What is wrong with basketball in this country?

[balmainbenny]

I'd like everyone to have their say on this.

From ten years ago and before then, basketball was very popular in this country. Michael Jordan was kicking ass for the Chicago Bulls and the world loved him for it.
When I was in high school, I did not care much for basketball at all. But, nearly all of my mates loved the game. Heaps of kids played the game and collected basketball cards. Kids favourite sportsmen were not Mal Meninga, Wayne Carey or Steve Waugh. By far and away, their favourite was Michael Jordan.
This positive attitude flowed onto the nbl. The NBL were getting great crowds and free-to-air tv coverage, despite the basketball being piss poor.


I learnt to like basketball through watching nbl about five years ago. I am a Sydney Kings supporter. From this, I graduated to watching NBA. My favourite team is the LA Lakers.

Basketball had a great platform on which to build on, yet nothing has happened. Basketball is growing in every other part of the world, except for Australia.

I have never seen basketball in a worse state than it is now. Excuse my Kings bias for a moment. The Sydney Kings have won three titles in a row and are going for the alltime nbl winning streak record. The are one of the great teams of Australian sporting history. Despite their insane achievements, the Sydney public don't seem to give a stuff. The standard of NBL play has never been better, yet people are not turning up.

Why has basketball gone down the gurgler and how can it be fixed?

 

[McLovin]

Marketing. I live in Sydney and the only time ive heard of 3 time defending champions was during some ad during mid-day. The last time i went to a Kings game was around 2 months ago and before that, the season before. Not only was half the entertainment centre curtained off but the other half was only filled to about 45%. Its bloody rediculous and the NBL needs to do something about it. Get a commercial or theme song (Like the NRL, AFL, etc). The A-League has been in operation for about a year now and they have been getting better publicity than the NBL. Put some money into marketing (i'm not talking about some little pop tart commercial during dr.phil) and the people will come...

 

[Trollhammaren]

Definately having no more Free to air coverage doesn't help, and yes, there is absolutely no marketing at all. I remember in '98 they had a pretty good marketing compaign with the 'There's nothing better!' theme song. It would probably help if Australia could do better at the World Champs or Olympics... We made the top 4 in the Olympics throughout the 90s and our Under 21s won the World Champs in about '98 featuring players like MacKinnon and Dwight. Missing the world champs a few years back really hurt the league I feel.

Also, I believe the lack of quality in the NBA also affects the NBL. Let's face it, the NBA of 10-15 years ago was a thousand times better than it is today, and there were more markatable players back then like Jordan, Bird, magic Johnson. Now we've got a bunch of dickheads with cornrolls, and Kobe Bryant who shoots aboutm 6/44 every week. I haven't been interested in the NBA in years.

But I don't have the solution to turn it around.

 

[lockyno1]

Not enough money, stars that play in Australia. There is a reason why the stars go to the US...MONEY! Plus there are other sports that are always more enjoyable for the most in Australia, league, union, cricket, afl, soccer, get the picture. The reality is that you only get good marketing and exposure if people want to watch these sports. Quite frankly basketball is in a very hard sport market in Australia! Hard to see an improvement!

 

[Citizen.Eras3d]

Pay TV is what's wrong with basketball in this country. Back in it's most popular days, NBA games/highlight shows along with NBL games/highlight shows were all on mainstream free TV. The marketing during those days, while not fantastic, was a million times better than it is now. Since being on Pay TV it alienates so many viewers (even people who have pay TV since I doubt many of them even bother to check the sports channels) and it's like they've just given up on the sport over here completely.

If basketball was still shown on Channel 10 or whatever it would be alot more popular in this country... could you imagine the number of people who would've tuned in to see Bogut's first NBA game if it was shown on 10 and advertised throughout the week? There's a reason why most people still think Shaq plays for Orlando and ask if "Pippen is still around". Australian basketball died when you had to start paying to watch it, and it's a shame because the NBL is quite an entertaining league to watch at the moment.

 

[joel caine number 1 fan]

i doubt they will listen but sign this http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?bballtv&1 over 2500 signutures already

i wish pay tv would get nba tv too we pay them enough money every month so u would think they would listen to there fans once in a while

 

[sixtynine]

i doubt they will listen but sign this http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?bballtv&1 over 2500 signutures already

i wish pay tv would get nba tv too we pay them enough money every month so u would think they would listen to there fans once in a while

ive signed it

 

[sixtynine]

At my school basketball is the biggest sport besides rugby there are 9 teams in each age group its bigger then ever

 

[Trollhammaren]

Bball is the second largest sport at junior levels in the country... I grew up playing in rep teams etc. and it was very competitive, but yeah, the general adult public really isn't interested, which is fair enough because most people are into the NRl/AFL seasons in the winter and Cricket in the summer.

I just wish channel 10 stopped showing freaking motor racing and replaced it with Bball... What was that show? Inside NBA with Steve Carfino? Those were the days.

 

[sixtynine]

yeah i play rep bball is freken competive and awsome

 

[choc_soldier]

Needs free to air coverage again, and a marketing campaign. Both of those should help.

I went to my first ever game in October (Kings v Razorbacks at the Ent Cent), and have been to the "return" match at the Superdome, and it's a good night out.

 

[canberra_raiders2k2]

I hear ads maybe once a week if that..

I watch the NBA alot but when someone asks me a question about the NBL im lost..i guess i still have the "they cant dunk" philosphy in regards to the NBL.

 

[KevinArnold]

The NBL is boring. Period.

It's a jump-shoot orientated league which is boring to watch. Development of players I think has contributed to this. You will find that our best players over the years are perimeter orientated (Gaze, Heal etc). Only recently have we produced an elite player (Bogut) who can play in the post, but still have some range.

Dunks, alley-oops, players driving to the basket are what get people excited and quite simply the NBL's product is bland cause it lacks these elements.

I don't follow the NBL, but it may have something to do with player development in this country or the rules in the NBL which allows this type of play?

In this day and age, its about athletes jumping higher, running faster and creating exciting plays, which the NBL lacks alot of.

 

[JF_Henson_Hill]

Interesting comments guys. Sadly there is a lot of truth in alot of what a lot of you say.

All I can say is that to keep going and trying to mate the NBL better. We have a small group of NRL/AFL supporters who sit up under the scoreboard at every home game (as well as away games like West Sydney & Wollongong). If you are bored in the RL off-season and want to lend a hand, wave a flag, join in some singing and chanting for the Kings, come and join us.

Tonight we had a fairly decent Kings away turn-up who created a good atmosphere in a sadly near-empty Superdome tonight. Was a bloody good game to be honest, with West Sydney putting up a spirited 2nd half fight-back to really challenge the Kings in an often ill-manored spiteful clash (GRAEME DANN!!!).

Seriously, if you are a basketball nut or just a sports fan looking for something to do in the off-season, come and get behind the Kings and at least help us attempt to lift an atmosphere that most of the time is verging on the funerial.

JF

 

[JF_Henson_Hill]

deleted

 

[Jono Russell]

I agree with you JF. Last night i brought 8 mates with me along to the basketball. all of them have never liked the sport before how ever after last night watching and sitting amongs the SDS razor fans they got really pumped and now want more of it next season.

Any sport fan out there looking for something in the offseason come and check ot a Kings or Pigs game i meen im not shore about kings but Razor tickets are only $14 not that much for a great night of sport.

 

[Pensacola Q.C]

I'd like everyone to have their say on this.

From ten years ago and before then, basketball was very popular in this country. Michael Jordan was kicking ass for the Chicago Bulls and the world loved him for it.
When I was in high school, I did not care much for basketball at all. But, nearly all of my mates loved the game. Heaps of kids played the game and collected basketball cards. Kids favourite sportsmen were not Mal Meninga, Wayne Carey or Steve Waugh. By far and away, their favourite was Michael Jordan.
This positive attitude flowed onto the nbl. The NBL were getting great crowds and free-to-air tv coverage, despite the basketball being piss poor.


I learnt to like basketball through watching nbl about five years ago. I am a Sydney Kings supporter. From this, I graduated to watching NBA. My favourite team is the LA Lakers.

Basketball had a great platform on which to build on, yet nothing has happened. Basketball is growing in every other part of the world, except for Australia.

I have never seen basketball in a worse state than it is now. Excuse my Kings bias for a moment. The Sydney Kings have won three titles in a row and are going for the alltime nbl winning streak record. The are one of the great teams of Australian sporting history. Despite their insane achievements, the Sydney public don't seem to give a stuff. The standard of NBL play has never been better, yet people are not turning up.

Why has basketball gone down the gurgler and how can it be fixed?

It can actually be traced back to a date about ten years ago. The period from 1992 to 1996 was a golden period of popularity of basketball - both NBA and NBL. What happened after that was about the worst marketing decision ever seen in sports. The NBL and Channel 10 tried to distance themselves from the NBA in some attempt to put their league and stars in a class of their own instead of riding its coat-tails. We could watch stars like MJ, Shaq, Webber and Garnett on a weekly game, then watch NBA action then watch an NBL game. But the NBL thought they were too good to be the NBA's little brother and started to trim its NBA coverage. People stopped being exposed to top basketball and stopped paying attention to the NBL as well. Now I dont really follow either league even though I could on Pay TV, simply cant regain the interest lost and yes I think the quality of the NBA - especially some of its stars off the court may also be a problem. However Bryant and Artest aren't the only two players in the NBA. Maybe if Ten started showing and marketing the NBA brand again and players like Duncan, McGrady, Wade, Carter and especially Bogut it could get young people following basketball again and the NBL.

 

[skeepe]

Ignore the men's comp - it's boring, and only one team dominates it.

I've been getting out to a few WNBL games lately and the entertainment is fantastic. Brilliant night out, and what's more the matches have actually been sold out. Also, the WNBL gets FTA coverage on the ABC - not hard to see why so many are making the switch.

Add to that the fact that, after the final round last weekend, there was a 3-way tie for first, and a 2-way tie for 4th. Such a competitive comp, much more interesting than watching Sydney trounce everyone.

 

[Iafeta]

Ignore the men's comp - it's boring, and only one team dominates it.

I've been getting out to a few WNBL games lately and the entertainment is fantastic. Brilliant night out, and what's more the matches have actually been sold out. Also, the WNBL gets FTA coverage on the ABC - not hard to see why so many are making the switch.

Add to that the fact that, after the final round last weekend, there was a 3-way tie for first, and a 2-way tie for 4th. Such a competitive comp, much more interesting than watching Sydney trounce everyone.

Except the Breakers, go you good things :shock:

 

[Sharkie™]

i use to love basketball to death, i got almost 1000 trading cards, singlets etc and loved the bulls. but after jordan retired, basketball lost its magic to me and i starting watching RL and started to be amazed by RL stars. so i turned away and never looked back. the NBL never interested me and the marketing for it is pathetic. the only time i know a game is happening is when it has happend and the highlights are on 10 news.