Going on the rports in The Tiser this morning, it was a huge success, and will replace the 50 over ODI's within 4 years, and thats even according to senior players, who love the format.

Was interedting to note (and hopefully someone at 6ers management took notice) has taken note that $10 tickets nearly sold out Adelaide Oval (capacity just under 30,000....21k+ attended), and the comments about a great event for a short time was a good idea.

There was also a comment made by one of the journos, which echoes what I have saiod about the basketball marketing for some time. "they made it an event", rather than just going to a game.

Please, surely someone down at The Domeread this, and has taken notice of this, and is making plans as we speak.

As an entertaining event very good - as a game of cricket CRAP!

Basically it was slog and run - Im suprised that they didnt have one hand one bounce as well!

Simple solution: basketball needs to abbreviate as well, kind of like the Blitz but with a few rule changes to make it an "event".

Let's have a Five5 game, two teams of four, plus one sub, playing 4 on 4 for five minutes each way.

Extra rules could include:

- no timeouts
- subs made on the fly, a la ice hockey
- no foulshots; instead, any shooting foul will result in the fouled player being able to shoot the ball uncontested from anywhere on the floor he chooses before play resumes - however as soon as the foul is called, he only has five seconds to do this (for example a gun shooter like a Maher or a Gaze could be fouled in the key, but dash back outside the three-point line for an uncontested attempt at a triple).
- dunks are worth 3
- alleyoops are worth 4
- teams have four seconds to get the ball over halfway
- shot clock of 16 seconds or less
- If a player makes a three, his next attempt from outside the arc will be worth four, and if he makes that, his next attempt from outside the arc will be worth five, and so on - if you keep making 'em, the more they're worth.

It almost sounds like a game of NBA Jam but by golly it would be entertaining.

I like it. Run it as an exhibition carnival locally or something. The ABA should do something like this just for the hell of it.

Or maybe we need a social league called ABA Jam? Or ABA Showtime?

What about a spotlight for hotspots. Every quarter, at random, the lights dim slightly and if you make a shot from the spotlight (last for a few seconds) you get 5 points. That'd be classic.

Of course, you'd need all the comments from the sidelines -- "He's heating up!" and "Is it the shoes?"

Ill assume that the above ideas are made tongue in cheek - why not remove the travelling rule as well - and hey why not make half court shots worth 15 points!

The game we have is the best in the world - both to play and watch! If it was marketted corrctly (and that is another discussion completely) it would be getting the crowds and exposure it deserves.
Drastically changing rules cheapens it and makes it more of a circus rather than the quality sport that it is
While I agree that WWE is hugely popular and pretty entertaining I think its a bit much to actually call it wresting. Do we want to turn BBall into something similar?

And of course, if you hit 3 shots in a row, you can goaltend.

I think that "Five5" idea is worth some follow up and consideration. Maybe make it into a carnival type thing with ABA players to start with (20/20 started in English county cricket)...then maybe if the NBL got on board, could turn it into a day long NBL tournament.

I think, provided the correct promotion went into it, it could be a huge success, and one of the stepping stones into encouraging more people bask into basketball.

A lot of friends of mine who have only been 1 day people with cricket are graduating now to test cricket as well, now the have a better understanding and appreciation of the game....maybe the same could happen with "Five5"

There's no question basketball is the best game in the world, but if you don't evolve and change with the times, then you get left behind.

Things we take for granted today like the three-point line and the shotclock didn't exist 50 years ago. Imagine how exciting it would be to take the ball back to the halfway line for a jumpball after each basket, as per old, old, old-school hoops.

Here's my first crack at a Five5 team based on current NBLers:

B. Newley
B. Wethers
D. Mee
D. Thomas
G. Saville (sub)

Why couldn't two ABA teams to play a Five5 at a Sixers halftime break? I'd stay in my seat and catch at least the first half. :)

Statman -- no one's suggesting that it replace the NBL rules. Just that someone somewhere give it a go and see if it's fun to play and watch.

I think that the ABA should give it a chance just for some fun, even if it were during the All Star weekend. Or as an exhibition by players at half-time of an NBL game.

The spotlight idea was silly, but the "heating up" idea from Satish with consecutive three point attempts being worth more would be great fun. Same with the foul modifications and bonuses for dunks or alley-oops.

this is the worst idea i have ever heard. just settle for ur nba jam sessions. 4 on 4...are u serious?

Why not?

It's all good fun;
It would be short and sharp (circumventing the basketballer-hater's "a basketball game's only interesting in the last couple of minutes" argument);
It would get people interested in basketball again and possibly expose a new audience to it;
Who wouldn't want to see the likes of B. Wethers or B. Newley have more floor space to do their stuff?

No-one's saying that it's not gimmicky or that it's going to replace "normal" basketball - but there how much harm is there in giving it a go to see if there's anything in it.

Quotes from today's article in The Advertiser:

---
"I think it is a fantastic response from the Adelaide crowd to come and support this match and you can't fail to be impressed or excited about the potential this form of the game might have," said Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland.

Sutherland said the Twenty20 concept had made CA revise its marketing vision.

SACA communications manager Jane Elliott labelled the attendance "extraordinary".

"This is unprecedented in sales for an Australia A match. ... It's all about the first-timers."
---

One major difference between BBall and cricket Isaac - as stated in the quoted article....

CA actually has a marketting vision

nice quotes, however, they are about the sport 'cricket' and not the sport 'basketball'. it wont work.

I bet that's what CA said when someone floated the idea...

However you look at it, 21 000 people liked something about it, whether it was the ticket price, the modifications to the game, the timing, being able to finish work and go along to the game in excellent weather, etc.

You know, if there's a 3 on 3 basketball comp or something like that, and it's not pure enough for you, you don't have to go. Why don't you think it would work?

The NBL Blitz for example -- if that was held in Adelaide, I definitely would've gone to as many games as possible.

I think a modified version of the game on an outdoor court in weather like yesterday, near to the city, would draw a crowd with the right marketing.

The way to do it with basketball is to use the same rule as the nba in that there is no split line. Thus making the game a one on one where the players can showcase their skill.

I can't believe the number of ludites here.

Whatever basketball has tried since MJ retired and the rest blotted their copybooks, hasn't worked. I think any good ideas are worth trying and I think this is a good idea.

Does basketball really need tinkering with or "re-inventing"?

Compared to cricket, it is already uptempo, and you can see a whole in a couple of hours, so I dont think "abbreviating" it as Satish put it is needed.

The changes to cricket have been made to liven up an old product, which I dont believe basketball is...

Avanti -- I agree. Games are already 2 or so hours and it's not a stale sport. But it needs any sort of positive enthusiasm it can generate. Something like what Satish has suggested could well do that.

All the people who are shooting the idea down....think about this.

A lot of people show down the whole idea of World Series Cricket (now known as the One Dayers) when Kerry Packer started them back in 1975.

In fact, people were so outraged, those players who agreed to play were "blacklisted" and were not allowed to be selected for national representative duties.

Within a couple of years, the administration saw how popular it all was and begged the WSC to come into the International Cricket COuncil fold, and become a sanctioned form of the game.

Yes cricket and basketball are different sports. But cricket is showing how they are being progressive, and thinking outside of the box in re-inveting the game when they here people comlain the product is becoming old and stale.

Remember the Super League for Rugby League a few years ago (Adelaide Rams).....all created because the powers that be in National Rugby League wouldnt allow the game to change for the better. Created a breakaway league, which worked better than the NRL proper, and in the end the NRL had to run to Super League with it's tail between it's legs and accept changes.

no

Gee Yogee and arnt the Adelaide Rams doing so well now!! - All that came out of super leage was inflated player payments and clubs going broke or having to merge

Any other brilliant ideas you'd like to give us?

Actually...Super League still exists, as the NRL...Super League took it over, and part of the deal was it was to be known as NRL.

Club mergers have happened in every sport, including AFL (gee, didnt that merger between Footscray and Brisbane fail miserably!!)

Inflated player payments..if they are so inflated why do so many players go to play in the English Super League to make money?


And I think you missed the whole point...being that other codes have accepted that when their product gets stale, they change, and not hold on to the old for the sake of holding on to the past.

This idea would NEVER replace a traditional basketball game, nor should it.

However, it would be a great spectacle, and possibly bring a lot of new people into the sport. Why would we say no to anything that may increase crowds?

Satish : I suggest you post your ideas on OzHoops as well, get a wider response.

we went to the game and i am NOT a cricket fan. however, it was $20 for a family ticket, which was great value. it was good fun, the crowd were certainly into it. the oldie but goodie - the mexican wave went down well. the cricket you ask? well not being a cricket fan, i can say that 3 hours is definitely long enough, the aussies were entertaining - they atleast went for the hit and slog. the paki's forgot they only had 20 overs/hour and 20 mins to get the job done. in fact the crowd was so into the mexican wave, most of us were watching the wave come around and missed several of the paki wickets!!! and did we care - NOT! but, overall... the ticket prices attracted heaps of families - kids everywhere, the food outlets did a roaring trade - maybe BASA should simply look at prices.

The modified bb sounds interesting. I would certainly watch it at half time in some form. Imagine the crowd teaser this could be.

The merger between Footscray and Brisbane??? Get your facts straight Yogee - It was actually Fitzroy who were taken over by Brisbane after they had run themselves to bankruptcy and could not go it on their own. Brisbane saw a good oportunity for markewtting in Vic and a couple of good players for free so agreed to call themselves the Lions. Calling it a merger is really exagerating what went on. As for Super leage - it has been one of the worst things that happened to rugby league. While it has all come back under the banner of the NRL player payments are still inflated and the big clubs get bigger while the small suffer. (Only 2 of the 15 NRL reportedy make a profit!) And all the while the perception of the fans is that the players are overpaid spoilt dickheads. Hence crowds are down and other codes such as AFL and Union are the favoured option for the public. Poosibly not the best example to follow for BBall