National Basketball League (Australasia)

National Basketball League (NBL)

Current season or competition: 2011–12 NBL season
Logo NBL
Sport	Basketball
Founded	1979
Commissioner	Larry Sengstock
Claim to fame	"The pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in the Southern Hemisphere"
Inaugural season	1979
No. of teams	9
Country(ies)	Australia (8 teams)  New Zealand (1 team)
Continent	FIBA Oceania (Oceania)
Most recent champion(s)	New Zealand Breakers (1st title)
Most titles	Perth Wildcats (5 titles)
TV partner(s)	Network Ten (Australia) One HD (Australia) Sky Sport (New Zealand)
Official website	www.NBL.com.au

The National Basketball League, also known as the iiNet NBL Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in Australasia.

There are currently 9 teams in the league, with teams in Adelaide, Auckland, Cairns, the Gold Coast, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Townsville and Wollongong. The 2010–11 season saw the return of the Sydney Kings. This comes after a turbulent period, when the league lost teams from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane during 2008 and 2009. A second Melbourne club, the South Dragons, entered the league in season 2006/07, but pulled out after season 2008/09 in which they were premiers. The National Basketball League has also become the first Australasian sporting league to field a team from Asia with the Singapore Slingers playing in the 2006/07, through to the 2007/08 season. The Gold Coast Blaze joined the competition in the 2007/08 season.

Most teams have historically featured at least one and usually two American imports; teams are limited to having two non-Australasians on the roster at any one time. Some of these players have moved to Australia permanently and become Australian citizens; a few have even played for the Australian national team (under a rule that allowed one naturalised player to compete for a national team).

The league's best years were arguably in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but it has struggled recently and many teams have downsized to smaller venues to cut costs. A number of clubs have folded or ceased to compete in the competition. The previous major sponsor of the NBL was Mitsubishi Motors. Mitsubishi, which left its sponsorship when the ABC ceased televising NBL basketball games left the National Basketball League close to folding.

In 2010, the NBL returned to free-to-air television in Australia for the first time in nine years when One HD started broadcasting 2–3 games a week.

History

The league commenced in 1979, playing a winter season (April–September) and did so until the completion of the 20th season in 1998. The 1998/99 season, which commenced only months later, was the first season after the shift to the current summer season format (October–April). This shift was an attempt to avoid competing directly against Australia's various football codes.

Despite these issues, at the start of the 2004/05 season the league struck a new television deal with Fox Sports in Australia and a multi-year naming-rights sponsorship deal with electronics manufacturer Philips. In 2007, Philips announced they would not continuing their naming rights sponsorship after the current contract ends in June in response to the National Basketball League wishing to increase the sponsorship deal.^[1] On September 18, 2007, the National Basketball League announced Hummer as their naming rights sponsor for the 2007/08 season.^[2]

Current clubs

Wildcats

Taipans

Crocodiles

Blaze

36ers

Tigers

Kings

Hawks

Breakers

Club	Founded	Years Active	City	Home Venue	Capacity	Home Jersey	Away Jersey
Adelaide 36ers	1982	1982–	Adelaide, South Australia	Adelaide Arena	8,000
Cairns Taipans	1999	1999–	Cairns, Queensland	Cairns Convention Centre	5,300
Gold Coast Blaze	2007	2007–	Gold Coast, Queensland	Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre	5,269 4,000
Melbourne Tigers	1984	1984–	Melbourne, Victoria	State Netball and Hockey Centre	3,500
New Zealand Breakers	2003	2003–	Auckland, New Zealand	North Shore Events Centre Vector Arena	4,114 12,000
Perth Wildcats	1982	1982–	Perth, Western Australia	Challenge Stadium	4,500
Sydney Kings	1988	1988–2008, 2010–	Sydney, New South Wales	Sydney Entertainment Centre	10,517
Townsville Crocodiles	1993	1993–	Townsville, Queensland	Townsville Entertainment Centre	5,257
Wollongong Hawks	1979	1979–	Wollongong, New South Wales	WIN Entertainment Centre	6,000

Former and defunct clubs

Main article: List of defunct National Basketball League (Australia) teams

• Brisbane Bullets (1979–2008)
• Canberra Cannons (1979–2003)
• Geelong Supercats (1982–1996)
• Glenelg Tigers (1979)
• Gold Coast Rollers / Gold Coast Cougars (1990–1996)
• Hobart Devils (1983–1996)
• Hunter Pirates (2003–2006)
• Launceston Casino City (1980–1982)
• Newcastle Falcons (1979–1999)
• North Melbourne Giants / Coburg Giants (1987–1998)
• Singapore Slingers (2006–2008)
• South Dragons (2006–2009)
• South East Melbourne Magic / St. Kilda Saints / Nunawading Spectres / Eastside Spectres (1992–1998)
• Victoria Titans / Victoria Giants (1998–2004)
• West Adelaide Bearcats (1979–1984)
• Sydney Spirit / West Sydney Razorbacks (1998–2009)

Administration

Salary cap

The NBL's salary cap for the 2006–07 season was A$776,000, and increased to $810,000 for the 2007–08 season; the cap rose for two consecutive years due to the continued growth of the league.^[3] The salary cap for the 2009–10 season is $1,000,000.^[4]

Broadcasting Details

Current Broadcast Detail

The current 2010/11 NBL season will see a minimum of 2 games per week or 3 games in some weeks (because of the involvement of the New Zealand Breakers team on a separate TV deal with Sky TV), are shown on One HD, the high definition sport orientated multichannel of Network Ten, which is the first time NBL has been shown only on free to air TV since the end of the basketball boom in early 2001 (although Channel Nine had rights to show one NBL game per week in 2007). The current deal runs up until the end of the 2014/15 season, with 5 games a week to be shown in the last season of the deal.

For the first time since 1997, the Melbourne Tigers/Sydney Kings game was shown nationally on Network Ten on Australia Day.

Some clubs also have live broadcasts on local radio stations, most of which are available to listen to online. [1]

NBL Broadcast History

• Māori Television (New Zealand), 2007–2010
• Sky Sport (New Zealand), 2011–Present
• ABC TV/ABC1, 1979–1987
• Seven Network, 1988–1991
• Network Ten, 1992–1997
• Fox Sports, 1995–2010
• ABC TV/ABC1 late 1998-early 2001
• Nine Network, 2007 (one 'highlighted' game a week)
• Network Ten / ONE HD (2010–present)

List of Champions

Main article: NBL (Australia) Finals

Team	W	Season	Notes
Perth Wildcats	5	1990, 1991, 1995, 2000, 2010
Adelaide 36ers	4	1986, 1998, 1999, 2002
Melbourne Tigers	4	1993, 1997, 2006, 2008
Canberra Cannons	3	1983, 1984, 1988	Became Hunter Pirates in 2003
Sydney Kings	3	2003, 2004, 2005
Brisbane Bullets	3	1985, 1987, 2007	Team folded in 2008
St Kilda Saints	2	1979, 1980	Became Westside Saints in 1987
North Melbourne Giants	2	1989, 1994	Merged to form Victoria Titans in 1998
South East Melbourne Magic	2	1992, 1996	Merged to form Victoria Titans in 1998
Launceston Casino City	1	1981	Team folded in 1983
West Adelaide Bearcats	1	1982	Team left NBL in 1984
Wollongong Hawks	1	2001
South Dragons	1	2009	Team left NBL in 2009
New Zealand Breakers	1	2011

Teams in bold are current members of the NBL.

NBL Finals

Season	Champion	Result	Runners-Up	Notes
1979	St Kilda Saints	94 – 93	Canberra Cannons	Single game final used. Venue: Albert Park Stadium, Melbourne
1980	St Kilda Saints	113 – 88	West Adelaide Bearcats	Venue: Dowling Street Stadium, Launceston
1981	Launceston Casino City	75 – 54	Nunawading Spectres	Venue: Apollo Stadium, Adelaide
1982	West Adelaide Bearcats	80 – 74	Geelong Supercats	Venue: Newcastle Basketball Stadium, Newcastle
1983	Canberra Cannons	75 – 73	West Adelaide Bearcats	Venue: Kilsyth Stadium, Melbourne
1984	Canberra Cannons	84 – 82	Brisbane Bullets	Venue: The Glasshouse, Melbourne
1985	Brisbane Bullets	121 – 95	Adelaide 36ers	Venue: Sleeman Sports Centre, Brisbane
1986	Adelaide 36ers	2 – 1	Brisbane Bullets	Best of three games finals series first used.
1987	Brisbane Bullets	2 – 0	Perth Wildcats
1988	Canberra Cannons	2 – 1	North Melbourne Giants
1989	North Melbourne Giants	2 – 1	Canberra Cannons
1990	Perth Wildcats	2 – 1	Brisbane Bullets
1991	Perth Wildcats	2 – 1	Eastside Melbourne Spectres
1992	South East Melbourne Magic	2 – 1	Melbourne Tigers
1993	Melbourne Tigers	2 – 1	Perth Wildcats
1994	North Melbourne Giants	2 – 0	Adelaide 36ers
1995	Perth Wildcats	2 – 1	North Melbourne Giants
1996	South East Melbourne Magic	2 – 1	Melbourne Tigers
1997	Melbourne Tigers	2 – 1	South East Melbourne Magic
1998	Adelaide 36ers	2 – 0	South East Melbourne Magic
1998–99	Adelaide 36ers	2 – 1	Victoria Titans
1999-00	Perth Wildcats	2 – 0	Victoria Titans
2000–01	Wollongong Hawks	2 – 1	Townsville Crocodiles
2001–02	Adelaide 36ers	2 – 1	West Sydney Razorbacks
2002–03	Sydney Kings	2 – 0	Perth Wildcats
2003–04	Sydney Kings	3 – 2	West Sydney Razorbacks	Best of five games finals series first used.
2004–05	Sydney Kings	3 – 0	Wollongong Hawks
2005–06	Melbourne Tigers	3 – 0	Sydney Kings
2006–07	Brisbane Bullets	3 – 1	Melbourne Tigers
2007–08	Melbourne Tigers	3 – 2	Sydney Kings
2008–09	South Dragons	3 – 2	Melbourne Tigers	Game 5 was the last game for South Dragons before they quit the league.
2009–10	Perth Wildcats	2 – 1	Wollongong Hawks	Best of three game series used.
2010–11	New Zealand Breakers	2 – 1	Cairns Taipans	The Breakers are the first New Zealand side to win an Australian sporting competition.

Rivalries

Adelaide 36ers vs Perth Wildcats

Both teams were perennial championship contenders in the late 1980s and early 90s and had several marquee players with excellent matchups, the two most notable involving the imports: Al Green (Adelaide) vs Cal Bruton (Perth), Mark Davis (Adelaide) vs James Crawford (Perth). Games during this era were rarely blowouts and helped to fuel the rivalry. Ironically,^{[citation needed]} while the two teams have played numerous semi-finals against each other, with the Wildcats never losing a series, they never played each other in the grand final series. As the mainstay players began to slow with age and retire, the intensity of this rivalry has declined. The two clubs remain the most successful in the NBL with four championships for Adelaide and five for Perth and are first and second on the all-time wins list, and have also matched up on more occasions (100 times total; Perth leading all time between the two 54-46) than any other two teams in the NBL (as of October 28th 2011).

Wollongong Hawks vs Sydney Kings

Wollongong Hawks fans consider the Sydney Kings to be their most fierce rival. Many Wollongong players have moved to the Kings with two former Rookie of the Year winners and a two time Olympian joining the Kings from Wollongong. In the absence of the Kings, the Sydney Spirit took the role of rival, but this felt fake to some Wollongong faithful.^[who?] Wollongong took bragging rights after the 2000/2001 season when they became the first team from New South Wales to qualify for the NBL finals, which they won against Townsville. Sydney then took the ascendency when they won three championships in a row, including a clean sweep of the Hawks.

Many Hawks fans were happy when Sydney was kicked out of the NBL, but in truth have missed the biggest rivalry.^{[citation needed]}

Cairns Taipans vs Townsville Crocodiles

A local derby-style rivalry nicknamed "Reptile Rumble" has developed to determine which is the dominant North Queensland team. The Cairns-Townsville basketball rivalry would have to be one of the longest and most passionate in the NBL. Both teams generally attract a close to capacity crowd anywhere from 4000+ at their home games. Each team and their supporters and mascots generally boo and taunt their visiting rivals with all sorts of crazy on field entertainment antics. The rivalry has been in existent for over 10 years and almost came to a near end when the Cairns Taipans were on the verge of extinction due to financial issues.

Adelaide 36ers vs. Melbourne Tigers

Apart from the normal Victorian and South Australian rivalry, a new rivalry has emerged with Julius Hodge, a former 36er, returning to the NBL in November 2009, signing with the Melbourne Tigers. Hodge was a star in Adelaide when he joined the 36ers mid-season the previous two years, however issues relating to alleged missed payments caused him to walk out on the club in early January 2009 on bad terms.[2]

Hodge returned to his old home court for the first time on 5 December 2009 in a Tigers overtime victory. After being heckled and taunted all night in a quiet game by his standards, Hodge caused more controversy when he stamped and spat on the Brett Maher signature on the centre of the Brett Maher Court following his new club's win.He was booed off aggressively and loudly by the Adelaide fans and needed security to escort him out of the stadium for security reasons.[3]

Road trips

Doomsday Double

The Doomsday Double, involving a journey out west to play the Adelaide 36ers and Perth Wildcats during the same round, has occurred 141 times as at the end of the 2010–11 NBL season. Unbelievably just four teams have won both legs of the trip on consecutive nights.

Sunshine Swing

Similar to the Doomsday Double, the Sunshine Swing pits teams against an away double or even triple game schedule against opponents from the state of Queensland, in the same round. The most frequent combinations have featured the Brisbane Bullets/Gold Coast Rollers or Cairns Taipans/Townsville Crocodiles double. Other variants include Brisbane Bullets/Townsville Crocodiles and the gruelling Brisbane Bullets/Cairns Taipans/Townsville Crocodiles triple.

The NBL in the future

The NBL experienced its golden age in the early to mid-1990s,^[5] but its popularity, media attention, attendance and corporate support deteriorated and plateaued in the decade afterward. Australian NBA player Andrew Bogut suggested the NBL try to adopt a model similar to the Australian Football League (AFL) whereby there are the same 10 or 15 teams over a 10 year period [4]. Disgruntled Australian basketball enthusiasts have suggested expansion to 16 teams, most importantly locating a team in the city of Darwin [5] making the Singapore road-trip less drawn-out, also Darwin currently does not have the support for a national domestic team of any sort. Since the inception of the Singapore Slingers in 2006, both Asia and Oceania are represented in the National Basketball League, however Asian players are not considered local players unless they are from Singapore and play for the Slingers. The Slingers are no longer part of the NBL.

Melbourne Tigers and Gold Coast Blaze at State Netball and Hockey Centre

There has been significant support for the NBL to expand into Asia by many NBL players as well as ex-Australian Boomers head coach Brian Goorjian [6] [7], be it differently to how it was done with the now defunct Singapore Slingers which had a 14 hour round-trip flight to the Australian East Coast [8]. The 2009/10 season is earmarked as the season in which the NBL will begin its revamping, much like the old National Soccer League which became the eight team A-League (later expanding to 10 teams). [9]. The preferred method is to have three more teams in The Asia/Pacific region with locations such as Hong Kong, Manila, Taipei, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and even United States territory Guam being earmarked as possible locations for clubs as well as re-instating the Singapore Slingers licence; although this expansion is not likely to happen for up to five more years. However it is possible the Perth Wildcats and/or a new Darwin franchise may make up the numbers in an Australasian division also [10]. Each of these clubs would then play just one home and one away game against each club not in its region or division and play up to three games against those clubs in its own region or division. A new Brisbane club is expected to replace the old Brisbane Bullets, thereby placing this team in a division of its own with the other three Queensland clubs, the Gold Coast Blaze, Townsville Crocodiles and Cairns Taipans. The Sydney Kings name was purchased for the sum of A$20,000 on 31 July 2008 adding hope to the club also making a return to the league [11]. Other possible locations for clubs include Hobart, Wellington and even an Australian Institute of Sport team based in Canberra comprising the best Australian players under the age of 22. Canberra has not had an NBL side since the Canberra Cannons which folded in 2003, the success of the AIS team in the Australian Women's National Basketball League underlines the likelihood of such a venture working [12]. John Brumby has called for a second Melbourne team to be added to the league.^[6]

Hall of Fame

The National Basketball League celebrated 20 seasons of competition in 1998. As part of the celebrations, the NBL initiated the Hall of Fame to recognise the outstanding players, coaches, referees and contributors to the league.

In order to be eligible for induction into the Hall of Fame, candidates must have fulfilled the following criteria:

• Players must have made an outstanding contribution to the NBL, have been retired for a minimum of four seasons, and have played 100 NBL games or more.
• Coaches must have made an outstanding contribution to the NBL, have been retired for at least four seasons, and have been an NBL head coach for 10 seasons or more.
• Referees must have made an outstanding contribution to the league and have been retired for at least four seasons.
• Contributors must have made an outstanding contribution to the NBL, and may be elected at any time.

In 2010, the Basketball Australia Hall of Fame and National Basketball League Hall of Fame were united under the Australian Basketball Hall of Fame to acknowledge the restructure of the NBL and Basketball Australia into a single, united governing body.^[7]

Inductees are listed in alphabetical order.

Name	Award	Inducted
Barry Barnes	Coach	1998
Ray Borner	Player	2006
Cal Bruton	Player	1998
Steve Carfino	Player	2004
Wayne Carroll	Player	1999
Eddie Crouch	Referee	2007
Ian Davies	Player	2001
Mark Davis	Player	2006
Scott Fisher	Player	2007
Al Green	Player	1999
Michael Johnson	Player	2004
Damian Keogh	Player	2000
Brian Kerle	Coach	2006
Leroy Loggins	Player	2006
Herb McEachin	Player	1998
Danny Morseu	Player	2002
Bill Palmer	Contributor	1998
Darryl Pearce	Player	2002
John Raschke	Contributor	1998
Larry Sengstock	Player	2001
Phil Smyth	Player	2000
Malcolm Speed	Contributor	2000
Bob Turner	Coach	2000
Andrew Vlahov	Player	2007

Award winners

• 25th Anniversary Team (2003)
• 20th Anniversary Team (1998)
• Most Valuable Player
• Most Valuable Player — Grand Final
• Coach of the Year
• Rookie of the Year
• Most Improved Player
• Best Defensive Player
• Best Sixth Man
• Good Hands Award (defunct)
• Most Efficient Player (defunct)
• All NBL teams

All-Star game

The All-Star game is an annual event in the NBL. It was once contested between the East and West but was now contested by the locals (Aussie All-Stars) and imports (World All-Star).

Main article: NBL (Australia) All-Star Game

All-Star Games by Season

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Year	Result	(Arena), City	MVP
1988	North 127, South 122	(The Glass House), Melbourne, VIC	Leroy Loggins, Brisbane Bullets
1989	North 141, South 143	(The Glass House), Melbourne, VIC	Andrew Gaze, Melbourne Tigers
1990	North 139, World 119	(Perth Entertainment Centre), Perth, WA	Derek Rucker, Brisbane Bullets
1991	North 168, South 154	(The Glass House), Melbourne, VIC	Mark Davis, Adelaide 36ers
1992	Australia 149, USA Stars 132	(AIS Arena), Canberra, ACT	Andrew Gaze, Melbourne Tigers
1993	NBL Stars 124, Australia 119	(Flinders Park), Melbourne, VIC	Terry Dozier, Newcastle Falcons
1994	NBL Stars 101, Australia 133	(Sydney Entertainment Centre), Sydney, NSW	Tony Ronaldson, South East Melbourne Magic
1995	South Stars 138, North Stars 140	(Clipsal Powerhouse), Adelaide, SA	Robert Rose, Adelaide 36ers
1996	South Stars 132, North Stars 146	(Melbourne Park), Melbourne, VIC	Darryl McDonald, North Melbourne Giants
1997	North Stars 151, South Stars 142	(Sydney Entertainment Centre), Sydney, NSW	Derek Rucker, Brisbane Bullets
2003/04	West 126, East 129	(State Netball and Hockey Centre), Melbourne, VIC	Ebi Ere, Sydney Kings
2004/05	Aussies 156, World 140	(Townsville Entertainment Centre), Townsville, QLD	Brad Newley, Townsville Crocodiles
2005/06	Aussies 151, World 116	(Sydney Entertainment Centre), Sydney, NSW	Darryl McDonald, Melbourne Tigers
2006/07	Aussies 133, World 136	(Distinctive Homes Dome), Adelaide, SA	Rashad Tucker, Melbourne Tigers
2007/08	Aussies 146, World 141	(State Netball and Hockey Centre), Melbourne, VIC	Nathan Jawai, Cairns Taipans

See also

• All-time Records
• List of attendance figures at domestic professional sports leagues — the NBL in a worldwide context
• List of National Basketball League (Australia) venues
• Basketball in Australia

References

1. ^ Howell, Stephen (2007). "Sponsorship hike forces out Philips". The Age. http://www.theage.com.au/news/basketball/sponsorship-hike-forces-out-philips/2007/03/17/1174080225077.html. Retrieved 2007-02-27. 
2. ^ "Hummer joins NBL as Naming Rights Sponsor". NBL. 2007. http://www.nbl.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=72062. Retrieved 2007-09-18. 
3. ^ NBL > News
4. ^ http://www.tigers.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=78020
5. ^ Morrisey, Tim (2008). "NBL needs to start from scratch if it is to survive". Herald Sun. http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23775098-10914,00.html. Retrieved 2008-06-12. 
6. ^ http://www.nbl.com.au/news/article/2010/september/brumby-government-calls-for-second-melbourne-nbl-side/
7. ^ Australian Basketball Hall of Fame

External links

• Official NBL website
• Basketball Australia
• Aussie BBall
• Australia's basketball magazine
• FOX Sports Australia Basketball section
• SportsAustralia.com Basketball
• NBL on Austadiums