Australian basketball is booming, at least in some senses.
Patty Mills and Aron Baynes are currently touring the nation, and punking Fox Sports reporters with the NBA trophy.
Next week, freshly minted number five pick Dante Exum will return to Canberra for a pre-world cup Boomers camp after his successful debut for the Utah Jazz in Las Vegas Summer League play.
Elsewhere in the NBA, Andrew ‘if he can stay healthy’ Bogut remains a highly respected defensive force and Matthew Dellavedova had a solid rookie campaign for the Cavaliers.
In addition to those established NBA players Australia can also claim a number of highly rated prospects. Ben Simmons is, like Exum, the son of an American ex-NBL player exceeding his father’s legacy.
In his Simmons’ case father David was a ten year star for the Melbourne Tigers. Simmons, now playing high school ball in Florida is not only currently rated the number two prospect of the 2015 College basketball recruiting class but also has the potential to provide ESPN’s Bill Simmons with an endless supply of jokes.
Go deeper into the prospects pool and you can find Sudanese refugee Thon Maker, who spent time in Australia, is now the number one prospect for the 2016 college recruiting class after moving to Virginia.
Thon is reported to be a legitimate seven feet tall and an incredibly skilful athlete to go with it. Thon is a force on court, swatting shots and dropping beautiful step-back jump shots.
Meanwhile, the popularity of the NBA seems as high as it ever was, perhaps even above and beyond the Jordan years. NBA games are readily available on ESPN or via the outstanding online NBA League Pass, of which Australia is reported to be a world leader in take up.
Not only is the NBA popular with sports fans in this country Australia’s own professional athletes all seem to be NBA fans. One only need to trawl Instagram and you’ll very quickly find photos of NRL and AFL players rocking LeBron, Durant, Kobe and Derrick Rose jerseys.
Now I won’t claim to be a basketball devotee but I follow the NBA and my team, the Knicks, almost as closely as I follow Australian sports. Many of my friends are also basketball fans. Indeed this article originates in a long email chain with two of my mates who are equally interested in the sport.
Many more of my friends watch the NBA, play fantasy NBA or NBA video games and wear NBA apparel.
Yet when I began thinking about how well Australian’s are doing in the NBA – with champions, and lottery picks and prospects – I began to wonder what that meant for domestic basketball.
Yet for all the interest in the NBA and record junior participation, interest in basketball in Australia, including the Boomers, is moribund.
The Boomers should be at the peak of their popularity with a World Cup coming up and exciting young players in Exum, Dellavedova and Baynes ready to lead the charge. Yet the Boomers don’t even have a major shirt sponsor and interest is low among the basketball fans I know.
Obviously it’s possible that my friends aren’t representative of all basketball fans, but I suspect that many NBA fans have little to no interest in the Boomers.
When it comes to club level basketball in Australia, the first thing I had to do was google the NBL to find out what the status of that league is. I had no idea when the season was or where the teams are located.
As a Canberran I knew the Cannons were long gone but it seems crazy to me that there are teams in both Cairns and Townsville, but none in Brisbane?
Perhaps I am way off base and the Roar community will correct me but it does feels like basketball is in a similar position now to that of soccer, pre-2006 World Cup qualification and pre A-League. Interest in the Socceroos was limited to brief surges and a dedicated minority at that time.
Since Germany 2006 there has been sustained interest in the Socceroos and international stars like Tim Cahill and Lucas Neill.
Before the A-League, there was no credible domestic path to success in the game that didn’t involve travelling to Europe at a young age. Is there much difference between a young Harry Kewell leaving for Leeds and a young Ben Simmons or Thon Maker heading for Florida and Virginia?
Now the A-League is a recognised pathway to success.
It is clear though that the potential for basketball in this country is huge but how does Basketball Australia capitalise on the success of Australians in the NBA and fan interest in the NBA to spark the domestic game?
Short of having a fanatic billionaire shopping mall owner donate his time to review the whole sport and create a comp. from scratch, what are the best options?
jack
Guest
basketball world cup finals 2014 will be between USA and SPAIN . they have got the worlds best players and quiet frankly I don't think any 1 else has got a chance besides Canada but there players are to young .
Ben S
Guest
That was worth an article of it's own. Great read. Thanks!
mushi
Roar Guru
Well technically HuffPost live the streaming network of Huffington Post
Bill
Guest
Huffington Post?
Shaun Mancini
Roar Pro
This is pretty much how i feel these days. I've always preferred and had a lot more interest in the NBA but did attempt to support the NBL. I would love to see a successful domestic league but once the Brisbane Bullets died i lost total interest in the NBL. With no local team it was pretty easy for me to just go back to having my full focus on the NBA.
Lazza
Guest
When Basketball has the World's biggest sporting event then you'll get the same interest as the Socceroos.
mushi
Roar Guru
According to the boys when they were on the project he's called Lazza I did find the huffington post guy a bit weird pretending like the NBA was this completely foreign concept to him when he lives in NY
Lachlan Bickley
Roar Guru
Thanks everyone for reading and commenting. Especially Swampy for that extended comment. I'm always happy to see people get engaged. As I expected its clear that its always going to be difficult for the domestic game to get much traction. In the meantime I'm going to head to Civic Square tomorrow to see Patty, Aron and Larry
Rocco75
Guest
i think the other part of the problem is the match day experience when compared to the NRL, AFL & A-League. It's good (I've been to a few Sydney Kings games), but doesn't have that same sort of atmosphere that you get at the other sporting leagues in Australia. that's not saying that it doesn't have fans it's just not as exciting when compared to the other sporting leagues that I mentioned before.
Milz
Guest
LOL. Well said and true. Terrible return on investment.
Swampy
Guest
Having just experienced March Madness in 2014 for the first time first hand and spending a week in a basketball heartland in Indiana doing nothing but live, eat and breath basketball I can offer a few major reasons why the NBL has such a lack of interest in it but I'm not sure of the solution... In America, there is a very clear pathway to the NBA. It is very similar to cricket and football in Australia, yet even simpler. You play basketball for your school. There are tryouts to make the different levels through high school - culminating in the senior varsity team. These are very structured comps, playing in local areas against other local teams. There is no other 'club' basketball and the only other option to play if you don't make your high school team is to go to another school or play pick-up in the playground or down at the local YMCA. Schools are sorted into divisions based on their past history as well. Local high school comps are cheaply run and parents and local communities get involved and create decent crowds. The support of the school system here is key - schools actively promote games to the students and generally the coach of the basketball team is a hired position at the school (normally doubling as a PE teacher and even as the football team coach at smaller schools). The next levels are the regional and state championships. These are huge events in America. All divisions have regional and state championships - so even the little schools can end up competing in front of an enormous crowd at a major stadium (normally in the state capital). The Indiana State High School Championship finals were on when I was there and the Pacers home court (Baker Lite Fieldhouse) which holds 21k and was packed all weekend. After high school, if you are talented enough, you can get a scholarship to a college with a dedicated basketball program. There are three divisions in college basketball. College sports are fanatically supported in America. Firstly by the current students, then by alumni and furthermore by the local or regional community. Most basketball fans in America would support teams in each of these lower tiers of the sport, a local high school, local college & major college (regional or one they attended). At the top tier there is the pros - the NBA teams - the best of the best in the world. The pyramid pathway to the NBA is very clear. It is also important to note that any kid knowing this pathway can improve themselves at each level and make it to the next level. You get to constantly compete against all your peers. In Australia it is not. There is basically no high school sports - we are club based. Elite talent is generally attempted to be identified at a very young age where they are assembled into expensive training squads under development programs at the exclusion of most of the other kids, who are then rarely coached by a professional. While the participation at junior level is enormous, by the time kids are 13 or 14 they know already that they are to be excluded from the dream of the NBA when they aren't already in the elite squad. As sports are club based there is little to no community involvement in each team. No one aligns themselves with the Bentleigh Bearcats for life. For those in Australia who do make it through the elite squads, when they get towards the end of high school there is a very clear and real decision to be made with regards to their career in basketball. If you are a soccer player you can aim for the A League and then on to Europe if succesful. You can even try Europe first and then fall back to the A League. The path is reasonably clear. For a basketballer though, they are met with a number of choices: 1) Make it to an NBL team and be a semi-pro 2) Go to a US College if a scholarship can be obtained 3) Tryout in Europe for their pro leagues: and 4) Get a job because 1, 2 & 3 either pay nothing or very little to begin with. The main problem for Australians is that (2) is mutually exclusive to (1) - that is if you play in the NBL and get paid, you are not allowed to go to college and play having violated your amateur status. College is a better development program and a better stepping stone to the NBA (& WNBA) than the NBL. Hence, our major junior talent heads to college (and these days high school) in the USA before we normally even get to see it and the NBL suffers as a result. Unlike the A League, where you may see the next big thing, in the NBL this would be a unlikely occurrence. After that, the Euro Leagues (there are many), offer much better professional pay checks than the NBL - so our talent that doesn't quite make it to the NBA doesn't even come back to the NBL. What we get in the NBL is the third tier of talent, not good enough to play division 1 college or be successful there and not good enough to be picked up by a Euro club. As fans we know all this. We know we are watching a lower tier product. We know there are better Australian players who will play out their entire careers elsewhere. We should be able to view the NBL as a development or stepping stone tier, like college & like the A League - the problem being it is not actually a development league - it is just a league there for guys that couldn't make it elsewhere. We have no foundation of support for basketball - you only watch the local level if your kids are playing on the court. No one sticks around to watch the Under 18's play - it is not an event, there are other things to do on Saturday. The elite squads play on Friday night or Sunday so those parents that aren't involved directly with those squads never see their children's peers playing at the highest level locally. The experience is so so different to America. Our base of fans is disconnected to the product and the 'A' product is suffering as a result. Rant complete. Boy that was long-winded.
mushi
Roar Guru
Even then I think the only outcome would be turning said billionaire into a millionaire...
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
I saw a mixtape of Thon Maker the other day. My goodness . . . he looks ridiculously talented for a 7 footer! As for Aussie basketball, the billionaire option in your last paragraph would certainly be helpful. Short of that . . .
Ryan
Guest
"I love basketball but it is the kind of game that lends itself to not watching lower tier comps. Every time I watch an NBL game all I can do is think about what it isn’t." "And with over 1200 games available, in a time zone that works perfectly for weekend viewing or following on the internet at work, I just don’t have a residual need that the NBL can fill." This is pretty much exactly how I feel.
The Big Fish
Guest
Its the crowded sporting landscspe in Oz that kills many sports competing for talent. Nick K chose tennis over basketball. Several basketball potentials (pendelbury) choose AFL. Unfortunately we can't have both. Not with only 24 million or so.
Plainsman
Guest
Lachlan Thanks for your article.A s afellow Canberra I too remain staggered that our nation's capital does not have an NBL team but appalling mismanagement and the lack of corporate dollars precludes the once mighty Cannons form reloadng(see what I did there). Then again tomorrow (Friday) I will stand in line with my shooting guard 16 yo son and a thousand Canberra juniors for an autograph from Patty and Aaron in the cold Canberra weather and wonder why we do not do better. There has been almost zero publicity for the Boomers who have a much better chance of success than the Socceroos in their respective world cups. Go figure Basketball Australia! If it wasn't so serious you would laugh at how bad Basketball has been run in this country and yet it is one of the sports in which we are a major player on the world stage as the Opals, Boomers and Rollers are all top ten teams in the world. How many more Aussies have to go to College, NBA and Europe before we recognise the brain drain we are experiencing and something is done to arrest this situation? I live in depair and have little hope.
mushi
Roar Guru
I love basketball but it is the kind of game that lends itself to not watching lower tier comps. Every time I watch an NBL game all I can do is think about what it isn’t. And with over 1200 games available, in a time zone that works perfectly for weekend viewing or following on the internet at work, I just don’t have a residual need that the NBL can fill. I can see if you weren’t interested in the other domestic comps of the two rugbys, afl and cricket that the NBL fills the local need for tribalism but for many NBA fans, as you point out, it just isn’t the case. I think with football there were a lot of people where they genuinely followed football first and everything else was a nice to have on the sporting landscape. The world cup whilst a nice little side show isn’t really a similar prospect to the football one right given the dominance at the top league of a single nations players. We all become soccer fans for a few weeks every four years because we know it is important, because it ahs history. Because we know how seriously the other countries take it we take it seriously. Basketball doesn’t have that history or overwhelming importance to any nation. Even the Americans only care if they lose. The junior participation is always a little misleading because I know growing up everyone played a little whether it be organised or just pick up – but only one single class mate out of 100 guys had it as his chosen sport, and he was a decent high school player but wasn’t going to require you to whip out the step ladder to measure his leap or anything. The Aussie sporting landscape is just very crowded, I’m glad people that do want the NBL have it but can’t see it getting to an A-league level.
Stan McCan
Guest
I'm going to start supporting Melbourne United. Hated the Tigers. They have me on board.
Football United
Guest
Well not ruining the Tigers for it's own supporters for the load of wank that is Melbourne United would have been a great start. No one here who was a North Giants, South East Magic, Vic Titans or Souths Dragons (like myself) are going to start supporting them because of a sudden marketing change. Great way to start the boom.