I agree with you newbie.
But I also think some criticism should be aimed at the coaches. I've commented on this forum last week about coaches.
They should look at ways at making the game look more exciting. I noticed that teams pass the ball around too much. What happened to looking for the alley oop or isolation to take your man on or even the simple pick and roll plays. Teams don't do this often enough. It's always pass the ball around to find the open man or dump it in the low post. At least make it look exciting. Maybe drive and kick out to the open man. Just anything to make it look appealing.

Because the players and coaches have no idea what the refs are calling. Expecting last years game only to have a completely different feel... Blame Mal not the coaches - consistency and a common understanding woudlhelp.

Also like to see 3 sec defensive rule as in the NBA to open up the key way. Cairns this year is an example of playing a tight zone with all bigs and the call not being called on the illegal screens and then the body contacts when other teams have selected for a fast transition low contact and more exciting game only to find the reffing doesn't fit !!!

3 Second Defensive will open up the key way...

Bwahahaha - biggest G up I have ever read.

Yes we all agree the refing needs to be more consistent - nothing new.

1. Teams pass the ball too much ?? WTF - So by definition the San Antonio Spurs with the smoothest ball movement and the extra pass are stagnant ? Give yourself an uppercut x 1. I mean shit, watching United brick the 3 ball 30+ times for 2 games was riveting and they won those games didn't they ? Oh Breakers 1 pass bricking it was entertaining and oh they won that to didn't they v United ?

2. Drive and kick to the open man to make it more exciting ? Its a standard fare play for any PG worth their salt the world over - Give yourself an uppercut x 2.

3. There is merit in the defensive 3 second rule to open the key for dunks etc. How not having it makes the NBL stagnant I cant see. Good Offence ie. passing and off the ball movement (shock horror) will pull the defenders out of the key anyway. A game of lazy D is boring as bat shit - or is Damian Martin stagnant ?

4. What a load of generalised codswallop about Cairns zone D. its actually a modified zone D that transitions to man on man when required - highly effective, adaptable but also requires full team buy in to make it work all the time. Perth have played variations of it previously.

Uppercut again

5. Screens are an offensive technique not a defensive technique - contact is all part of the screen so give examples of illegal screens from Cairns please. Body Contact is also part of the game even in the NBA.

6. So your saying United selected players for low contact/fast trans O ? bwahahahaha Worthington is mister contact etc Cairns have killed other teams with fast points from turn overs. This last comment makes no sense - just like this thread.

what Venom said.

3 weeks into the season.... i hardly think it's time for the obituary just yet....

With the exception of about 3 games (i've watched them all), i'd say the refs have been reasonable, if somewhat inconsistent compared to pre-season.

The move made back to summer all those years ago might be the death knell of the NBL.

A-League is becoming the main summer sport and with the crowds could dominate the summer landscape for a longtime to come.

Cricket is struggling but will always be a focus when big teams come out (Eng,SA & Ind)

Also the start of the NBL is right in the middle of the spring carnival so in Melb the NBL is lucky to get a mention at the moment, lucky Childress elbowed someone or the nbl wouldn't have even got a mention this weekend.

Maybe winter with airspace behind AFL as the indoor cousin wasn't so bad after all.

stagnant, in promotion of the game YES.

Without good FTA coverage it will remain stagnant.

Rarely have i have heard "passing too much" is bad!

Coaches are judged on winning, not playing "attractive " basketball. If you want to keep your job, WIN. Winning cultures are always criticized by people not supporting that club. Mostly, people are happy if their team is winning, regardless of the "style."

I think it's important to keep a discussion like this about one thing - I think OP intended it to be about on-court play rather than promotion or season timing.

One issue may be that it's early in the season and some teams have seen broad changes which can make them struggle to find cohesion at the offensive end. The Taipans, as an example, have the same four-man frontcourt they had last year, actually five if you add Weigh as the starting SF.

The Hawks (bottom) have added Nevill and Ballinger as significant contributors. United have brought in Kickert and Barlow.

Perth (second) still have Knight, Jervis, Redhage, Wagstaff and Hire. Their roles stay. They keep doing the same stuff that worked last year.

Yesterday's Hawks-Breakers game looked like a bit of a struggle in part because both teams had made so many changes.

Actually Isaac, the OP covers off on a lot more than just one thing, nonetheless I agree with your idea to a point, early days and some teams are obviously still working their structures out while a couple are looking like they have been playing mid season!

Followers of the NBL were probably just looking for another big step forward this season, that may be a smaller step than expected, therefore it appears stagnant (for want of a better word).

A-League took some time and are into year 10 of their new look, I am not sure we went that far in the NBL, so our changes will be slightly less of a leap, rather small steps that need patience...

I swear if i hear the 'summer' argument again my head will explode.

Competing with the NRL, the AFL and Super Rugby - IS. NOT. A. GOOD. IDEA.

1) you wont get anyone coming to games
2) corp sponsorship? why would i sponsor a basketball team when i can get my logo of a footy jumper?
3) Do you really think players (esp older players) would use the entirety of their off season to play in another league? instead of rehabbing/training etc
4) The A-League isn't half as popular as it's gov handouts and the media make it seem. Even if it wasn't it's still SIGNIFICANTLY less of an issue than the combined power of AFL/NRL.

The A-league, with the exception of the funding that was granted to kick-start the West Sydney Wanderers, does not get government funding.

At the risk of King Podge's head exploding, I don't think the NBL can change back to winter season now, it has gone too far and is committed to summer now IMO.

However, basketball at SEABL level and all other major junior competitions are in winter season.

There is an argument there for the NBL to align with these as the major competition during winter, but they may not have the game times available that they want.

This could be as big a problem as anything else you have mentioned, however no one attending games isn't correct, they came in droves years ago during winter because basketball offered something the AFL/NRL didn't...

In terms of the relative lack of excitement in game.

My theory = this isn't helped by zone defences.

It slows down the game and bores me to death. Pass pass pass..bad shot (repeat x 100).

Ban zone defence..make teams play man on man. Get 1 on 1 action and speed.

Thoughts?

The NBL is kind of deliberately stagnant this year until the BA broadcast deals finish. They'll put their efforts into next season and beyond when they have more control.

It's a shame some little things seem to have taken the league backwards a bit, but there were never going to be many big things this season (which makes the intro of the marquee rule this year a little odd).

@MACDUB, try another idea, one that can actually be implemented, that's my thought, zones are in the rules and part of the game...

The problem there is with coaches who need some more inventiveness to counter a zone defense IMHO.

Bear, the HAL is played in Summer but all the second division football codes are played in Winter in Australia. The FFA Cup and NPL which have been introduced this year are helping to bridge that gap and bring the two 'communities' together.

I tend to agree with the OP. I was really excited about this new NBL season with a new CEO (and a new BA CEO - could be some good synergies) but having lived abroad for the past 4 years it saddens me to see how irrelevant it is becoming in the Australian sporting landscape. I doubt they will generate anything new in the upcoming broadcast talks. AFL, NRL, and HAL have taken all the available money, and ARU is starting negotiations soon.

I've posted this on here a few times before: if funds can't be generated for marketing, let's look outside the box. It is quite common for the NFL and MLB to invest in lower-tier competitions in Europe and elsewhere. The MLB owns three or four national baseball leagues!

Why not develop a package attractive to the NBA or even some NBA teams to invest? They have established an office now in Melbourne, the league is obviously talented (Ennis, Childress etc), language/culture (etc) similar to the US, and the D-League and NBA-bench level players can earn alot more then D-League salaries.

Thanks @Libertine, yes that idea has been mooted before, I think attracting money and players or in some way connecting with the NBA would be awesome for the NBL, I hope it happens and it works, for sure...

ch10 had female courtside reporters for 2 games, but now it's carfino

If you're talking off court promotion, not to sound like a broken record, but what are the Wildcats doing the other clubs aren't?

Money might come into it abit for advertising but think out side of the box if you're on a budget, this example cost them zero dollars and probably 90% of Perth seen last night:

During the second to last scene on Telethon, which is massive in Perth, one of the 'Telethon Kids' was given as apart of his 'thanks for being a telethon kid' package, The opportunity to play on the court at Perth Arena at half time of a Wildcats game. And then during the last scene he was on screen alot wearing a Wildcats jersey.

I personally don't think the on court product is anything but the best possible without raising the salary cap. Saying the coaches have to run more plays that have dunks or alley-oops is frankly stupid, if you want to just see that crap over a good team basketball then go watch and1 mix tapes on youtube.

haha Bear you're all good mate.

I think having the state comps in winter works.

With the growth of the NRL and AFL over the last 10 years, i don't think we should be going on data from the 90's. I think 'offering something different' works for a very small % of the community. The sports nuts that attend AFL/NRL games with disposable income are the people you want to target. Having some synergies across football and basketball is an excellent idea, something which i believe the A-League has done/doing.

While I still am interested in the NBL and still watch the One/Ten games when I can, my interest has waned quite a bit since the turn of the century.

Now this is just my case, but wondering if anyone else feels the same. I find that I have lost interest in my local team (36ers) as there doesn't seem to be an SA identity to the team anymore. In the glory/big crowd years of the Sixers, when I had season tix every year, the team had a real local feel. You had McKay, Ninnis, Maher, Blakemore, Wheeler etc. Even the imports back then like Davis and then Mee and Brooks connected locally.

Don't get me wrong, I understand that it is difficult for pro sports to be "local" like that now, but I really think it was part of the appeal back then. Not just for the Sixers but for the other successful clubs too (Tigers with Gaze and Copes etc, Wildcats with Vlahov and Grace, Crawford and Fisher and TT etc).

The imports come and go now, it's hard to become invested in them as fans. You like watching them, but they don't have that long-time built up cache like Davis or Crawford or Loggins had.

The chopping and changing of players in teams every season really makes it difficult for the casual fan to keep in touch. I wonder how many casual Adelaide fans could name 3 current players. I think not many. In the 90s, that wasn't the case.

I know this can't be fixed now, it's not like we can implement a State Of Origin type league. I know the AFL is barely a "local" type of league now, but it has a huge following which allows it to operate that way. The NBL has never had that type of following, so cashing in on the local aspect I think helped at one stage to get some more locals out to games.

Geez that's a rambling, TL;DR post, but I hope you get what I'm saying. It's just my view as to one of the reasons (out of many) that I think the league has slipped away.

Speed 44 I couldn't agree more. I miss the NBL of the 90s too!

Agree, state comps in winter are doing very well, don't want to mess with them.

The NBL has got to do something with the summer season and using the NBA as big brother, holding hands, getting into bed with them, whatever it takes we need to consider...

No disagreement their either Bear, I think you have to walk before you run though. NBA haven't shown much interest in bringing a game to Oz, but they seem to understand the level of interest here is high (e.g. we're the highest per capita subscribers to league pass).

Even if it was a NBL allstars team Vs any NBA team pre-season squad, that would be real interesting.

Someone with big boogalahs would have to be running the show to change it back to winter. Why wouldn't the NBL do a simple Yes or No option on their website to see if people would prefer to switch back to winter.

Why wouldn't the NBL do a simple Yes or No option on their website to see if people would prefer to switch back to winter.

Speed44 +1

Also, I wonder too how many fans picked up in the 1990s have lost interest and not been replaced.

Over the 30 years I've followed them, my interest in 36ers has fallen away from season ticket holder to avid fan to casual fan. Most of that change has been in the last decade.

I was never a basketball player or coach or referee, so my attachment to the sport grew from the mid 1980s. through the NBL and specifically the 36ers. I have no strong interest in basketball per se, other than through NBL.

My kids were not interested in playing and I couldn't afford to take them to games, so I dropped my season ticket as my family grew. That was ~15 years ago. I still followed the 36ers and got to a few games, occasionally with one or more of my kids. But I couldn't afford to take them regularly.

Through the 2000s I got bored with the style of the game and the reduction in skill level I felt was going on. All the stuff people have talked about excessive contact and inconsistent referee-ing etc. My interest was sparked again last year but I have no interest in buying a season ticket now. I like going to the odd game but only casually. One or two a year.

I wonder how many other casual fans acquired in the 1990s have drifted away in a similar fashion.

Curtley - because the only people who would vote are the people already interested in NBL

"Even if it was a NBL allstars team Vs any NBA team pre-season squad, that would be real interesting."

A good NBL team would be much more competitive than an all-stars team and would be a better advertisement for the NBL in the towns the games were played in.

Paul - dont disagree at all. Makes better sense than an allstar team.

What will be different is the broadcast deals will be done by the NBL, not BA. How good they will be remains to be seen, but the league isn't spending money until such major elements of its promotion are under its control.

Doesn't rugby reward high scoring? Give an extra competition point for scoring 100, and maybe even take one off for less than 70.

Yeah, I miss the 90s too. Maybe it's because they knew how to shoot in those days, in a free-flowing game. I might be wrong, but I don't think Lindsay Gaze needed a play-board at every stoppage. Take them away from the coaches and I bet they'd feel naked. Too much X's and O's takes away the imagination. Maybe THAT'S why I don't like the current game - not enough imagination. Please come back, Goulding. Sigh.

"Yeah, I miss the 90s too. Maybe it's because they knew how to shoot in those days, in a free-flowing game."

It's interesting how things are remembered, because most of the seasons with the lowest scoring rates were in the late 90s.