success on a number of fronts, particularly in the TV world.
66,000 viewers made the Perth-Adelaide clash the most-watched Friday night game since the move to free-to-air three years ago based on available figures.
With a further 53,000 watching Sydney-Melbourne on Sunday, despite Bathurst being on at the same time, the weekend total was more than double the 55,000 who watched Round 1 last season.
While the league’s numbers are still well behind the key summer rivals, this is the sort of growth that inspires some hope the NBL will get another FTA deal when the current deal expires at the end of next season.
Based on last year’s numbers there was zero chance of that, despite what some optimists might’ve told you.
On the court, opening weekend was again a winner. The officiating changes helped push up the scores from last season, with teams averaging 5.5 more points than in Round 1 2012.
However, the changes also contributed to new golden boy James Ennis getting into some foul trouble.
Thankfully, Perth’s NBA-drafted recruit showed plenty when he was on the court to justify the hype surrounding him, dropping four threes on his way to 25 points.
With Perth featuring on both the TV games this week, expect some more impressive numbers. James Ennis is worth tuning in to.
One thing fans seemingly won’t be tuning in to, however, is the timeout huddles.
Last weekend there was a subtle shift away from having a camera and microphone around while the coaches addressed their players. Instead, we had the two announcers talking among themselves.
Now admittedly, there’s some risk involved with putting timeouts live on national television, particularly when the frustration levels of coaches begin to rise. But this is one area where the reward outweighs the risk.
Some of the best sports television I’ve ever seen was Game 4 of the 2008 NBL grand final between the Tigers and the Kings, with the latter down 2-1 in the series and on the road.
Brian Goorjian called a timeout with seconds remaining, his Kings team needing a basket to win the game and keep the series alive.
What happened next was truly brilliant TV: he said nothing.
He used up the whole timeout contemplating his next move, searching his mind for the right decision.
Then, right as the players are about to head back out, he declares which play they’ll run.
The theatre of it all was captivating and when the Kings went out and executed much thought-over play to win the game, you had to take a deep breath to comprehend what you just saw.
While the NBA has its share of truly magic moments, you aren’t taken that close to the moment watching at home. In terms of other sports, you wouldn’t hear an AFL coach’s three quarter time address in any game, let alone a grand final.
Curiously, New Zealand’s Sky Sports went to the huddles in Thursday night’s games so it may be a network decision in Australia. Or it’s possible there were simply technical problems last weekend.
Regardless, microphones in the coach’s huddle are a part of the NBL’s product that differentiates it from rival products, which is a good thing.
It’s a similar notion driving the move to coloured jerseys. On Saturday the white road uniforms were suddenly given the flick by the NBL.
This came after consultation with fans drastically favoured clubs wearing their coloured home jerseys on the road where possible.
It’s a smart decision. The A-League made a similar call a few years back and it’s fair to say few fans of that league miss the old getups.
What’s stopped NBL from doing it is perhaps the simple fact the rest of the basketball world has two sets of uniforms, one of which is white.
As an example of how embedded this format is in the basketball community, when he was at the Tigers I put the suggestion to Patty Mills on Twitter that the Tigers and Kings should be allowed to wear yellow on the road. Mills didn’t like the idea, citing the NBA’s policy.
But ultimately, when you can build a point of difference from the NBA that is actually well received by fans, which the home jersey idea certainly does, there’s no reason you shouldn’t do it.
And it’s for that same reason the miked-up huddles need to stay.
Points of difference, in an increasingly competitive TV environment, are crucial.
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