Isaac
Years ago

National Bush League award announcements

10:28 PM on a Saturday night, the NBL add a "#BREAKING" tweet announcing Brian Conklin as MVP, presumably because he was at the Crocs dinner and due to fly out of the country tomorrow.

10:30 PM, they retweet a Jacob Holmes tweet: "Conklin wins @NBL MVP!!! @BrianConklin14 you are officially the man! Also All-Star 5 and @ToddyBlanch Most Improved Player! Congrats!"

Not even an announcement, but a retweet.

Conklin was in the mix for MVP all season and Blanchfield was a great MIP option, so it's being viewed as insulting for the NBL to announce them the way they have. Yes, I can appreciate that this would've been really nice for those attending the Crocs awards night. But the league is bigger than that.

The reaction on social media has been brutal. And not from incidentals who've long written off the league, but from the ones who've stuck it out and talk up the game week in and week out.

Worst has been seeing comments from media people, right when the NBL needs to thoroughly win over the media and TV bosses. From Murray Wenzel, sports writer at the Cairns Post:

If an nbl mvp is named in middle of night on twitter w nobody there to see it, did it really happen? Ridiculous!
From ABC Perth's Corbin Middlemas:
The @NBL have just announced Brian Conklin as their MVP. At 11pm on a Saturday night. On Twitter. Where to begin... #NBLPlayoffs
Roy Ward from The Age:
I didn't like how #NBL15 MVP was announced but it was right @TsvCrocs could present Conklin with MVP at club awards. Crocs need this win.

There has to have been a better way they could've announced this. Let Conklin take club glory but have him delay his flight to announce during the week between SF and GFs. Or do it in the lead up to the semi-final week while players are around.

Not many players would be proud of their league for the way this has been announced.

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Mick  
Years ago

pretty average but it's what we've all come to expect from this league unfortunately.

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GordonG  
Years ago

Media release last Thursday:

"The National Basketball League annual awards will be presented in a new, dynamic format compared to previous years. In order to maximise the recognition of the recipients, the NBL will presenting the awards throughout the NBL Finals. Awards will be presented during the broadcast or at a club event over the next fortnight with media to be notified of details ahead of time."

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Anonymous  
Years ago

I hope the integrity of the MVP count was secure with the votes locked away with an accounting firm.

When were the votes counted? Who counted them?

11pm Saturday night without warning.....

At least the tweet had a picture...

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Jack Toft  
Years ago

very poor

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Haz  
Years ago

Its another one of those little things that make me not want to support the NBL anymore.

The league is so backwards these days, and no sign of improving I'm just about ready to give up on it.

Stagnant 8 team competition with 2 teams battling to stay in the league, no Brisbane team coming in (allegedly), barely any mention of the playoffs on the news, shocking TV deal, poor crowds east of Australia, poor online presence, social media etc etc... And now an embarrassing awards announcement to top it off. Will this league ever get out of the doldrums? Just shut it down. Its run by imbeciles.

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Nathan of Perth  
Years ago

Basketball in Aus doesn't get enough lucky breaks that we can afford to shoot ourselves in the foot like this. Sigh.

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D4444  
Years ago

The NBL has long been a joke with Australian media and this is just the sort of amateur hour nonsense that keeps it that way. You can almost hear the snickering on the very few occasions when the NBL makes any of the sports reports.

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Uwe Blab  
Years ago

Hey, at least the announcement came at a reasonable hour in Perth!

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Train  
Years ago

***Breaking News*** NBL management was recently replaced with 3 year olds armed with green crayons. Grand final too be played on Mars where there is just as much media coverages as the Townsvilles Crocs awards dinner.

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Bear  
Years ago

@Uwe Blab that's gold...

The rest sounds kind of tinny!

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Uwe Blab  
Years ago

In other news, the 2015/16 season launch will be held on the first Tuesday in November, just after lunch. All media welcome.

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Bear  
Years ago

Will the NBL throw in some shrimps on the barbie?

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Bear  
Years ago

Seriously though, I know not if I want to laugh or cry from what I am hearing. I don't know what the NBL is going to look like in the future, but I am really keen already for the start of SEABL...

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BruzDB  
Years ago

Wouldn't it be perfect if the NBL announced the All-NBL Team from the bottom of the Yarra River !

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Isaac  
Years ago

Gordon G, was that what they did do or should do? Could've worked if they made it really well know in advance. But doesn't sound like they did.

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GordonG  
Years ago

"Gordon G, was that what they did do or should do? Could've worked if they made it really well know in advance. But doesn't sound like they did."

Released to the media via email around midday 26 February. Release contains info on the Coach of the Month, Player of the Month, all finals times/dates/locations, info on the NBL Awards (the para I quoted), and the criteria for the NBL Media Awards.

--------------------

Yes, I've joined your board. As an obvious supporter/volunteer/photographer with the Taipans I'm not only clearly biased (who, me? Nah... :) ) but I also have to be careful what I say.

G

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Isaac  
Years ago

Doesn't sound like they drew enough attention to it, or made fans aware. At all.

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Isaac  
Years ago

Fairfax writer Steve Smith:

So the @NBL announces its MVP (Brian Conklin) at 11pm on a Saturday night. Congrats to Brian, well deserved but ... pic.twitter.com/ZtTZqyTgAT
(The pic is a Stephen A Smith exasperated "Got to be kidding me" gif.)

Canberra Times sports writer Jon Tuxworth:
@HoopsForum new dynamic format. Puuulease. #kiddingthemselves

All of these guys are media who regularly talk and write about the NBL. If the league is frustrating them, you can only imagine what the editors and general sports media are thinking. You only have to talk with one of them for a few minutes to hear about how amateur the NBL comes across compared to the alternatives competing for time/space in the sports section.

These announcements were obviously great for Conklin/Blanchfield, their teammates and fans at the event, but it's at the expense of media, social fans and (via timing and media) the bulk of fans following the sport via general news. The AFL and the NBA don't do it like this, and for good reason.

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paul  
Years ago

I understand the NBL wanted the award winners to get their awards in front of their own fans etc, but that doesn't mean it couldn't have all been announced previously.

What they came up with was very disappointing and sums up this season for fans of the league, it feels like a real step back after a number of years of slowly moving forward.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

The bottom line is this. The league has no money. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. This 'dynamic format' is just spin to cover up the truth. The NBL is a shambles, from top to bottom. And it's a damn shame because the on court product has been pretty good for the most part. But with no major sponsor, no TV deal on the horizon and a league front office that is borderline incompetent, I fear for the future.

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snooch  
Years ago

I have my doubts about any email being sent to the media at all. If it was, why are so many journo's tweeting about it in surprise? And why wasn't it on the NBL website?

It's amateur hour again. The NBL just continually does things that make it hard to be a fan.

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Nobody  
Years ago

Hey Bear there is one person working with the SEABL now. Don't expect too much just yet.

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A. Bitoni Fan  
Years ago

So the NBL chose to announce it this way so that the player could receive the award at his team function?

WTF comes up with this stuff?

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Bear  
Years ago

@Nobody, that's just it, I don't expect much so I am rarely disappointed.

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Isaac  
Years ago

'514:

The bottom line is this. The league has no money. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. This 'dynamic format' is just spin to cover up the truth. The NBL is a shambles, from top to bottom. And it's a damn shame because the on court product has been pretty good for the most part. But with no major sponsor, no TV deal on the horizon and a league front office that is borderline incompetent, I fear for the future.
Lack of money is not an excuse. They could have issued proper releases about this format so that all were aware.

The two mentions were buried at the end of other releases.

Had these been built up in advance via a succession of releases, and included all media, the social nodes (Hoops, ATF, etc) and fans, then they could've pulled it off.

They could've said that the awards were going to be announced in Townsville, New Zealand, etc and people still would've been surprised. Crocs announcement could be Blanchfield or Conklin. New Zealand could be Jackson DPOTY or MVP, etc.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Shut it down ala soccers A-League for a year and start again from scratch. Limping from disaster to disaster is doing more harm than disappearing off the radar for 12 months.

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Mick  
Years ago

The thing that the league and clubs need to realise is: anyone writing about the NBL is doing so out of charity. It's not front page news and it doesn't rate. People are going out on a limb to try to cover the league.

Yet they still treat journos like shit...

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