Aussie Basketball Discussion

Free 7-day NBL Trial, which due to the fixturing means it's a free trial for tomorrow night's two games. Sunday's game is on TV, and there are no games next weekend. Seems a bit silly.

Jeff Goodman ‏@GoodmanESPN 5h
Dante Exum (@daanteee) told ESPN that he still intends to set up college visits to 5 finalists soon -- Indiana, UNC, UK, Michigan, Oregon.

Jeff Goodman ‏@GoodmanESPN 5h
Prevailing thought among NBA types is that Dante Exum will wind up putting his name in NBA Draft. But still going thru recruiting process.

Might be good for his development to spend a year at college, but I'd like to see another Aussie in the league next season.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/bas ... 6787234388

Adelaide looking at playing home games in Tassie and NT next season, no expansion until at least 2015.

NBL hoping for four new teams, including Tasmania, for 2015/16

Project expansion consultant Graham Watson, a former test cricketer and a key figure in the establishment of the licences for the Western Sydney Wanderers (A-League) and the Greater Western Sydney Giants (AFL) has been brought in as a consultant to canvas opportunities in Australia and New Zealand.

“We’re not just going to go ‘there’s our four that we think’ and hope it all works. We’re going to look at five or six potential sites to go to and we’ll get four out of that. We’re determined to get the four,” he said.

Mr Neill said the NBL has a long-term plan for a 16-team competition within five years.

Meanwhile, Perth are donating $1 for every ticket sold for Friday's game to the WA bushfire appeal, and auctioning off all player game-worn jerseys. They've opened up the top tier, and most sections are single seat only already. Could be a crowd of over 13,000.

If Newcastle ends up getting a team then as I've said before, it'll pique my interest somewhat. As always, money is going to be an issue; I'm guessing the ship has sailed on Tinkler financing a team.

Brisbane, South East Melbourne and Wellington seem all but guaranteed at this point. Newcastle, Hobart, Launceston, and Canberra spring to mind as the options for the fourth.

Hard to see them getting 16 teams without Newcastle, though, so even if they don't get the nod in this round of expansion, there's still a good chance.

They seem very keen on Tassie, and there are a lot of good noises coming out of the area. They'd be favourites for that fourth spot at the moment.

Meanwhile, the NBL is contemplating a 16-team leage, 60 games, and games any and every night of the week.

There are currently 14 home games a year, and my Wildcats membership costs $550. I don't even want to know what it'd cost for 30 games.

NBL Calls for EOI Submissions

Can't see Tassie not happening, given how hard they're pushing, so I'd say Brisbane, SE Melbourne, Tasmania and Wellington are the likely four for 2015/16. Odd that we've no heard anything at all about any other potential expansion markets, though, considering that there are supposed to be six or so being looked at.

Aussies score dream Cup draw

Winnable group, which could see us avoid the US until the semis.

Every bucket of Goulding's 50-point performance yesterday

First player to score 50 since the switch back to 40-minute games. There's a replay at 8am tomorrow on One, for anyone who missed it.

Playoff information:
Thursday, March 28, 7.30pm AEDST: Adelaide vs Melbourne
Friday, March 29, 9.30pm AEDST: Perth vs Wollongong
Sunday, March 30, 1pm AEDST: Melbourne vs Adelaide
Sunday, March 30, 3pm AEDST: Wollongong vs Perth
Tuesday, April 1, 7.30pm AEDST: Adelaide vs Melbourne
Tuesday, April 1, 9.15 AEDST: Perth vs Wollongong

Tuesday games only if required. Further:

In a major boost for fans, the first two games of each semi-final series will be broadcast live nationally into all markets. Game 2 will be played as a live double-header nationally on TEN and ONE.

Awesome. Hopefully a good sign for next season, too.

NBL to Partner with NBA

Sources with knowledge of the situation suggest that the NBL are set to announce a new & exciting partnership with the NBA. The opportunity will consist of the NBL staging an exposure camp for potential imports in Las Vegas during the 2014 NBA Summer League.

It is also understood that the NBL are in talks about using the 16 players that they will be sending over to play a number of exhibition games against NBA Summer League teams, allowing these players to showcase their talent against current NBA players, NBA Draft picks & other professional prospects.

Goulding to fly to US for NBA tryouts

NBL to Introduce Marquee Player Rule


The grand final series is 9.30pm EST Monday the 7th, 7.30pm EST Friday the 11th, and 1pm EST Sunday the 13th. First two games live on One, game three live on Ten.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/bas ... 6892478528

A SECOND NBL team in Melbourne and a united state-representing team out of Tasmania are front-runners in league expansion plans for 2015-16.

“The second team in Melbourne and the Tasmanian bid are further along than Brisbane,” NBL chief executive officer Fraser Neill said.

But interest also has been shown by Wellington Saints of the NZ NBL — currently being coached by former Sydney Kings coach Shane Heal — along with Newcastle and Canberra.

Doesn't seem like particularly great news, unless you're Andrew.

How is it bad news?

Brisbane is the most important expansion market, and it's been getting the most attention. It really should be the most advanced bid, and for it to still be so far away is not good.

Depends how you look at it, I guess. It could be seen as 'this is how far along the Melbourne and Tassie bids are', but Boti seems to be taking a 'this is how stuck Brisbane is' angle. The rumour mill isn't particularly enthused about Brisbane's position, either.

That sucks. It would be great to see Bullets come back. My wife & I use to drive down to see Blaze every now & then since Bullets were no longer an option, now they are gone too.

That being said, they've got to be sustainable & be back for good.

I think Wellington would be a good spot for team. That's the only other place in NZ that could realistically handle a NBL team & have the support base.

http://www.botinagy.com/blog/around-the-traps/

LEAVE you on a positive note. It's not as quiet up in Brisbane as it seemed earlier this week.

Ipswich might get a team. I have no idea where that even is.

Brisbane Spartans plan to build a venue, enter NBL next season.

Even assuming 'next season' is 2015/16 (which is the earliest possible season for expansion according to the league), that still sounds far-fetched.

The Melbourne Tigers are no more.

Basketball legend Lindsay Gaze says Melbourne is big enough to have four teams in the NBL as it emerged the Tigers were changing their name to Melbourne United.

The Tigers will announce the name change and new colours on Tuesday.

It's a bad enough idea to begin with, but "United"? Are they insane?

It'd be one thing if they were just changing their colours or freshening up their branding, but dropping the Tigers moniker seems completely unnecessary. A bad idea indeed.

So far, they have indeed succeeded in uniting the Tigers fans and the non-Tigers fans...against them.