Isaac
Years ago

NZ NBL rejecting Australian imports

Expensive, overconfident and boring Australian imports have been rejected by New Zealand franchises and replaced by Americans for the National Basketball League.

Seventeen of the 20 imports this season will be Americans, compared to only eight last year, and there will be only two Australians, down from nine.

"The Australians have priced themselves out of the market. They have gone stupid with their asking prices," he said. "On top of that they are asking for insurance protection for their Australian contracts."

He said the Australian players were technically superb, worked hard, and fitted in well, but lacked the X-factor needed to bring in crowds.

Full article

I guess those boring imports would include guys like Axel Dench, Jacob Holmes, David Cooper, and whoever else. They might also be including Dusty Rychart in their assessment of those missing the X-factor?

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Anonymous
Years ago

it's bad for the NBL

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Moses Guthrie
Years ago

Strewth, that's some fighting words there. I'm surprised Ocsar isn't already over there, plying his trade. He'd do well to get acclimatised to the local scene. You never know - we might see him on Motorway sometime soon!

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EC
Years ago

They are just pissed off because Australians refuse to go back after one season. They find the place boring, freezing cold and financially unrewarding. NZ haven't chosen to reject Australians, Australians have rejected the offer to go back.

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Isaac
Years ago

EC, are you ghost-writing Dusty's Guide to the World again?

Lots of places are boring if you don't leave your room!

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EC
Years ago

Isaac, don't put words in my mouth. I made no mention of any player in particular but since you are asking, I visited Napier last July and as beautiful a place it is, after 2 days I was ready to leave. The place was dead. After 6pm, you were lucky to spot 2 people walking down the street, found 2 restaurants open in the whole town and nowhere for any kind of entertainment apart from the grand final.

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hurley
Years ago

oh well they reject us? henare, olson,guess its home for you's.... sorry for developing your skills and national team.

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Isaac
Years ago

So you found a holiday "financially unrewarding" - interesting! ;)

I don't know about passing judgement on a country based on a two day visit to one place.

Sounds like there's a bit of a wine thing in Napier, so perhaps your comments could be akin to visiting McLaren Vale without the wineries that exist in the region around it? McLaren Vale would probably be pretty dead after 6PM too.

I personally can't wait to visit New Zealand hopefully later this year - many people absolutely rave about it.

(I think Dusty may have found Adelaide a bit too "financially unrewarding" to hang around as well, unfortunately.)

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EC
Years ago

When you live close to the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale, the "wine thing" may not be what you are looking for. We were in Napier on 2 week days and knowing the place was renowned for its wineries, we looked for them and found none open during the week. I had a fantastic week in the North Island travelling between Auckland and Wellington, but would not spend 3 months in any of the places I visited. New Zealand is a great holiday destination but I would limit it to holiday. I didn't say I found a holiday financially unrewarding, I would hot have missed that holiday for the world, I am just pointing out that I can justify anyone finding Napier boring if you had to spend 3 months there.

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Moses Guthrie
Years ago

Isaac (or is it now Issac?), is there any truth to the rumour that you're only visiting NZ to set up Hoops NZ?

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Isaac
Years ago

No truth. I did check to see if hoops.co.nz was available once but then lost interest. I've already got enough things to keep me busy for now.

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Hoops

NZ NBL rejecting Australian imports

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