It means that we have teams in the NBL like Singapore & NZ that mean absolutley nothing to the loyal NBL fans of the last 10-20 years while we have Aussie clubs going under every couple of years.

How the can this competition be taken seriously by any potential backer while we have teams that are "johnny come latleys" and have little or no support in Oz pulling crowds full of free tickets whlie the NBL sits on its hands and does nothing for the kind of clubs that have helped make this comp a little more exiting.

Sure the Kings are the team everyone loves to hate, but who are we going to "love to hate" when they fold, the slingers?

NZ & Slingers = no passion for oz crowds

No passion = no paying bums on seats.

No paying bums on seats = no NBL.

Remember the past sell out games at the Powerhouse because I cant see the slingers or the breakers ever selling out the Dome.

xenophobia ???

Yes. Basically we can sum the NBL up in the past few years as being concerned with seemingly every market except Australia. I never understood why they went and added a team in Singapore, when local crowds were already on the decline.

(#187750) so your answer would be to open up the NBL to more international teams at the expense of the founding teams of the comp?

I could have understood the NBL going down this path in the early 1990's when the comp was running strong, but now with bugger all sponsorship, next to no coverage on TV and seemingly no direction from the top the decision seems to be a desperate one that serves only to worsen the bums on seats in Oz.

so thats two Australia based teams going under, its not looking good for basketball in Aus, good old nbl backing the teams it really needs 2.
i love there generosity!
singapore and new zealand were added into get more people 2 watch has it worked???? i dont think so anyone else think it has?

also what are the players meant to do shop around to teams that are low on points already, NBL needs 2 do something and need 2 do it fast

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,23765185-12428,00.html

Sydney Kings owner Tim Johnston has thrown his club into crisis again by failing to pay his players this month after their cheques bounced twice.

Meanwhile, there are concerns Brisbane could close its doors as soon as the end of the week after a potential backer of the club withdrew their support.

To the CEO of the NBL (who ever the hell you are theses days) Hang your head in shame you fool.

I tell you what folks the phone has been running hot from players leaving Brisbane and Sydney.
Players are going cheap now!!

If a team still has spots left then they have the power!

Loving it!!

There's a FirePower sale on!!

Anyone the 36ers might be interested in from Brisbane or Sydney? Do they have anyone left worth getting??

No one is having a go at the Singapore team. People are pointing out that rather than grant a license there, effort should have been put in to consolidate the league in the Australian sporting fixture, as well as promote the team in New Zealand.

It was looking good for awhile, Brisbane's crowds were on the improve after their title win (although they had to buy the title to do it), Sydney had 10 thousand to game 5, Adelaide averages over 4500 and our Saturday night games usually pull ~5k. Funnily enough, Adelaide seems to be the only team that pulls crowds even when we're not winning.

The writing was on the wall about a year ago. There was a good thread on Hoops SA voicing a lot of concern over the Kings major sponsor - Firepower.

Looks like us geniuses here at HoopsSA were spot on..

Can we take Motts back then?

The Kings and Bullets in doubt is shattering news and to say it will benefit Sixers is short sighted .
They have to be saved as NBL will be dead as I posted months ago lose the Key clubs, it becomes a nothing league with nobody will want to put their money into the league and clubs . Losing these clubs would put foxtel even more doubtful which makes the situation disastrous.
Remember the Sixers are not out of woods yet as the new buyer didnt happen as forecasted.
What are the NBL doing before it is too late.

possibly another team to add to this list within a few weeks.

Rumor has it that the Canberra Raiders franchise (NRL) may be moving to south east queensland next season; it would be a great opportunity to revive a Canberra team, considering they love sport in canberra but don't have any local sides beyond NRL teams.

I still think a Darwin or Tassie team would still be possible. Once again, two areas that have large fan base's but no local team. Perfect way to refresh the sport.

I have an idea ... maybe we could get Russell Crowe to buy the Kings ... on second thoughts!

Heres some breaking news with regards to the Kings:

http://linky.com.au/hawxh

Looks like the Kings have paid the outstanding payments and have staved off elimination for now...but for how long???

And from the NBL website:

http://linky.com.au/amefo

Still not looking good for Sydney or Brisbane though.

Once upon a time there was only one team in Queensland - The Brisbane Bullets, then there were two (Rollers), then one again and then 3 and more recently it became 4. The NBL survived.

Once upon a time there were 4 teams in NSW, Supersonics, Westars, Falcons and Hawks. Two merged to become one (Kings) and one folded (but came back briefly as the Pirates). Currently it is back to 3. Shall we move onto Victoria's NBL history.

I think people can see my point. The League has a history of expanding and contracting. Teams fold and are replaced. The world's strongest basketball competition has a similar history of teams folding or relocating, as do most sporting competitions around the world. The sport always survives because basketball is arguably the most entertaining sport in the world, its just experiencing a lull.

Perhaps basketball in this country needs a shake up before it can rise from the ashes again.

Here's a crazy idea... seeming as the NBL have absolutely no idea what they're doing and are systematically destroying the best sport in Australia, how about we scrap them all together and get some cash behind the ABL and start from scratch, building a league with some smart, paid business professionals in charge, making sure nobody does anything stupid, like say ; tick off the free to air networks who screen the games!!, way to go NBL!...that one stuff up spelt the coming death of basketball in Australia years ago.I'd love to see the ABL take over, grab all these orphan players, get som big backers and shaft the NBL,,,but I know it's just a crazy dream! Oh, and as for firepower paying Smith; they still owe the whole team this months' salaries, plus a whole years super, if they don't get their acts together..they will be in recievership.

It's probably been said before but how many ex BG teams is it now that have come to their demise after he has spent up big to get players and then runs?

Bballfan, unfortunately it is a crazy dream. The ABL is largely run by volunteers, particularly outside of the SEABL. To run it as a professional league it would need to be run by professionals. There is a very small pool of talent of people ready, willing and able to run professional basketball clubs in Australia, and most of the best ones are already doing it in the NBL and WNBL.

If you could solve the problem of finding a bucket of money to set up a new league, you could probably buy the NBL - there's a garage sale happening right now.

As has been said, Singapore and NZ may have distracted the NBL, but they have had little to do with falling crowds in Sydney.

Goorjian has had little to do with the struggle in Sydney - they've simply got an owner paying them no attention and letting them die. There's not a whole lot the league can do about that either, nor the situation in Brisbane.

Something worth trying:

- NBL revokes the Kings license and everyone forgets about TJ
- the two Sydney teams merge to become Sydney Unity
- combine players from both teams in an attempt to create a quality team that will appeal to fans of both sides
- if Fox force the Sydney team to play so many Wednesday games, then deliver an ultimatum and go without - Wednesday games are crowd-killers in Sydney

That'd take things back to 12 teams and the season could continue with some rescheduling. I'm all for some reworking, but shutting down for a while or switching back to Winter would be mistakes, in my opinion.