They're logo is seriously wicked. Rate the design!

Their* bugger

I'm not sure if this sort of venture is sustainable but its an opportunity.

'Off the court, the Huskies will work to provide a game night experience that surpasses anything in Australian basketball. The budding franchise has been in consultation with multiple NBA franchises, as it seeks to be at the cutting edge.'

Maybe Adelaide’s management can learn something from the lower leagues...

Did anyone notice how it looks like other teams are going to put development teams into the NZNBL starting w the Breakers in 2020 and others to follow? That's huuuge news.

About time. NBL teams are missing out on developing in house as there is no available outlet.

I believe you've misread what was written - Breakers to follow yes but not the rest of the NBL.

...as each club would field a development team in their own respective state league. Which is way overdue even if though the ideal situation would be a national summer junior/dev. league.

NWT have attended all of the Vic Elite meetings and no mention at those that they aren't playing...sounds like mount sour grapes!

Be interesting to see how the Huskies in the NZBL goes when fans are playing against teams from places that no one has heard of which makes it hard to build a rivalry and follow the rest of the league.

The mention of the ANZAC rivalry only works when its a couple of times a year not every week against the Nelson Giants or Otago Nuggets who are certainly both traditional rival of Tasmania!

I really hope this works for the huskies and doesn't kill off the chargers who've done alot of work in recent years to build there brand/community following as splitting the fan base could end in disaster for all sides.

Some interesting takeaways from articles in the Mercury and ABC:

* No one from the Huskies has officially said anything, but the media expects that they will play their Hobart games at the DEC. Interesting to see what sort of a deal they get on the rent (the Chargers have a very sweet deal there at present).

* On the subject of building their own stadium, Justin Hickey said the plan is to "raise the money" and build it.

* The Huskies will be “assisting” with travel costs for the NZ teams to come to Tasmania. That's the part that I personally find the most interesting, having had issues with travel costs while the Slingers were in the NBL.

* How will this affect the Chargers? David Bartlett is going to stay on as Chargers president, saying he needed to “pick a side”. There was another article in the Mercury saying that the three Tassie ex-SEABL teams need to come under the banner of BTAS before they can officially be accepted into the VESL, and that hasn’t happened yet.

The cost is going down for Vic teams ($60k - $30k) but up for interstate ($60k to $75K). In addition the Thunder have to have combined games with the Torns so will only get half of the revenue of previous years.
The Chargers will lose 5+ of their top 7 from the Championship team.

NOt sure who will leave the Chargers. Moller. Nichols and who else?

Hickey said at yesterdays press conference they were hoping to play some games at the DEC,

Sure the Chargers sound likely to lose Moller, Nichols, Muo to the Huskies, but this could also be seen as a positive for players.

It creates a path way for elite level players, if you get to SEABL level you play for the Chargers, if you do really well you then go to the Huskies NZ NBL, which then possibly could lead you in to the Huskies Aus NBL team.

Coach Stewart, said they were talking to Craig Moller and another import who dominated the league he played in (presumably Jalen Billups), after they had announced Froling and Bragg had signed.

Which is why im thinking the poster before who said they could sign an extra NBL Aussie (possibly instead of the Naturalised NZer that the other teams are allowed on top of their 3 imports) and 3 imports is likely correct.

If not, perhaps they are anticipating Moller and/or Froling not playing the full season with NBL/other commitments, so are signing Billups as well, and will just suit up 2 of these 3 guys in any given game.

As surely they know the rules and havnt signed too many imports.

Muo would be fine as he is Australian who plays less than 7.5 mins in NBL

Or the Huskies are going to have to bribe Joey to reduce Frolings minutes down so that he qualifies as under 7.5 mins per game

Yea aiming at a strong first 6 of

Bragg
Nichols
Moller
Billups
Froling

Muo

I look forward to seeing how they go in the NZ NBL, i suspect they will be very good, especially if they can handle the travel.

Bragg, LOL

Next they'll be asking Knight to come out of retirement and play 30 seconds a quarter in a helmet.

Bragg, LOL

Either this whole thing is a joke, or the NZBL is way worse than I thought

Bragg, LOL

Next they'll be asking Knight to come out of retirement and play 30 seconds a quarter in a helmet.

Bragg, LOL

Either this whole thing is a joke, or the NZBL is way worse than I thought

Dazz is a troll or plain stupid.

Hopefully this means Aus TV finally picks up NZNBL coverage. Imagine game threads on here during the off season. SA Hoops -> Hoops AU -> Hoops AU/NZ. Evolution.

Hoops SA*

My bad!

"Are you capable of spending at least a couple of minutes a day not being a self-righteous condescending prick?"

What a classic! And I bet in your mind there wasn't even a hint of irony when you wrote that.

As a general rule, I wish them well, but lets not pretend this isn't the stupidest idea since iSnack 2.0

So far I have been proven 100% correct in everything I have said about the Huskies. They have no money, no venue, no licence, no team, and in fact have not even submitted a fucking bid.
Not only did they not get a team in this season, they won't have one next season, nor the one after that.

Instead that have tried to bamboozle the gormless by entering a team in the Kiwi league. Cos yeah, that has been the path to success for every new NBL team.

So as I said, wake me up when there is a scintilla of a chance of them actually submitted an NBL bid. Until then, maybe stop creating new threads every 5 minutes to celebrate another pointless announcement that nobody in their right mind gives a crap about.

Oh, and by the way, scheduling a game on Anzac day to create a rivalry is unfortunately just the kind of immeasurably stupid shit I have come to expect form these Shysters.
Notwithstanding that I find all attempts to profit commercially from the ANZAC legacy to be abhorrent, somebody should point out to these muppets that we were actually allies and fought together.

Hey, I spend plenty of time correcting people and generally being an arrogant prick. But I can also point to at least three posts I made in the last year that didn't consist almost entirely of arrogant and inaccurate insults hurled around at people baselessly, treating the targets of said insults as utterly beneath contempt. I doubt you could do the same.

"They have no money, no venue, no licence, no team, and in fact have not even submitted a fucking bid."

This is getting sad really. The group behind the Huskies are well financed, have a venue locked in for next season, have a licence to compete in the NZ NBL, already have players signed and have said all along they won't put their NBL bid in until they have all their ducks in a row.

Leave AD alone guys. If we didn't have any pessimists in this world who would people prove wrong?

Wish all the best to the Doggos, with the squad mentioned above they'll make a splash.

So as I said, wake me up when there is a scintilla of a chance of them actually submitted an NBL bid. Until then, ...

KR

"But I can also point to at least three posts I made in the last year that didn't consist almost entirely of arrogant and inaccurate insults hurled around at people baselessly, treating the targets of said insults as utterly beneath contempt."

3 from 300 is 1%. Gotta love the 1 percenters.

Gotta love the self-deprecating humour too.

Have signed Tre Nichols , A Stewart to work full time in apparent partnership with BTAS

Anon 364 did i say full time btas?

"Why would the Huskies have to own the DEC to get a licence, when no other side owns their own stadium."

It's not a league requirement, it's the owners' requirement. Their business model involves having a profitable entertainment venue that supports the cost of an NBL team.

If they don't take ownership of DEC it won't get renovated to NBL standards.

They now plan on building a new stadium somewhere in Hobart,so they have ruled out trying to get the Dec after their offer was refused.

Hickey has said on national media they are exploring the possibility of building a new stadium in Hobart, are talking to builders and in negotiations for the property.

Sounds like it's happening.

He doesn't believe they can afford to be in the NBL without owning the venue

Wants to have pathways through a centre of excellence and teams in competitions moving up the levels

From juniors, to possibly a team in the Victorian league, the NZ NBL team and the Aus NBL team

I for one am excited to see how it turns out

yep exciting to watch

changes day to day

Tre Nichols now officially signed

They can only get Moller if he average less than 7.5 min for Melbourne this NBL season at this point as they have signed froling, billups, Nichols as their imports

Stewart said they were keen to have him if he fits that criteria, which currently he doesn't

So time will tell

"So from a game every second week on average with the chargers to four games a year with the huskies, a lot of supporters have got the right royal finger. Plus all the junior coaching now with huskies and btas."

So whose fault is that? There are 9 games in Tassie I thought. It's also a short season 3 months. What else do you expect?

Blame the Chargers for sticking it up you mate. They never considered the fans. They talk all this crap about fiduciary responsibility yet forget the true fans that got them there. Don't even think about all the thousand and thousand of hours the volunteers have put in. They too were shat on. Don't forget the kids of course.
I get tired of hearing the lame arse excuses the Board has offered. All the other teams are negotiating. Chargers have taken their balls (clearly they have none) and gone home.

Yea its interesting re Moller, i wonder if he wanted more money than they wanted to pay him, or just wouldnt sign at the time they wanted, they clearly want the squad sorted and together reasonably early for a pre season, etc. Other wise they could have signed him in the import spot, maybe the thought the guys they have signed were just as good or better.

Probably dont want to wait to the last minute on someone when others are ready to sign up now, whether that proves to be right or wrong, who knows. Billups looks to be a very good player at that level, and Froling is better than Moller, so I think the Huskies will be just fine in the NZ NBL.

So he can go there as an import!

"I get tired of hearing the lame arse excuses the Board has offered. All the other teams are negotiating. Chargers have taken their balls (clearly they have none) and gone home."

It seems the Chargers found out BTAS was in bed with the Huskies and as such McCoy and Co were negotiating in a way that made it untenable for them to continue - disallowing key elements of their operations while clearing the path for the Huskies to take them over.

Plan to put Huskies in Aust NBL takes them via NZ

JUst a rehash of news already out there.

"Not true at all Paul.
The Huskies came in to rescue the Chargers mess. "

The MoU which didn't allow the Chargers to run academies (amongst other things) was a pretty clear strategy, with the org taking their place now to run academies on behalf of BTAS via a jointly-funded position, announced almost immediately after the Chargers pulled out.

There were lots of things the Chargers could and should have done better with their operations, they're a long way from perfect, and basketball may be better off with the Huskies in their place (time will tell), but the way it was done is very disappointing from the governing body.

From a Huskies perspective it's a fantastic set-up, let's hope it enables them to entrench themselves as a long-time force in Tasmania across all levels of the talent pathway.