Was originally:

Coburg Giants
Melbourne Tigers
Nunawading Spectres
St Kilda Saints

Became:

North Melbourne Giants
Melbourne Tigers
Eastside Melbourne Spectres
South Melbourne Saints

Mergers, then became:

North Melbourne Giants
Melbourne Tigers
South East Melbourne Magic

Another merger, became:

Melbourne Tigers
Victoria Titans

Name and ownership change, became:

Melbourne Tigers
Victoria Giants

Then a folding, leaving:

Melbourne Tigers

There has been other developments since, with the Dragons etc but this should pretty much tell the story.

Thanks for showing the evolution, Moses.

Can you also tell me WHY they merged - money, BA pressure, lack of crowds?

Spectres and Saints merged mainly due to money pressures.

They became the South East Melbourne Magic, who later merged with the North Melbourne Giants. The Magic had no money but quite a good supporter base, whilst the Giants had money but not as many supporters. The merger was thought to bring a 'super' club, and for a short time it did, in the form of the Victoria Titans. But again, through poor management, they ran out of money, effectively killing off the history of three NBL clubs in one go. Very sad story. Melbourne NBL basketball has never been the same since.

Magic had players, but Brian G had a very large retinue and an expensive training system. When Magic and North Melbourne merged to form the titans, the "new" club under Brian G was allowed to exceed the salary cap in order to re-sign players from both original teams. This led to at least one NBL championship for the super coach, and possibly laid the ground work for the later financial difficulties that saw them fold.

It is interesting to note that every NBL club Goorjian has been associated with has experienced financial difficulties.

The Titans did not win a NBL title.

St Kilda played for 4 years as Westside Saints (1987-1990), before becoming South Melbourne Saints for one season in 1991. This name change was part of the marketing efforts going on at the time for some teams who were starting to feel the pinch as costs of running NBL teams grew rapidly in the late 1980s.

Bankstown Bruins rebadged as WestSydney Westars around this time; the Sydney Supersonics became the Kings; Coburg rebadged as North Melbourne; at the end of this period, the Gold Coast Cougars became the Rollers, before folding etc.

As Vart says above, they were victims of the shake-out of NBL teams in the late 1980s and early 1990s, as the costs of doing business grew rapidly. The unregulated nature of the business side of NBL teams at the time (e.g. no salary caps, no points system) meant that unsustainable business models led to some clubs folding. Not being a Melbourne based person, I'll trust the judgement of others that this happened with the successors of St Kilda.

There is a suggestion from Melbourne hoops folk that any new team down here should honour the past, and be called the 'North South East West Melbourne Magic Giant Dragons'.

What do you guys think? It's kinda catchy! :)

Vart - you're priceless !!!

A ball for Moses.

Dragons didn't go bust, but I don't think they bailed on the league purely because of its "direction."

I suspect the facts that they'd won a championship and experienced costs probably higher than expected contributed too. If they had been knocked out in the finals and costs had been a bit more reasonable, I think they'd still be in the league and trying to win the championship.

I disagree that the Dragons didn't experience financial difficulties. They were haemorrhaging money, posting enormous losses from year to year. One owner wanted to continue (Cowan) the other didn't cause he was sick of putting his hand in his pocket.