Actually asked a Head Coach about this exact situation. I was asking after watching a young talented player sit on my clubs bench after the inception of NBL1 in Vic. 3 years in he walked away as had aged out of Youth League. I got 2 answers.

1. Basketball Victoria spruik this as the norm ! . Now not even sure what that meant.
2. NBL1 is a higher level then SEABL and it attracts a higher profile player leaving young local ballers outside of the fold.

NBL1 and SEABL are the same vehicle. It's the same competition rebranded just like all the other conferences around the country.

Sebastian not what he was getting at. He was alluding to the fact that NBL1 is attracting NBL players who would have not bothered with SEABL. Now this is what NBL1 was created for and I applaud the creation of NBL1 , but here in Victoria the top teams do run with 8 players and 4 YL sitting on the end of benches in both Mens and Womens.

It's not just NBL/WNBL players 'playing down’, Keilor women for example have 4 imports. I’d tidy up the rules around imports first.

I’ve never understood players that stick around for YL. If the YL players at the end of the bench are good enough to play seniors & not getting an opportunity, they need to go get some experience at a Big V club & come back. Plenty of clubs in Vic.

A lot of coaches are judged on wins and losses unfortunately

Bench NBL players always played SEABL or Premier League, WABL, QBL etc nothing has changed in that space.

I think the truth is here in some of the responses.

NBL1 is a league which clubs try to win. It's not for developing players between youth and seniors, it’s a senior competition itself.

Imports might need restrictions, I was a bit surprised by the reference to 4 imports. I hope it’s an exaggeration, and maybe there are some imports studying or working here playing as an additional sporting activity, not 4 imports here just to play and supplement their incomes with a bit of coaching and work around basketball.

Unfortunately not UsetaHoop. You can have as many Asian players as you want, so Keilor have 2 Japanese, a European & a USA import. They have all been brought here to play NBL1 as far as I know - the 2 Japanese & USA came in late.

Interesting topic. I agree that some Youth players are not good enough to play in NBL1, but as an example, a player that was getting good minutes as a 16yr old in BigV mens, I believe he then went to college in the U.S. Last year in YL his team won the Championship. He individually won All star 5, MVP of the finals and MVP of his club. Still it appears NBL1 coach persists in burning out the old guys, trying for instant gratification. IMHO, coaches that are highly respected in any sport and ultimately have longevity in their career have a long term plan.

If OP is referring to Frankston, pretty hard tk get minutes behind Barker who is arguable the best pg in the league and having one of his best years.

There is still a huge difference between a 16 yr old and a 26 yr old, nit just physically but mentally too, NBL1 isn't about developing 16 yr old at the cost of experienced adult players, the young ones still have comps to compete in and work their craft, their time will come , mums and dads just have understand that

Ah to the days, that you could run your eye over to the bench and see depth and quality and 12 adult athletes.

My club is the new normal with 4/6 youngsters sitting down the end and if the coach looked down the line they would not make eye contact with them as they slump in their seats.

The problem in south is the talent pool is so thinned out with the amount of senior teams, from nbl1 through to divisions of bigV. Most end of bench guys at south would t be the best players on bigV teams.

With that many divisons the end of bench guys at the top level would rather go and play a much more meaningful role in lower divisions, and there is nothing wrong with that. The effect is the end of the bench guys at a lot of nbl1 south clubs aren't going to ever be more than their current role, as the gap is too big.

Or they become like mentioned above, go and play big minutes in bigV instead of slim to none at nbl1

Have finals positions ever been this close?
https://nbl1.com.au/news/nbl1-south-2023-women-the-final-round/south