New NBL site.

The Townsville Crocodiles are looking to the Wollongong Hawks to save their NBL future after the club's owners tried to hand in the club's NBL licence last week.
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In what would be a killer blow to the national basketball competition, the Crocs are now being steered forward by a committee desperate to lock in a community-owned model as pioneered by the Wollongong Hawks and Cairns Taipans.
The model sees the team become exclusively funded by membership fees, gate takings, sponsors and a major naming rights sponsor.
Private ownership has proved a difficult option for clubs, and the Queensland team's decision caught the competition by surprise.
"We were all caught off-guard by it when [owners] Barrier Reef Basketball decided they weren't in the right position to operate the club," Hawks general manager Mili Simic said.
"But within 24 hours there was a steering committee to save the Crocs and they've had a great response so far.
"They've taken some big steps in saying Townville wants to have a team in the NBL."
Wollongong was faced with the same financial trouble in 2009 when the club mounted a campaign to save their team.
Lead by former captain Mat Campbell, the Save The Hawks movement was seen as a triumph in the congested sporting climate.
The Hawks secured a major naming rights sponsor courtesy of local mining magnate Arun Jagatramka and his Gujarat NRE company, and has since enjoyed strong support in the Illawarra.
Since the Crocodiles' announcement, Mili Simic has spoken to the team's staff on a daily basis to offer advice.
He's helped them establish the pledge website savethecrocs.com and explained how the community-owned model works in Wollongong.
"For them it's about locking in the support they know they have, and talking to the [home court] venue to get the best deal, while rallying the troops to get membership," he said.
"You ride a lot of emotion when you're saving a club, but they're spreading the word and I'm confident we'll have an NBL next year and it'll be an eight-team comp with the Crocs."
The Townsville community has responded strongly to the news their team could be folding, with their Facebook group flooded with messages of support.
Over the last week the mood has become increasingly optimistic.
"Think about our journey and it will confirm why we can't let this go - tell your friends, families and your employers - this is for our community," the team wrote on their Facebook page.
Simic says the community-owned model has its challenges, but diligent spending means the club can stay afloat.
Of great concern now is the wealth division within the NBL.
The divide between the rich and poor is growing.
The Perth Wildcats and New Zealand Breakers both enjoy enormous local support, with Perth regularly drawing over 10,000 people to their home games while other teams struggle to attract 4,000.
Meanwhile, the Melbourne Tigers are backed by CEO and Dodo founder Michael Slepoy and enjoy a comfortable financial position.
Yet the Hawks, Crocodiles, Cairns Taipans, Adelaide 36ers and Sydney Kings have all faced major financial threats in recent years, and openly admit to spending under the NBL's salary cap each year.
The last two NBL grand finals have been fought out between the Perth Wildcats and the New Zealand Breakers, who dominated the 2012/13 season.
"We have to find different ways to compete, but we're all on the same team in sharing best practices and drawing on new revenue," Simic said.
"We all meet and realise we have different resources to pull from to make the competition better."
He says additional teams from Brisbane and Melbourne are a realistic possibility in coming years and would help bolster the NBL.

THE new National Basketball League will formally re-launch itself next month, jumpballs, 48-minute games and a range of other issues back on the discussion table.

But NBL Pty Ltd interim chief executive officer Steve Dunn cautioned the existing salary cap and player points systems had to stay in place for the forthcoming 2013-14 season.

"The clubs have been recruiting and allocating their funding on that basis so we can't change the rules midstream," said Dunn, an owner-director of the Sydney Kings who was elected onto NBL Pty Ltd's four-man working board by the clubs.

The working team was formed in the wake of the clubs' unanimous decision to demerge from under Basketball Australia's management, the new NBL Pty Ltd entity incorporated on June 10.

Chief executives of each of the league's eight teams - Adelaide 36ers, Cairns Taipans, Melbourne Tigers, New Zealand Breakers, Perth Wildcats, Sydney Kings, Townsville Crocodiles and Wollongong Hawks - met yesterday in Sydney to finalise and formalise demerger details.

"It was a terrific and very positive meeting," Dunn said.

"Finding a high-profile CEO is now a big part of the plan."

Former V8 Supercars executive chairman Tony Cochrane has been retained by NBL Pty Ltd to finalise aspects of the broadcast deal.

"It's a very exciting time for us," Dunn said.

"Issues such as reinstating the jumpball and 48-minute games will be back on the discussion table, though the 48-minute format would depend on our broadcast partners.

"We have a couple of very positive developments with some of our commercial partners which we are not yet at liberty to discuss in the public forum. But we could not be happier with where we are and our progress."

Brisbane back with a bullet next year
The NBL will welcome back a team from Brisbane next year, while interim chief executive Steve Dunn hopes the de-merger with Basketball Australia will finally go ahead in the coming weeks.

Brisbane haven't had a team in the NBL since the Bullets folded in 2008.
The brains trust behind the relaunched NBL have identified an urgent need to regain a foothold in the Brisbane market.

Although there won't be time to achieve that ahead of the coming season, which tips off on October 10, it's almost certain to be given the green light for the following year.

Dunn said places like Melbourne, Sydney and New Zealand were among the contenders for a second team down the track.

But Brisbane remained the top priority, with the NBL likely to become a nine-team competition in the 2014/15 season.
"We need a team in Brisbane before anywhere else," said Dunn, who is also co-owner of the Sydney Kings. We need one, we want one, we'll make it happen. That's one of our major objectives.

"I think we'll be spending a lot of time getting Brisbane up and running, and then working out the next market we need to go to."
The de-merger between Basketball Australia and the NBL was meant to go ahead several months ago. But complications in transferring the existing TV rights deal with Channel Ten from BA to the NBL delayed the process.

Dunn hopes the de-merger will go ahead by the end of the month.
Under the existing deal with BA, NBL clubs are required to contribute a $250,000 bank guarantee in order to compete in the competition.

That figure will be reduced to $50,000 once the de-merger is finalised. The pool of money will be used by the NBL to provide assistance to any clubs who fall into financial trouble.
Although clubs will find it much easier to come up with a $50,000 bank guarantee under the de-merger, the reduced payment comes with a catch - they must give the NBL access to their financial accounts throughout the year.

"We will be completely across all clubs on a monthly basis, especially those that we believe may need more financial analysis done," Dunn said. "We'll do this so we won't get to the situation at the end of the year where we see a club is $1 million in debt or has not paid certain bills.

"Each club is now going to be a shareholder of this new league, so if one club does something wrong, it will affect all clubs financially."

The Townsville Crocodiles almost folded last season amidst crippling debts, but have since been saved under a community-owned format.
Wildcats chief executive Nick Marvin, who is also a chairman of the NBL board, said the league would attempt to forge closer ties with Asia and the NBA in the coming years.


Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/sport/basketball/brisbane-back-with-a-bullet-next-year-20130820-2s8f0.html#ixzz2cTetbNaZ

Nice!!

A down side to the reduced costs for the NBL is that we may now see a EPL type situation where the class between top and bottom is big, well we already have one with Perth and NZ, but it may get even worse.

I'm pretty sure Wellington are pretty much ready to join.

Yea it better be the Bullets, will be very disappointed if its not, might not even bother than. Hopefully we can be competitive.

Cairns coach Aaron Fearne and Sydney Kings director Steve Dunn have called for the NBL to have three imports or a marquee player

Dunn stressed he was speaking from purely a personal point of view and not representing the NBL when he said changing the current import restriction from two to three, or introducing the concept of a "marquee player" outside the salary cap were important considerations.

"We have to recognise we are about entertainment first," he said, initial import restrictions based around the NBL once being seen as the vehicle to Boomers selection.

But with more Australian players seeking fame and fortune overseas - then winning national team selection - the NBL's role as a Boomers' feeder is becoming increasingly less relevant.

"We keep forgetting too that we lose 200-odd kids playing in college (in the US) every year, Dunn said.

"Many of those are our best young kids coming through.

"In my ideal world, I'd like to see a 'marquee player' allowance and maybe that can be an import and maybe a Delly (Matthew Dellavedova)."

Hot off the London Olympics and with an invite to the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA camp, the Boomers' starting point guard in the current Oceania Series against New Zealand will not be in the NBL anytime soon.

"So where do we go? $300,000 for a marquee player or do you use that for three imports at $100,000 each," Dunn said.

Fearne said he was concerned at the dilution of talent, especially with NBL Pty Ltd committing to a Brisbane club and a second Melbourne club in 2014-15.

"We're about providing entertainment," Fearne said.

"We should have three imports per team and each team should register 12 players.

"When I started playing (NBL), we had Australian talents such as the Gazes, the Bradtkes, superstar Australians and the top college kids.

"But just look at this season and our best college kids like Dellavedova, (Ryan) Broekhoff and (Brock) Motum.

"They're not even giving us (the NBL) a year."

Frankston junior Broekhoff has spent four years at Valparaiso University in the US, is in the Boomers team and is signed to play for Besiktas in Turkey.

Brisbane big-man Motum starred at Washington State University and has signed with Italy's Virtus Bologna.

With the NBL demerging from under the auspices of Basketball Australia, it has carte blanche - within reason and FIBA approval - to run its competition however it sees fit.

Whether that means reintroducing jumpballs, time-outs on the floor or import restriction changes, it now falls to the NBL to determine how it wants its new product to look.

European, Asian, South American and Australian players are now competing in all corners of the world and with the pressure - or perceived responsibility - to produce national team players no longer an NBL consideration, it can choose its own direction.

"You tell me another major league in the world running with a two-import restriction," Fearne challenged.

There aren't many. (God bless Google).

"The Boomers pathway now is not just the NBL but Europe, the NBA, college," Dunn said.

"We have an obligation to our product.

"Basketball already is Australia's second biggest participation sport but 13th on eyeballs.

"We don't need to focus so much on participation but ways to get more eyeballs, more people wanting to see our league."

Dunn said the appointment by the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers of Brett Brown as head coach for the next four years after his extensive experience coaching in the NBL and connection to Australia as a former Olympic coach, further highlighted the relevance of coming "Down Under."

"For guys running around in the NBA D-League making $25,000, coming here is no longer a case of 'out of sight, out of mind'. We need the best players we can get out here," Dunn said.

The Sydney Kings director, who currently is the public face of the new NBL - though he again stressed he was speaking personally and not on the league's behalf - said the legacy of American players who had come to Australia to play NBL could be seen in the next generation.

"The next generation of our best young kids include young men like Dante Exum, Ben Simmons and Jonah Bolden," Dunn said.

"These are all the sons of players who came to Australia to compete as imports and stayed here."

Exum is the son of Cecil, Simmons the son of Dave and Bolden the son of Bruce.

There are others.

"These guys came and like lots of others stayed and are making a huge contribution to our game," Dunn said.

"You look at ex-imports like that or Al Green and Dwayne Nelson who are in the sport coaching and still moving our game forward."

Dunn said while his thoughts were entirely his own, there were "others thinking this way" in the new NBL inner sanctum.

"We talk about a third import," Dunn said. "For a new club coming in, why not?

"Or maybe the team which finishes bottom can get a third import the following year?"

Clearly, the NBL has options and is embracing the freedom of no direct obligation toward the national program and the bottom line reality it needs to entertain first.

"How can us having a successful league not be of benefit to basketball?" he said.

'Entertainment first' new NBL mantra as colourful former ref Mal Cooper appointed to lead the officiating direction

IT'S official. The NBL's No. 1 official will be Mal Cooper, the man charged with the challenging job of ensuring "entertainment" is the revamped league's top priority.

As general manager of NBL officials, Cooper - a 470-game refereeing veteran - will have two other superstars of the officiating world, Ray Hunt and Bill Mildenhall in his crew to coordinate a new direction designed to enhance the excitement of games for fans.

Hunt is the games-reffed record-holder in the NBL with 949 while Mildenhall is a 16-time Referee of the Year award-winner.

Between the hardy trio, they have umpired 2364 NBL games and have a huge stake in the league's future.

The revitalised officiating panel includes Scott Butler, Vaughn Mayberry, Chris Reid and Olympic gold medal match referee Michael Aylen.

The plan is to deliver a more aesthetically pleasing and spectacular on-court product, moving away from the Basketball Australia-driven FIBA model of game, toward more of an NBA "entertainment-first" style.

There will be no substantial rule changes but stricter enforcement of existing rules, taking the game away from the mauling and holding wrestling style defences which have become so popular over the past two decades.

Not coincidentally, it has been during that time basketball has fallen off the mainstream sporting radar after peaking in the mid-90s.

The "new" style of officiating will be tested and evaluated during the NBL pre-season Blitz tournament which started in Cairns on Saturday.

The Taipans beat Wollongong Hawks 86-64 to collect the maximum seven championship points toward the Loggins-Bruton Cup because Cairns not only took the three points for the win, but also collected the individual points available for winning every quarter.

New Zealand will host Melbourne this week in Wellington in the second "regional" game in the series.

Sydney will play Townsville and Adelaide will face Perth in other Blitz matches before all teams converge on Sydney for the final legs of the tournament from September 20-22.

"We want to try and create a free-­flowing, open game that will be attractive for fans and should ultimately see much higher scores," Cooper said.

"We will do this by calling the game tightly. This will be a catalyst for change with the game opening up as a result,

"We'll be instructing our team to call the game very tightly.

"Two hands on the ball-handler will be an automatic foul.

"Similarly, excessive bumping of cutters off the ball will need to be called.

"Any 50-50 call will go in favour of the offence and it will be on the players to adjust their play."

There also now will be greater accountability for the officials to call the game as the league wants it to be seen.

"We expect our officials to perform at the highest level and call the games as instructed by the league," Cooper said.

Reverting to turning a blind eye to the type of defensive mauling which has sadly become the norm, will result in disciplinary action.

The league's interim chief executive officer Steve Dunn has been pushing NBL Pty Ltd's view that it needs to re-engage the population at large by providing a more attractive entertainment product.

Fans want to see the spectacular.

"We want to make the new NBL as exciting as possible for the fans," he said.

"I believe Mal Cooper and his team can do this.

"Making the game more open is what we need.

"Mal brings personality, passion and most importantly, experience.

"Mal, Billy and Ray have refereed more than 2000 games between them.

"With (Basketball Australia referee manager) Peter Carey's time split last season among the NBL and WNBL, we needed a full-time dedicated resource to oversee our referees.

"I wish to thank Peter for his efforts with the NBL and wish him every success."

The eight NBL teams and coaches have been informed of the way games will be controlled under the new management team and have embraced the new direction.

CAIRNS Taipans' Aaron Fearne and Wollongong Hawks' Gordon McLeod are the first two NBL coaches embracing the "back to the future" officiating style of their Loggins-Bruton Cup game.

Cairns won the first match of the pre-season Blitz tournament in Cairns 86-64, Wollongong with a depleted line-up but the Taipans also down imports Jamar Wilson and Demetri McCamey.

Despite some fears the new officiating emphasis on "entertainment-first" would lead to a gorge of fouls, the Taipans registered 21 and the Hawks 19, with a total of 32 free throws in the contest.

Those are not unusual numbers by any stretch.

Before Saturday's Blitz opener, the two sides played on Friday where the teams first were informed the match would be called considerably more tightly than over the past two decades.

"We definitely got caught for a number of fouls which would have been ignored in the past," Fearne observed, his Taipans winning Friday's clash 87-72.

"We'd already played three (pre-season) games before playing Wollongong so a few habits had already formed.

"We had a lot of 'hands-on' fouls. The refs called them in both games and I didn't have a problem with it.

"That's probably the biggest thing we need to improve is the hands-on fouls, which means you have to play with greater discipline.

"I was very happy with it because we are back to rewarding skill."

Fearne said he anticipated the upshot of officials calling the game more tightly would have a positive impact on the NBL and hoped the league would not slip into old ways as the season progressed.

"This is how we want to see the game called," he said.

"I don't think Gordie's team was greatly effected because his teams are very disciplined and don't foul in that way."

McLeod concurred, saying he hadn't noticed a substantial change but was happy at the direction the NBL was taking.

"It was all a last-minute thing," he said of the notifications the game was about to change in how it was being officiated and fouls adjudicated.

"I think the umpires were only made aware a little before we were."

The league's new direction is sure to be further explored during the Blitz, which continues when New Zealand hosts Melbourne in Wellington on Thursday.

But both teams tonight will find out how the game is being called when they have a pre-season hit-out in Christchurch.

Teething problems with the tighter calling will make the Blitz especially important, the tournament swinging into Sydney next week.

McLeod said he was impressed with the Taipans.

"Cairns will be good," he said. "They look strong, they've done a lot of gym work and they look really good."

Wollongong suited new import Rotnei Clarke but recent Aussie big-man signing, Shane Harris-Tunks was a late withdrawal.

Harris-Tunks, at 211cm, should prove a big asset to the Hawks after graduating from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

But he was hit by a stomach virus and played no role in the trip north.

"The bug went through the team a bit," McLeod said.

"Larry Davidson had it, maybe three weeks ago.

"Then Dave Gruber and Oscar Forman had it the week before we went to Cairns.

"So Shane stayed away from the guys for 48 hours."

McLeod said Wollongong would have its second import, a combination swingman-shooting guard secured "very soon" and hoped to play him during the Blitz next week.

"There's just a couple of things left to sort out," he said.

Guard Rhys Martin, who last season was enjoying his best year at NBL level until he was cut down by a season-ending knee injury, is making it back steadily.

"He's starting to get through things. He's loading but it's difficult because the guys aren't really getting after him yet," McLeod said.

"He won't play at the pre-season tournament but I'm hoping to play him some minutes in our final game we have against the Kings."

Post-Blitz, the Hawks will play Sydney in Sutherland on September 27.

"We're optimistic Rhys can get back to where he was," McLeod said.

"It also means we can revisit our last Aussie (roster) spot which we also should have sorted very soon."

Bruton says NBL must switch back to winter

In the latest of its many reincarnations, the National Basketball League is looking backwards to go forwards in the hope of reviving its good old days. But the league's first real star wants it to go a step further.

Cal Bruton is confident the demerger of Basketball Australia and the NBL, to be finalised within days, will let the league be free to drive its own destiny, which straight-talking interim chief Steve Dunn said at the season launch on Thursday would include reviving a Brisbane team, exploring the idea of marquee players and better connecting with its past.
However, Bruton said a key change should be reverting back to a winter competition, as it was throughout its greatest era before moving to summer in 1998 to avoid the football codes.

''The way we jumped into a summer competition, we just ran away from everything,'' Bruton said. ''We should go back to winter. We need to bang heads with the big boys.

''I always felt that basketball is a winter sport. In summer people have too many options. They want to be outdoors, they want to travel. In winter, it's cold and people want to be indoors. You can sit out in the cold at the football or you can come to the basketball. Let's give people that choice.''

Bruton said he talked to fellow former NBL players who all found it hard to watch the once-strong league ''slowly dissipate''. ''We've got to claim it back now. Let's take it where we want to take it,'' he said.

''Back in the day it was truly national. We had that over all the other codes. I'd like to see a Canberra team, Hobart back in there, Brisbane, another Melbourne team. We need more teams. I'm not worried about the dilution. It needs to be national again.''

Bruton's and Leroy Loggins' names appear on the league's pre-season cup. The pair agreed another component of restored fortunes rested with promoting personalities.

Bruton said: ''Over the years, the game went corporate, away from the streets, away from the fans, away from past players. What they're doing now, reaching out, they're heading in the right direction.''

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/basketball/bruton-says-nbl-must-switch-back-to-winter-20130919-2u2ll.html#ixzz2fQTygFjQ

NBL started tonight, Brilliant game between Perth and Adelaide. 83-80.

Edited by iridium1010: 12/10/2013 02:39:12 AM

Wow didn't even know it was on.

Bartlett's NBL 'death' comments spark outrage

AFL legend Kevin Bartlett prepared the NBL's eulogy on SEN radio today, labelling the league "lost" and close to "death" in response to Melbourne Tigers forward Tommy Greer's candid opinion piece in The Age.

Greer openly admitted that the NBL made "bad decisions" and became "lazy" after the success during the 1990s skyrocketed the game on the back of Andrew Gaze and a long list of Australian and imported talent.

"We have dropped the ball," noted Greer in his column.

The NBL has been able to hold its head above water over the past 15 years, despite an abundance of off court problems but has been heavily scarred by the number of teams that have gone out of business during that period.

The NBL has slowly been tortured by a thousand cuts, continually holding out hope of a white knight – a saviour who has yet to arrive.

The league remains successful in Perth, where reported crowds of 10,208 and 10,573 have flocked to see the Wildcats' first two home games of the 2013/14 season at Perth Arena. But at the other end of the spectrum the Townsville Crocodiles have only been able to attract 3,265 and 2,905 to their opening two home dates.

With just eight teams in the league, the frightening prospect exists that the loss of one of them may kill the NBL.

Bartlett was not alone in his condemnation of the NBL.

"Basketball is dying a slow death," said his guest, the Herald Sun's Jon Ralph. "The hype is gone ... The sport is just not good enough ... I'm just not interested in the NBL."

Bartlett added that, "Basketball is at a stage of its lifetime, of its existence in this country, that it's just teetering at the moment."

"Was it like Halley's Comet, it arrived on the scene, people enjoyed it for a short period of time then it just fizzled out?"

Former NBL commentator Stephen Quartermain, who called the games on Channel 10 during the glory years, phoned into SEN and added, "It's with a lot of sadness that I hear these comments made about basketball – and it's all true by the way."

Tigers forward Mark Worthington joined the conversation on Twitter to offer a counter view: "I think the start of this season across the board has been the best it's been since I started. We aren't dead. Far from it."

Tigers head coach Chris Anstey also took to social media to slam Bartlett: "There needs to be homework done by @KevinBartlett29 on sports other than AFL before he makes destructive comments about another sport," Anstey tweeted.

On the club's Twitter account, the Melbourne Tigers said Bartlett, a Richmond and AFL Hall of Famer, was peddling "uninformed comments".

Bartlett soon returned fire.

"Basketball is flying pity no one wants to talk about it other than the host", read one of his tweets. "Talkback callers never mention NBL not enough fans interested", said another. "Basketball has a hard core fan base but has no capacity at the moment to draw a wider audience," read a third.

Many die-hard basketball fans fired back insults and wisecracks to Bartlett, but nobody laid out any evidence to disprove his argument.

Without question, the NBL is closer today to being buried than it is to being a prosperous sport in Australia once again.

Of course those involved in the NBL are going to attempt to defend the league. But defending the league is a stance that players, coaches and administrators have taken for so long that is has become redundant. That's what led to the Greer article that started the whole thing, the ownership of mistakes.

After Greer was applauded for his words, Bartlett was scrutinised for saying that those mistakes, highlighted by Greer, are all nails in the NBL's coffin.

Compared to recent history the NBL has received a massive boost in TV ratings this season. With 66,000 tuning in on opening night (Perth v Adelaide), and 53,000 watching (Sydney v Melbourne) the first live Sunday game. The numbers dropped in round two, but still remained impressive, with 45,000 watching last Friday (Perth v Sydney) and 50,000 for Sunday's game (Melbourne v Perth).

But when you compare it to summer's other sporting fare, the A-League, it pales into insignificance.

The wheel will continue to go around and around with one side taking the NBL's stance that things are getting better, but the rest pointing out that this has all been said before and like the boy who cried wolf, why should anyone take any notice now?

A current player in the NBL told me recently he thought the league had two more years left before it eventually succumbed to its own downfall.

There is no guarantee that the end of the NBL would instantly give life to a new basketball league, although there are parties out there that will attempt to build a new professional basketball league in Australia/New Zealand if the NBL caves in.

The NBL's "definitely got a future," said former Melbourne Tigers player Nigel Purchase, with whom Bartlett spoke on SEN.

But how long that future is only time will tell.

Everything you need to know ahead of the 2013/14 NBA season

CAN the Miami Heat make history? Or can somebody out there stop LeBron and co? We preview the NBA season, which starts on Wednesday.

MISSION: STOP LEBRON

Can anyone do it? The Heat go into the season with the chance to do something not even Michael Jordan and his Chicago Bulls could manage - four consecutive berths in the NBA championship series.

Only the Boston Celtics (1957-66 and 1984-87) and the Los Angeles Lakers (1982-85) have achieved that feat, but LeBron James and Co. have the opportunity to enter rarified air, and already the big three are talking up their chances.

They deservedly enter the season as overwhelming favourites, but so they were ahead of the 2010-11 season after James signed on. That year they were extinguished in the finals against the Dallas Mavericks.



THE CHALLENGERS

Oklahoma City Thunder and Chicago will tell you just how crippling one injury to a star can be.

When Russell Westbrook went down late last year, not even Kevin Durant could drag them over the line and into the finals series, while Chicago battled valiantly but ultimately fruitlessly all year without their main man Derrick Rose, who missed the entire year with a busted ACL.

Remove one of the best couple of players from any team and things tend to slide south quick, and the championship could be wide open if any of James, Dwayne Wade or Chris Bosh spend time on the sidelines.

OKC and the Bulls will again be prominent, while we'd like to see Blake Griffin and the LA Clippers take the next step under former Boston Celtics mastermind Doc Rivers.



READY TO ROCK

This might be the year that Houston finally re-emerges as an NBA force.

Almost two decades after their last title and with just six playoffs appearances in the last 14 years - only once progressing beyond the first round, the Rockets have assembled a roster that looks capable of doing some real damage.

As far as big signings go, they don't come any bigger than walking, talking set of biceps, Dwight Howard. The seven-time All-Star was a misery-guts last year at Los Angeles as he and Kobe Bryant waged an on and off-court war over who was top dog.

But he'll be the main man at Houston, with plenty of support from James Harden and cult hero Jeremy Lin.

Expect a lot better than the 45-37 record the Rockets produced in 2012-13.

DROWNING FAST

Never in recent memory has an NBA season loomed with the LA Lakers in such shabby shape.

With ageing star Kobe Bryant out for a couple more months as he recovers from Achilles tendon surgery and geriatric wizard Steve Nash arguably the team's best player, the customary Lakers march deep into finals looks the flightiest of fancies.

Of the other players, Pau Gasol is the only out and out gun, with the rest a cobbled together group made up largely of castoffs from other franchises.

It could be a dirty, dirty year.

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Here's something to strike fear into every NBA opponent. New Orleans will play their first regular season game as the Pelicans this year, having switched over from the Hornets in the off-season.

Let's hope last year's No.1 draft pick Anthony Davis can restore some pride to a franchise with one of the wimpiest mascots in world sport.



THE AUSSIES

All being well, there'll be more than just Andrew Bogut to cheer on this year.

Bogut will again be a critical player in Golden State's playoff aspirations (and he really really promises he'll definitely maybe stay injury-free this year), but there are a few other Aussies to keep your eye on.

Matthew Dellavedova has completed the journey from junior basketball in Maryborough and Bendigo in Victoria to the NBA after defying the odds to win a prized roster spot with the Cleveland Cavaliers for the upcoming season.

His game ain't pretty, with Philadelphia and former Australian Boomers coach Brett Brown this week describing him as a "Neanderthal" (as a compliment), but the back-up point guard has taken every chance that's come his way so far.

With Cavs point guard Jarrett Jack resting an injured knee Dellavedova has seen good court time throughout the pre-season, highlighted by a nine-point, three-assist outing against Philadelphia.

Click here to read more about Matty's fairytale journey so far.

Patty Mills is hoping to again be Tony Parker's understudy at San Antonio. With any luck he might be the No.1 man off the bench for the Spurs and he's done his chances no harm with a string of strong recent performances.

In the Spurs' most recent preseason game against Orlando he led all scorers with 22 points in the absence of regular point guard Parker and delivered the pass that allowed fellow Aussie Aron Baynes to hit the game-winning shot last week against Atlanta.

Two Aussies in the one team? Yes please. Baynes has been getting solid minutes off the bench throughout the pre-season, providing able support to the Spurs' power forward brigade.

WHO'S IN THE MONEY?

Given how much can happen throughout a long and taxing NBA season, Miami are at almost prohibitive odds, but there's value to be had elsewhere if you trust certain stars to remain injury-free.

Miami Heat - $3
Oklahoma City Thunder - $6
Chicago Bulls - $9
Indiana Pacers, San Antonio Spurs - $11
Brooklyn Nets, Houston Rockets, LA Clippers - $13
Golden State Warriors - $26
LA Lakers - $34

THE BIG TIP-OFF

Opening games (all times AEDT)

Wednesday
10am: Magic v Pacers
11am: Bulls v Heat
1.30pm: Clippers v Lakers

Anyone watching NBL Finals? Perth V Adelaide.