Isaac
Years ago

After Wellington loses GF, owner talks about sale

Nick Mills is the owner of the Wellington Saints and a name frequently put up as a potential NBL (AU, that is) owner for a second NZ franchise.

After his Saints lost to Southland 68-72, Mills says the ref standards have killed his passion for the game and had him looking for a sale. Wellington were whistled for 20-10 fouls.

The future of the Wellington Saints franchise is on shaky ground as Nick Mills loses his passion for the game because of refereeing standards.

The Saints lost the National Basketball League final to the Southland Sharks on Sunday night, a 72-68 loss which saw them on the wrong end of a 20-10 foul count.

Every team in the league will have their finances reviewed before they are issued with a licence for next season, but Mills said his 30-year ownership of the team could be drawing to a close.

"The standard of refereeing in our league is absolutely knocking the stuffing out of me and killing my passion for the game and it's not on last night, it's on the last couple of years.

Full article

Legit complaint or just a tanty? Everyone always complains about referees. Surely it's on owners to contribute to future investment in the standard of referees in their sport?

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Kobe24
Years ago

Tanty, you lose by 4 in a GF your pissed off. Wouldnt have been said if they had won, simple as that for mine.

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MACDUB
Years ago

Watched the game and there were a few bad calls, but nothing too different to any Australian NBL game.

Sour grapes in my opinion.

Some people like Mills pump so much money into their team that they expect to win and hence when they don't win, they simply struggle to accept it and find alternative points of blame.

Classy response by NBL and hit the nail on the head IMO:

'She did agree with Mills that the standard could go up, but said a lack of funding and lack of quality games made that a hard task.

"I'll put my hand up and say the standard does need to improve but it's about where we can improve and how we can do that.

"Players don't learn how to shoot baskets by watching video tapes, they learn it on the court and it's just the same for referees.

"I have to ref men's social basketball to get any practice in, so the question is how are we going to develop our referees when they aren't reffing any quality games? The answer is, we aren't."

Love the bit about players not becoming better shooters from watching film. People often don't look at refereeing in the same light as a player but she couldn't be any more correct. Being a referee and improving as a referee is just like a player developing - it requires game time in quality games and on-court practice. Not simply watching film and doing the theory behind it all.

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KET
Years ago

20 fouls to 10 is a pretty big disparity, I wonder whether, in watching the game, the disparity was reasonable

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proud
Years ago

First thing that comes to mind is - will he be freeing up room to buy into the NBL (AU) if Kestleman's approach on profit sharing is more to Mills' liking of which we can't answer at this early stage.

Second thing I wonder about is with all the money, time and resources he has put into the game, is he the type of personality that the league will bow down to to keep him happy or would they be happy to see the back of him?

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After Wellington loses GF, owner talks about sale

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