you guys all have relevant points however still the ideas that seem to be expressed regarding revamping the league puts limits on the ability of the league and its viability as a world class league. What people don't realise is that basketball has actual advantages over soccer in this country - Australia has and could consistently compete for a top 5 spot in the world of bball, soccer can't do this. Also with the A-league, soccer's ethnic fans were ignored (yes it wasn't ideal in the NSL but they were the passionate ones). My idea involves turning the NBL into a league whereby 2-3 players a year are drafted into the NBA and could field teams that could compete with European and NBA teams on the court.
How this is done is relatively simple and with government funding will happen. Firstly we need to open import restrictions to include all Asian and Southern Hemisphere players so that the new Aussie League has a monopoly on these types of players which are the best outside of Europe and the USA hands down. Countries from which players would come would be: China, Argentina, Brazil, Japan, Angola, Korea, Congo, Phillipines just to name the stronger ones. Not to mention players like Fadi El Khatib from Lebanon and 7ft 5 Jaber Rouzbahani and 7ft 3 Hamed Hadadi from Iran.
If 16 teams were agreed on (obviously ideal number), dividing them in divisions would be best to enhance local rivalry and a second team in Asia (ideally Jakarta - pop' 9 million) would make it a truly international competition. Singapore would join Jakarta, Darwin and Perth, making travelling more realistic and roadtrips cost effective.
With two teams advancing out of a four team group. Other teams added would include Tassy (with 2 Vic clubs and 36ers in their division) and an AIS team based in Canberra comprising the best Aussie players under 21 - building a strong national team for the future. The TV rights could be sold for millions in Asia and Sth America, perhaps moreso than the current NRL and AFL deals.
If each team had 5 Aussie/Kiwi players, 5 regional players (Southern Hemisphere, Asia) and 2 imports from outside of these regions (USA players) the pool of Australian talent would drop from its current number whereby there are some players who probably shouldn't be there or get as much playing time as they do (d.joyce). This leaves around 80 spaces for the best players across the Asian/Southern Hemisphere region which just quietly includes over 60 nations including the strong basketball nations mentioned above.
The multicultural nature of particularly Melbourne and Sydney would in my opinion ensures that 2 franchises in each of these markets is plausable.
Other ideas include putting the national flag of each player on their jersey, making each division have a zone - e.g. Queensland division gets monopoly on South American talent, Vic, SA Tas get Africa, Southern Asia, NSW - Northern Asia/Pacific etc etc. I'm no expert on creating fixtures so i won't even try. Option involving All Star games would obviously be immeasurable with amount of countries competing.
I will repost this post under another topic simply because i think it deserves its own topic.
