Anonymous
Years ago

NBL Imports?

Some of these Nbl imports are garbage


Thoughts on imports?


Are the australians that good that the imports can be bad/mediocre?.

Adelaide

Randle legit-23 ag
Ferguson average-5pts ag
Jacobsen Average 6pts 6rbd ag

Bullets

Beal average-12pts ag
Craig average-14pts & 8rbd
Kindle didn't play

Taipans

Trice ok-15 ag
Edwin garbage 8pts ag
Egwu garbage- 5 ag

Hawks

Clarke legit 17 ag
Harris ok 13 ag
Holyfield garbage 5 pts & % rbd ag

United

Ware legit 22 ag
Boone ok 6pts & 8rbd ag limited ganes
Moore ok 10 ag
Williams garbage 3pts 4rbds ag

Breakers

Dillard legit, but may be too late 19 ag
Carter ok-13pts & 6rbd ag
Mitchell ok 9pts & &rbds ag


Wildcats

Prather legit 20 ag
Cotton Legit 19 ag
Mckay ok 9pts & 7rbd

Kings

Lisch legit 17ag
Whittington ok 12pts & 7 rbd ag
Powell ok 11 & 6 ag

Thoughts?

Why are some import better than others?

Does money play apart in who gets who?

I think the league is getting better, but the imports are just ok.



Topic #40667 | Report this topic


Anonymous  
Years ago

Lisch not an import
Jackson is the other import, not very good.

Reply #618336 | Report this post


SteveK2  
Years ago

What's your criteria for determining average or garbage? Ferguson is average at 5 ppg while Edwin is garbage at 8ppg? Is that based on athleticism, hype or future potential?

Personally I think the imports overall have increased in quality. The problem is that its a very compact league with only 8 teams with higher concentration of talents but still only 200 total minutes to be distributed per game.

Reply #618342 | Report this post


RedArmy  
Years ago

Clearly with the league allowing three imports each team wouldn't be able to afford three marquee quality imports. Most teams would have one import on a fairly high salary (Approx. 300K) and then two on similar salaries to most of the quality local players. (e.g 150K) The Aussie players have got better too, the league is different to 20 years ago when teams relied on their stars being American. Would love to see the day when the clubs in the NBL generate enough money to be able to spend even more on imports and top local talent. The good news is that these imports can play in two leagues throughout a year and therefore earn a good wage, so Australia is a good option. Great league and safe place to live.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Ferguson @ 5ppg is average.

But then Torrey Craig @ 14ppg and a league leading 8rpg is ALSO average???

Furthermore Holyfield, same ppg as Ferg, is somehow 'garbage'?

Just spooling out stats without context behind is also fraught with danger. McKay is one of the best rebounders in the league as well as its top shot blocker. He is the best role playing import in the league and is critical to the Wildcats defence. I would therefore put him better than OK.



Reply #618344 | Report this post


Dazz  
Years ago

Obviously money plays a part in identifying the pool you get to select from, there would be some guys who just aren't on particular club's radars.

Cairns has always had to shop in the bargain basement, and have often done very well. Say a team like Adelaide spent big to retain Randle (money well spent) but possibly didn't have as much to splash around on others.

With the new local marquee rules, many teams picked up at least one local marquee, on decent coin, so again the money left in the pot for imports may have been less.

Sydney went nuts early, secured a lot of very expensive local talent, and have subsequently decided not to spend as much on the imports.

Even Perth, who dropped their local marquee, would be paying decent coin to Martin, Knight, and even Wagstaff, plus Prather would have required more to re-secure, so I'd suggest that initially their 2 new imports weren't top-shelf. Certainly their FIRST attempt to replace JJ was a real discount affair. I imagine with the streak on the line, they coughed up more for Cotton.

But all the above is only half the story. No team sets out to hire crap imports, they look for the best available within their budget. Sometimes you unearth a gem like Randle, Ennis, or even Prather, and sometimes you get a crab.
You'd probably figure somebody like Cotton, who'd been playing in Turkey, is a decent standard for NBL, but if you're grabbing somebody form the D-League, or straight outta college, then its a lucky dip.

Sometimes you get lucky like with Cotton. He was playing in Turkey, which is a decent league probably comparable to the NBL, and probably getting good coin. But he decided he didn't like the country and wasn't going back. Offered the choice between finishing the season in the NBL or the D-League (assuming he could actually get into the DL at this point) it would be a no-brainier to come to Australia. But otherwise the NBL isn't always a destination of choice. It obviously pays more than the D-League, but doesn't offer the easy access to the NBA, and for players of a certain quality, they can probably get more money in Europe or similar. There's probably a lot of guys in the D-L who would come, like Andre Ingram, but they're going to be pretty average.

Reply #618354 | Report this post


Air Delay  
Years ago

I think Holyfield & McKay were very astute buys. Assuming they're not on big coin, they fill the role their team needs to perfection.

Same deal with all of Cairns' imports.

However, with our Aussie contingent much stronger nowadays, I'd much prefer to see the league go back to only 2 imports to give more locals a shot.

2 cases in point.

Would you prefer to see Kenyon getting a chance and minutes for Brissy, or an import, Kendle?

Same goes for the Kings. Would you prefer to see Moller get his shot, or the import, Jackson?

Reply #618359 | Report this post


Freethrows  
Years ago

Import quality depends on two things, affordability and purpose. Most teams would go about building their roster around the best players they already have, then fill the bulk of the squad with local players,and search for imports to fill the gaps.
McKay is worth much more to Perth than the points he shoots, because he's not there to score.
Trice is not as valuable to Cairns, because he is there to score, and doesn't.
Ferguson's role in Adelaide is something completely different altogether, not necessarily entirely related to his on court output.
How do you measure relative worth?

Reply #618360 | Report this post


Dazz  
Years ago

I kinda agree on the 2 import issue. Partly this was supposed to cover for expanding the league, which didn't happen.
But its also as well to remember that there are not an unlimited supply of local marquees to bring back to the league every year.
Jawai left Perth to return home to Cairns, and as per their stated intention, used the 3rd import slot to replace him. What other Aussie expat would have been available if not for the 3rd import? Without that 3rd slot, maybe Perth make Nate a better offer, and its Cairns who miss out.

I would like to see the soft-cap tightened to stop teams like Sydney (and MU) running amok, and some kind of restriction applied to Aussie-Expats (/ Marquees) and imports.
The current system, whereby a team can only have more than one Marquee at the expense of an import slot was nice idea, but it didn't really work. Sydney had a bunch of players who would have been marquees, but obviously decided that if they also needed imports they would just wear the tax.

Reply #618433 | Report this post


paul  
Years ago

If the NBL is expanding then I like the three import rule, if it stays at eight teams I think it needs to be modified so it's not used to bring in depth guys who are no better than local bench players.

Reply #618434 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Need to balance this out against money, time, age, experience, team and wealth of club as well as the team needs and availability of other players and other imports.. So easy to just match up one for one, but like stats it is all open to interpretations and a big it depends !

Reply #618437 | Report this post




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