It's smart to try and build on the NBA ties with the Breakers being owned in part by Shawn Marion & Matt Walsh as someone like Durant has plenty of money to spend.

It would be a better investment than some of the other stuff NBA players blow their money on like buying houses solely to house their shoe collections or buying a new Armani suit to wear to every game.

At least a house for their shoes will appreciate in value, an NBL team will not.

And you could buy a new $10k suit to every game of an NBA season, including playoffs, for 5 years and still only be approaching the low end of the asking price for the Bullets. I guarantee an NBA player's suit collection would still have a higher and more sustainable market value than an NBL team

bloggg boyassss

"LK trying desperately to find buyers"

Yeah nothing signifies success like desperation.

Another iron clad case.
- still the same amount of teams
- fewer Australians than ever
- a smaller ownership pool
- no fta coverage of 2 grand final games
- still annual struggles for teams to survive
- worst television production of games in the last 20+ years
- quality Australians still choosing European deals over NBL contracts

But sure, keep thinking that because LK is pumping in millions of dollars that what he has done is somehow "succesful" and it won't fall on its arse the moment he pulls out

+1 to this , dont drink the LKoolaid

The rest aren't necessarily measures of success, but I can't agree with this:

- worst television production of games in the last 20+ years

Isaac:

Finding more people willing to buy in to the league wouldn't be a sign of success? Retaining quality players, Australians at that, wouldn't bw a mark of success when ostensibly that is what the absurdly large salary cap rules are for? Having no teams living with a cloud over their existence wouldn't be a mark of success? Fta tv seeing the NBL's sbowcase series being something they have to show wouldn't be a mark of success?

Think about how the media releases would be for each of these situations if the reverse was true.

As for tv production, as mentioned above, they cant even get the score and and clock right. The rest is purely opinion but endless plugging of fantasy leagues and manufactured beefs make it virtually unwatachable with the volume on

Brisbane was an after thought. He originally said Barcelona, Spain.

I think 99% of it has to do with climate. Not government

The clocks relate to the stadiums I'd imagine. They’ve always been a problem, especially in older venues.

And more owners/etc doesn’t necessarily mean it’s more successful. Has advantages but less so if you have scrappy and failing owners.

Cram, for the hell of it:

- still the same amount of teams
Not necessarily a negative thing.

- fewer Australians than ever
When they added the third import, they extended the rosters to 11. And there's an argument that a league with a better overall talent level has a stronger future. Subjective, anyway. Wonder if the number of Americans in the NBA in the first 10 of their respective teams has grown or shrunk. Wonder if they care too much.

- no fta coverage of 2 grand final games
I thought the overall coverage was great. I mostly watched via SBS and the app (better than past years)

- still annual struggles for teams to survive
Same same, at worst. Crowds up.

- worst television production of games in the last 20+ years
Completely disagree.

- quality Australians still choosing European deals over NBL contracts
Some in Europe, some back here: Bairstow, Andersen, Barlow, Newley, Goulding, Maric, etc. Guys who've played a bit in Europe are still here: Gliddon, Sobey, Steindl, etc.

Of the ones in Europe now, once you take out the scrubs, the guy with NBA rights, and a couple on the cusp, it's not that troubling. We're a long way off being able to compete with European money and I don't think that's disgraceful given their population. Beyond the money, if I were a 20-30 yo player, I'd want to play over there just for the experience of living abroad.

But thats the point. The absurdly unsustainable salary cap rules are designed to get talent here, and it still doesn't work.

And with the number of imports, comparing to the NBA is ridiculous. That is the top league in the world and will always look for the best players possible. The NBL isn't, and will never be a comparable league. It's two advantages as far as viewership are that its available for people in Australia to attend games, and that it features players from our own country and gives our kids something to aim for. It needs to be a league for Australians first and foremost, not a second rate g league.

Most of the other points relate to the fact that people claim "LK is doing a great job!" As a matter of fact, when your response to "teams struggling every year" being "same same" shows its pretty much a load of crap

I didn't even get into the laughably poor refs or the embarrassing governance of the league

And with the clocks and scoreboard issues, if the league controls the tv coverage and even some of the teams, it simply isn't good enough to say "ah its a stadium issue". Sort out the product.

Worst TV production in 20 years? Are you fucking kidding me?

"Another iron clad case.
- still the same amount of teams

Yet if he suddenly expanded the league you'd have a problem.


- fewer Australians than ever

Yeah, because I don't know what we'd do without more Kevin White and Brendan Teys level players.


- a smaller ownership pool

A much richer ownership pool, but let's cry because there is less of them.


- no fta coverage of 2 grand final games

As opposed to no FTA coverage of basically all finals games prior to this?


- still annual struggles for teams to survive

Wow, that is so out of character for the league. MUST be LK's fault.


- worst television production of games in the last 20+ years

Put down the crack pipe buddy.


- quality Australians still choosing European deals over NBL contracts

And how soon did you expect that to change?


But sure, keep thinking that because LK is pumping in millions of dollars that what he has done is somehow "succesful" and it won't fall on its arse the moment he pulls out"

Except he is actively working on ways to make it sustainable when he does pull out, such as the TV deal, you absolute fucking moron.

"

Let me know when this tv deal that somehow makes this horrible model sustainable comes along. Until then LK is a leprechaun leading everyone in the league towards a pot of gold that doesn't exist.

embarrassing governance of the league

Can we though?

If LKs vision doesn't work, the league itself likely collapses and has to be built from scratch.

"If LKs vision doesn't work, the league itself likely collapses and has to be built from scratch.

"

As opposed to what was going to happen anyway, the league collapsing and being built from scratch.

The league needed someone to invest and it was not going to be profitable for some time and everyone with a brain knew that.

Cram missed the memo though.

At that time, the league had an opportunity to start something sustainable. Instead, they spent millions without any idea how to make it something that can last. The legacy of LK, when it is all said and done, will be greater instability at a time when stability is what the league desperately needed

SaltyCram has taken his complaining to a new level now that United has won a title.

Gold.

All you have is telling me what I would do in a hypothetical parallel universe?

Pretty much sums up all of the fanaticism about LK. A based on fiction.

We'll never know. I certainly wouldn't beok with a club owner owning the league, just as I wasn't supportive of Seamus Mcpeake bullying others in the league back in the 00s.

I wouldn't be supportive of teams hsving 3 imports, much less the team winning the championship having 4.

I wouldn't be ok with teams spending crazy amounts on salaries leading to teams inevitably going broke just as it did back in 00s.

I wouldn't be ok with people drinking the kool aid of an owner and saying everything is going so well, when in reality this is all going to fall in a heap the moment the momey stops.

Yes its worse that my team is gone, but if you think I'd be another one of you sycophantic fan boys if the Tigers were still around, you clearly don't know me.

The league has gone from sustainable and exciting to on the edge

When 11th men are lining up for 120k a year salary we are fast tracking to 2008 again. Teams have gone from losing 200k per annum to losing a million plus. That isn't good business.

We already have teams spending more than what they should be. The league and the salaries being paid are not sustainable. No matter what the product is in court people simply do not watch it. That means no media money which means it is a sinking ship.

McCarron is an example of no matter what money is offered some people will chose the life experience of playing overseas. That will not change. Even Childress chose Europe over the NBA.