So by having an addional team in the NBL which Australians can and do play for, we are denying spots to Australian kids. Hmmm, not sure of your logic on that one.

It is more likely that If they wern't there, most of the players on that team would then be playing in other NBL teams and denying spots to Australian kids.

I'd be happy with ANY financially stable / responsible team in the NBL - Singapore, NZ - whatever expands the league and keeps it sustainable.

PH, you do know that there is (and have been in the past) Australian players in the Breakers team, including an Australian head coach?

Can you help me list all the NZ players currently taking up spots in Australian teams? I've got all of Trueman (Perth) and Jones (Cairns). Maybe they're balanced by Bruton and Lemanis in NZ?

In the past, we've had Rampton, Vukona, Frank, Cameron, etc but then the Breakers hosted Behrendorff, Forman, Ronaldson, etc.

PH-we have nz in the nbl so that one day soon, we can get kirk penney to play the 2 spot for the boomers!!

that's it......plain and simple!!

forgetting the silliness of the "deny Aussie kids line" line, because that is just plain silly, it is a fundamentally good question that should be asked.

How so?

Having NZ in the league creates another $1mill of wages for basketballers, it also creates another television audience (60-0dd games this year in NZ, pluse another 14 games that ONE can broadcast) that adds to what the league and clubs can offer sponsors.

Furthermore, New Zealand being strong at basketball helps Australian basketball by creating stronger competition. The Oceania series last year was a valuable learning experience for pretty much all the Australian players. Go back 15 years and the series against NZ were little more than a joke.

The Breakers also do wonders for basketball's profile in NZ, getting more kids to play etc, and stronger NZ junior teams will also be of value for Australian junior teams.

These NZ players have NBL experience. Would any of them have taken an import spot in the old NBL?

Casey Frank (Gold Coast Blaze)
Craig Bradshaw (Gold Coast Blaze)
Phill Jones (Cairns Taipans)
Jeremy Kench (Singapore Slingers and Wollongong Hawks)
Lindsay Tait (Wollongong Hawks)
Pero Cameron (Gold Coast Blaze)

and on the downside Paul, and I am not trying to answer the question, just get it considered at better than superficial level, you could offer the following:

- NZ adds significant costs to NBL clubs with travel, creates a headache in the schedule
- in most markets draws poorly as an away team
- while it might add to the mix of coverage, you would imagine TV games here featuring NZ as the 'away' team would draw marginal viewership (and in the next 18 mths every game with marginal viewship will means games shown on ONE HD, not on TEN)

I could also say that NZ's best times internationally etc were when it did not compete in the NBL as a team, but that is a generational fluke more than anything. Its a nice premise, but not becessarily conlclsuive or provable to say that the NZ breakers make NZ basketball stronger and therefore more able to compete.

Paul, are the ONE HD games being sold on or shown in the greater NZ market?

I believe so, the claim is that Sky will be showing more than 60 NBL games this year.

You are right, these things would take a long time to prove definitevly, however the prominence that the Breakers get in the media over there is as much as the NZNBL and Tall Blacks combined, if not more.

They also run a Breakers academy for young players (which BBNZ prob cant afford to do), and give a genuine career pathway for NZ basketballers that wasnt there previously (I know it is viewed that way too after interviewing Junior Tall Blacks players).

I think the stats show that the away team has little or no bearing on NBL attendances or TV audiences. I also think the Breakers playing midweek home games limits the scheduling hassles, and from my experience flights to Auckland are often cheaper than to Perth or Far North Queensland.

Yes there are negatives, but if their presence creates 75 more TV broadcasts for the NBL this year, even with only an average of 20,000 viewers, that is 1.5 million extra sets of eye balls seeing the league and clubs, and their sponsors. I think that is a positive result.

Just out of interest and off topic, I would say the Tall Blacks best performance (as opposed to result) was at the 2004 Olympics.

I reckon there should be a second NZ team, would work out better economically for teams to do the double road trip thur/fri over there.

I agree Paul, I'd way rather fly from Melbourne, Adelaide or Sydney to Auckland than to Perth and it is way cheaper.
The NZ Breakers are one of the most financially viable clubs in the league and are a role model in the way they operate.
I also agree with Isaac's comments regarding Kiwi's taking up "Aussie" spots in teams, NZ players have played in the league for years and that statement against would hold some weight if the Breakers had a Kiwi only selection policy but they don't and we have been lucky to have some of the best Australian players play for the Breakers.
Lol at Skulls comment re Kirk Penney