lol

no.

Some very good imports now playing in the SEABL. Would be good to see some get an opportunity at NBL level. Muhammed had a NBA try out a couple of years ago and McFarlin played NBA for a few seasons.

SEABL has some great imports.

Oh dear.

SEABL has a bigger named naming rights sponsor to in Crazy Johns

This is funny. It does a better job and connecting with and holding it's club based fan base. mmmm... tell that to nunawading or frankston or sandringham or kilsyth....

gold.

it's like saying the $1mil salary cap of NBL is irrelevant, you can almost achieve the same result with $100k haha mmm

No. But I think the NBL is doing a good job of trying to become on par with SEABL.... They're getting closer all the time.

Australian basketball needs a second tier that is much closer to the NBL. We have the equivalent of a European Div 1 competition and then a Div 3 standard league underneath it. It makes things hard for guys who miss an NBL contract or dont want to go to college.

Agree with Paul. Some of the European leagues have excellent Div 2 competitions (France and Spain come to mind) but they are a step above the SEABL in relation to the NBL.

The gap has certainly closed a bit over the years but the NBL would still be 20 point better team in a 40 minute game. There are certainly some SEABL imports that could play NBL.Problem is usually a lack of height.SEABL is a 6-6 league whereas NBL is more of a 6-8 league.

Ha.

Please. Be serious. There is a reason why its called a semi pro league.

Don't ask anyone in Adelaide about SEABL teams, they never see them. Apparently the world revolves around a few suburban teams and the 36'ers.
IMHO SEABL is a good 2nd tier to NBL for talent and has a much more promising future than both Big V and NBL only because of the management sponsorship and marketing structure.

It still relies on individual clubs to manage themselves in a competent manner which is an impossible dream for some.

Big chance SEABL will be re-branded the ABL when this happens.

Anon two above, that's not what you want from a second tier comp. In Europe, they have promotion/relegation so the top teams in Div 2 are as good as the bottom teams in Div 1.

That's obviously not possible in Australia, but 15 teams is too many if SEABL is to be Div 2, especially given quite a number of decent players play in other state league comps.

I think a Div 2 league with fewer teams and with a higher percentage of NBL guys playing, similar to the NZNBL, would be very beneficial for young players. Ideally there would be reasonable remuneration that makes being an NBL benchie/DP in summer and Div 2 player in winter an attractive alternative to college. Not sure how to make that happen though.

Nothing to do with competing with money in Europe. Just need a higher standard Div 2 comp where the gap between the best and worst player on each team isnt so big.

The SEABL is good for what it is, but not as a development league for professional basketball. Knock it down to 10 teams and find a way to get some of the better players from the state leagues and I think it could be really good.

Look at the new players teams brought in from lower leagues the last two years:

C Cedar (QBL), Vanderjagt (SEABL), Norton (AIS), George (QBL), Gynes (NCAA), Bose (NCAA), Iti (NZNBL), Anthony (NZNBL), Henry (NZNBL), Bartlett (NZNBL), Hire (SBL), Dillon (SEABL), Tait (NZNBL), Brebner (QBL/SEABL), Blanchfield (QBL), Allen (NCAA), Gleeson (QBL), Teys (QBL), Cadee (AIS), Cooper (Waratah), Scoines (SEABL), Madgen (NCAA), Dann (Waratah), Wagner (SBL), White (Waratah), Pledger (NZNBL), Webster (NZNBL), Walker (SEABL), Lewis (Big V), Nevill (NCAA/NBAD), Daly (CABL), Creek (AIS), Majok (NCAA/Turkey).

Ive probably missed a couple, but you could hardly say looking at that list that the SEABL is a standout Div 2 comp. Guys who have significantly improved in the off-season - Johnson, Bruce, Holmes, Hire, Blanchfield etc, they didn't hone their game in the SEABL – only 3 or 4 of this year’s NBL actually played SEABL last year.

The SEABL is a good league, but the need to make big improvements to the second tier in Australian basketball has been identified by BA. The SEABL is the second best in Australia, but its standard of play, professionalism, size of athlete and depth of talent isn’t good enough to be a true second tier – as evidenced by the list above.

I am happy to agree to disagree, but remember I am not just bagging the SEABL, simply pointing out that the gap between Australia’s pro league and the next level is significantly bigger than other comparable countries.

A lot of work has to be done by BA to make the improvements needed, the first is getting our top juniors a pathway to stay in the country after the finish at the AIS to play in both the NBL and the next tier.

Well Id exclude the AIS from the SEABL as nearly every NBL player has played for the AIS - and the AIS no longer plays in the SEABL.

The womens SEABL is much different as most star players play SEABL in the off season. Id say some of the stronger womens SEABL teams would compete with the lower WNBL teams (Waves, AIS etc) and probably even beat them on occassion.

Would said it needed to be relevant to SA anyway?