Could be worse - imagine a PBA v NBA game.

Goulding was big for the Boomers, Kay played well too.

The NBL & NBA are very different games with the rules/calling be vastly different, these are nothing games so should be taken with a grain of salt as its more about the junket for NBL officials and a bit of hand shaking etc!

To the ANON saying Lemanis should have only picked NBA based players for a FIBA tourney shows you either don't actually watch basketball or you watch but have no idea what you are watching

Since the NBLxNBA kicked off in 2017, there have been as many results in single figures (3) as there have been by more than 30.

The hysterical reaction after yesterday is typical for some, but the numbers show most of the time NBL teams are putting up a decent performance, pretty similar to what Euroleague teams do in the US (with the exception of the 3 big blowouts).

Houston d Perth by 44 (1995)
Utah d Sydney by 25
OKC d Melbourne by 1
Phoenix d Brisbane by 21
Philadelphia d Melbourne by 20
Utah d Perth by 58
LAC d Sydney by 19
Phoenix d New Zealand by 5
Toronto d Melbourne by 38
Denver d Perth by 8
Utah d Adelaide by 30
Utah d Adelaide by 52

So the NBL is 0-12 with an average losing margin of 26.75 (or median of 23). I think that's a fairly accurate representation of the talent discrepancy right there.

Agree Cram. Going in my thoughts were there was about a 20-point gap on average, it's a little above that, but if the games were in Aus the margin would probably be a little south of that.

It's certainly not a reason to call the games off to save embarrassment! I would say most games have actually shown the NBL in a good light considering the difference in size and athleticism.

BTW anon, Sydney v LAC was not a blowout, from memory that was a two possession game pretty late in the contest.

If only NBA players cared about a meaningless preseason game then they would get blown out by 50 every game.

The biggest issue for me is that we couldn't get the series on TV this season, and nobody even mentioned it at all until Friday. The hype is well and truly gone. Games are scheduled in-season, which disrupts the schedule and the teams involved, and we've now had two results worse than the Wildcats' result back in 1995, when they were all hung over and Matt Earp played decent minutes.

It needs to be something that happens every two or three years IMO.

Actually, isn't there supposed to be one year out of every four that doesn't have any FIBA windows in it? That gives you an extra couple of weeks to delay the season as a whole, and do the NBLxNBA thing before round one.

"That is why lemanis should have picked the national team solely from nba and European based players. Nbl aussie players are just too mediocre"

You clearly didn't watch the world cup. Mitch Creek was instrumental in winning us the first game against France. Nick Kay was huge in the Spain game and was the only player to turn up and bring full intent for the whole bronze medal game. Stop talking absolute bullshit.

"These nba v nbl matches reveal how bad the nbl is as a competition."

Put a name to your statements at least so you can be held accountable for the bullshit you speak.

"Wouldn't it be good to see NBA teams play here (against each other not us)?"

That is apparently the end goal of the series but fact is NBA teams don't want to come here. Very expensive, very long trip, very little to gain from it. The NBA sees us as an already capitalized market. They can make more from sending NBA to India than Australia, so they serve us a shit sandwich and go there instead.

"So the NBL is 0-12 with an average losing margin of 26.75 (or median of 23). I think that's a fairly accurate representation of the talent discrepancy right there."

Probably is. But probably closes right up to around 20 in a 40 minute game. And then in an NBL gym with smaller dimensions, with FIBA rules, an NBL team would at least have the advantage of playing the type of game that their teams are structured to play.

NBA courts being bigger are therefore harder to cover with zone defense, because there is more free space. The advantage immediately goes to longer, quicker athletes who can capitalize on that. The whole game plan the world uses against Team USA is basically negated on an NBA court. And then the defensive three second rule further advantages guys who play ISO ball and are better at getting to the rim, and it puts defensive centers at a disadvantage.

"Is there really anything more to be gained from these matches?"

I don't know whether there is. If we get a bunch of 50 point losses, then I would find it hard to justify continuing to do it. But fact remains in each previous year there has been at least a couple of competitive games. Chances are one or two of these games will be competitive enough to spark some sort of interest.

"creek is actually a nba player. He played for Brooklyn Nets before"


LOL yeah, for a game or two. By god... seriously. Is that what you're going to say to debate the point. He's played basically all his career in the NBL. He's playing in the NBL now. But you're going to point to a couple of games last year and say he's an NBA player.


Idiocy.

"The difference is probably more like 40~50 points. These nba teams did not play their best team for most of these nba v nbl matches. Most guys who hit the court play for their summer league teams or are end of the bench players."


A lot of variables here. On an NBA court or NBL court? NBA rules or NBL rules? Full and healthy squads for both sides? Pre-season for both teams or in season for both teams? NBA rules and court instantly advantage NBA athleticism and play style in the ways I've outlined in previous comment. On an NBL court with NBL rules an NBL team can play an NBA team with the way that FIBA teams try to restrict Team USA and this can close the gap a little, and maybe make it around the 20-30 point mark or so.

"The difference is probably more like 40~50 points. These nba teams did not play their best team for most of these nba v nbl matches. Most guys who hit the court play for their summer league teams or are end of the bench players."

OKC played their starters more minutes than Melbourne, played fewer players than Melbourne and won by a point. At the end of the day, United spread the minutes because they had to with travel, injury prevention etc, whereas OKC used it as a dress rehearsal for their season opener.

The OKC game was pretty legit. You might not be able to compare it to an in-season game but they legitimately tried to win that and legitimately struggled. Melbourne United had a pretty long and athletic team for the NBL at that time though. You had David Anderson while he was still playing well, Boone, Wesley, Goulding, and Ware, all who weren't too far off the NBA pace at the time. Not sure how an NBL small ball type team, as is the trend these days, would do though

OKC also got a bucket in that game due to one of the Melbourne players forgetting the cylinder goaltending rule.

"So that applies to gaze too, he only played a couple of games and was never NBA standard yet people keep calling australia's best. What a joke gaze is not even in the top 10 for australia."


Wow. Another dumb comment where context is thrown out the window. For one, people rarely refer to Andrew Gaze as an NBA player - despite him playing more NBA games than Creek and actually (somehow) having an NBA title. So there goes your whole comparison, and the whole premise of your comment. Mitch Creek is not an NBA player and is less of an NBA player than Andrew Gaze. You've proven my point already.

And then you say Andrew Gaze isn't even top 10 for Australia. Now this is harrowingly stupid. A guy who led the Olympics and World Cup in scoring basically every time he went out there and who routinely lit up top level Team USA teams by 25+ isn't in Australia's top 10? On what planet? Name 9 players who've performed better in a Boomers jersey?

And if you want to make the NBA the bridge you die on for that, the NBA weren't really interested in international players when Gaze was in his prime. You have guys like Arvydys Sabonis, clearly one of the greatest centers the world has ever seen, who didn't get into the NBA until his mid-30s when he was well past his prime. Aggressive recruitment of international players did not become much of a thing until the early 00s with Manu Ginobli, Yao Ming and Dirk Nowitzki. But you're going to act like everyone has always had equal shot at playing in the NBA, and act like because Andrew Gaze didn't have the privilege of being born in a time when the NBA was particularly open minded to international players, that that means he's somehow not as good?

Seriously, dude, you sound like a moron. You'd do yourself more favours not speaking. The fact that your name is "anonymous" doesn't mean that we're not piecing together the kind of numbskull you are.