I have wavered on this point to being pro 12 minutes , to then being pro 10.

I am now firmly of the belief that 12 min quarters are the only way to go.

A saying was made during the AFL grand final "offence sells memberships"

That line keeps ringing in my ears. The NBL has reduced the amount of offence that a team can produce without thought to the ramifications.

With the 40 minute game the chance for fans to cheer has been diminished greatly. The chance for rookies to get some court time has been blunted and we are seeing the stars of the game go from 35 minutes plus to mid 20's

People want to see cricketers score 100 , Full Forwards bag 10 and basketballers go for a 40 point night out.

People want action and the 40 minute game delivers it in a scaled down version to the detriment of the sport.

The other change is 6 fouls. 2 quick fouls from your stud sees him on the bench for half a game as coaches dont want to risk the 3rd foul too early.

Diamon was particularly hampered by this last season.

I want to see the best players playing the game not sitting down.

I originally bought into the 40 minute game will make us better internationally. That argument has proven not to hold true.

The NBL was told that it needed to align itself with the international game in order to gain government funding. That hasn't happened either.

i have a few bets going with different people that the international game will switch to 12 minutes soon enough as the gap between FIBA and NBA gets smaller.

Bring back the 12 min quarters and lets see the best players play.

I originally bought into the 40 minute game will make us better internationally. That argument has proven not to hold true.

The NBL was told that it needed to align itself with the international game in order to gain government funding. That hasn't happened either.

Here Here. i want 12 minute quarters too. not only does it produce better quality basketball i believe but coaches can coach more, but from a sponsors point of view, their are more time outs, more chances for advertising, games go longer so from a sponsors point of view their is better value for money, especially if both TV audiences rise and game attendence.

@Isaac i feel as though my points are valid on the two you have highlighted. The wait has been 3 years and no signs have emerged that this decision was correct.

As a nation we want our players playing in the best league in the world which runs 12 minute q's. Meaning as soon as Bogut , Mills + whoever play international they need to adjust any way. Meaning our 10 min q's are irrelevant.

The top international teams are loaded with NBA players so one cant say that the 40 minute game produces better players than the 48.

Fed Gov promises where made that funding would be made available if basketball did certain things. Those things were done and the funding dropped.

This means a triple whammy for clubs as the lost the gov funding plus reduction in the spectacle of the game for fans plus reduced sponsorship values. ( less airtime / screen time etc)

Broadcast costs are actually reduced with the 48 minute game as costs are amortised over longer air time.

Yes, Bring back 12min quarters, it adds so much to the game. Bench players become important and so does the coach.

I like the AFL model personally and think we should move to 20 minute quarters in line with them.

The key is to have the game called by the rules, so scorers have an opportunity to score and defenders need, and are coached, to play defence, rather than grappling, pushing, holding, chopping, pushing and throwing opponents to the floor, as we've seen in women's games recently.

The game has been brutalised - and is allowed to be by ineffectual refereeing - to such an extend that the very nature of it has changed.

Strength is good; thuggery is cheap and lazy.

The rules are designed to maintain a balance between offence and defence, and only a return to calling the rules as they are written will achieve that.

We'll know that is starting to happen when referees are instructed to stop coaching - 'stop holding' or 'don't hold', for example, is coaching, not refereeing. More importantly, it means the official has seen a hold and decided not to call it: not his or her prerogative!

Calling the rules might see a few 'stars' on the bench for a week or two, but they [& their coaches!] would soon adjust and we'd start to see good defence, good offence and higher-scoring, more exciting games, whether they last for 40 or 48 minutes.

Anon above^ I may be misunderstanding you but the NBA goes for 48 minutes,NFL is longer than AFL and Baseball is a very long sport.

To the point, I love this post!! Couldn't agree more! I remember the good old days when the leagues leading scorer averaged 25-30 ppg. Not 18 ppg.

I vote for 12 minute quarters too. The only problem is that it won't happen while we keep up the farce of the last 3 minutes taking 15 because of all the fouling to send people to the line in the hope that they'll miss. The total game needs to fit into a TV timeslot, usually 2 hours, together with advertising and commentators and all that. Extending the game means something else needs to be sacrificed to fit it in - for me, it would be to reduce the time wasted on the commentators, and in the last 3 minutes.

POP - hear hear!! It's about time that the refs take control of the game again instead of being dictated to by owners and sponsors who just want to see the stars on court. It's made a joke of the game, making ir more like AFL, and making it hard for real talent to shine.

We need these quarters back! Like and Share this page and see if we can do something about it! We will show the NBL how many people truly want 12 minute quarters back

https://www.facebook.com/NBL12mins

If the NBL wants more offence they just need to align themselves with the NBA and target two-handed holding in the backcourt and on the perimeter. It is dominating the league right now, especially by the more successful clubs (because if you want to win you'd be crazy not to do something that is both effective and allowed to happen by the officials). Add defensive flopping to the list and you will have more free-flowing games.

The NBL was never told it needed to align itself internationally to get government funding. That is just a giant fib.

I like the AFL model personally and think we should move to 20 minute quarters in line with them.

Pro 12 for me.

I miss the 12 minute quaters so much. The individual stats are down, superstars dont go for 50 unless its Penney against Adelaide... and its over too quickly. With 12 min, games had a alot more twists and turns.

Good to hear I am not the only one! :)

Seems there's 8 players getting reasonable minutes
Players are looking for more minutes and move on
Spectators prefer players to stay with a team

Players averaging 10+ minutes so far:

Adelaide = 8
Cairns = 8 (+ Grabau and Rychart)
Melbourne = 9 (+ Ballinger)
New Zealand = 9
Perth = 9 (+ Robbins)
Sydney = 7
Townsville = 10
Wollongong = 8 (+ Coenraad)

Will be interesting to see if the Kings drop away as the season wears on with their lack of depth. It's hard to see any team with less than a nine-man rotation winning the title.

Wollongong also have Demos who'd normally play 10+ minutes. With Coenraad and Demos back, Jackson might miss out.

Ive always thought it was a bad idea and still do. My interest in NBL has dropped significantly since 10 min quarters were brought in. It just reeks of amateur, and the games are over before you know it. Not to mention how the history of the NBL and its stats etc are now pretty much meaningless. How can the current stats be integrated with histories stats when there is 8 less minutes in a game?

If Tv time slot is an issue with twelve minute quarters introduce the 20 second timeouts in the fourth quarter so the ending of the game does not drag out for as long.

Agree with all these comments in pro-12 minute qtrs. Gotta go back to 12 minutes. The game has more appeal when its a bit longer, feels like you get your money's worth, and the stats look nicer. Teams scoring 100ppg or more is much more attractive than 70ppg. Players averaging 20 and 10 looks very nice and you dont get that anymore.

I want 48 minute games back! Player rotations wont look like a circus either, with the coach able to have players on court for longer.

Anon #383229

You are not serious are you?

HO, I assume it was a joke. For their sake.

I have seen that sort of comment here before though Isaac ... and said in all seriousness!

It gets better .... "we are playing an American sport and must play it their way". Great, then we had back to 20 minute halves just like all those College teams.

If you are going to a game it just feels like more of a night out (or afternoon these days) with 12 minute quarters. 40 minute games are hardly worth making an event of.

Clearly the NBA and NBL are the top two professional leagues in the world (in no particular order).

Imagine the whipping Adelaide would give to a Barcelona or CSKA Moscow!

paul (#383165) - or 25 minute quarters like we Aussie Rules players used to play in the 1970s. Even AFL decide it needed a more TV friendly product and shortened the game. i.e., it allows one to fit more of the games' time into prime time weekend broadcasting periods and to increase TV stations' revenue per unit time.

Mick - don't forget ignoring travel on dunks and charging on a dunk and narrowing the key and...oh, hang on

Peter John, do you think that's enough? I think the league needs to designate a list of star players at the start of the season and the slightest contact on them is called a foul. Until they do that I dont think they can be taken seriously.

Oh yeah, and no sponsors on uniforms either, that's just silly.

I think Anon #383298 is missing the point of this discussion..."I hated 12 minute quarters. I mean, 48 minutes? Why would I bother when I can go to sports that last much longer. It's pathetic."
So you are pro 10 minute quarters?? Lol
When the game is a 48 minute game the whole length of going to a game works out to about 2 hours-2 and a half hours, so it is better value for money.
At a time when we need to be making the sport more attractive to the public we are changing it simply to comply with FIBA. A system we play in once every two years and one that we don't seem to ever be competitive in besides the Commonwealth games.
Do we want a sustainable league? Yes. In order to be competitive we need to make this league more attractive, more competitive so our players stay.
Back in the day when it was 48 minutes and we hardly had a player in the NBA we finished 4th in 1988,1996 and 2000. Since then we have really struggled to be competitive.
Why also would we bring in a coach from the NBA if going to 40 minutes was so important to our International game?
Surely coaching a 40 minute game is very different to coaching a 48 minute game?

Paul, from what I hear the NBA will be looking at sponsorship on guernseys very soon, if not this coming season!

Brad, I doubt it's "very different" - I'd say they picked the best coach available. Our results are as dependent on rising strength of other countries as much as anything.

I think we should've stayed with 48 minutes. I like the continuity of stats, the 100 point scores, the 30 point outings, etc, but we're presumably stuck with 40 now. Plus, I don't think 48 minutes is going to bring in new fans.

What's real basketball anon? College, where it started and they play 40 minutes?

So I pose this question to you Isaac...Why is Coach K coaching the Team USA?

Sorry #3363 ... so the prerogative exists - provided it is within the 'spirit and intent of the rules', which is the real point, isn't it?

Perhaps those who are managing referees would do the sport a service by spending some time exploring that - and workshopping it with the officials - rather than focusing on the option to ignore what is happening in front of them.

The rules are there for a reason, which on at least one level is to keep some parity between offence and defence and allow players - and teams - to compete on the level of their skils and abilities, not brute strength and a willingness to keep on hitting people until referees come to 'see' illegal contact as acceptable and choose to ignore it.

Surely not in the 'spirit' or 'intent' of the game.

The Brad, please don't rehash the longer game = more value argument. Its just nonsense. I mean is cleopatra (239 minutes) better than Saludos Amigos (43) minutes? Of course not. Donald Duck in Mexico was a cracker.

So HO would you be prepared to pay the same amount of money for tickets or consistently go watch a game which was 5 minute quarters? Course not.

You do realise Cricket Australia charges more for 20/20 games than ODIs?

Brad, I don't buy tickets for NBL games, whatever the length of the quarter. When I can get the world's best basketball league streamed from Europe, why would I want to watch local stuff? Its the same as the soccer - i buy foxsports so i can watch EPL, la liga etc. and if I accidentally slip on the remote and see the A-league, then I slap myself on the wrists and beat myself with a whip for wasting my time.

But if I did buy tickets ... then no, i probably would not buy tickets to a game with 5 minute quarters, cause that is not how basketball is played, its played, worldwide, except the NBA and Puerto Rico, in a 40 minute format.

And, its good that way, really good, exceptionally good, makes me happy, warms the very cockles of my heart... because... 48 minute basketball is boring, goes too long, is crap... and so is the old jump ball rule.

Paul, stop fighting example with example. Thats just wrong of you. damned unfair!

Sorry.

I did like the way you slipped the jump ball in there, but you slipped up by failing to mention that timeouts should be able to be called from the floor.

Shite, time outs from the floor. Doh!!!

I love this shit, I remember being told that the former president of the SEABL laid all the blame for the demise of Australian basketball on three man officiating. Priceless.

Dont be silly, it was the shift to summer, everyone knows that.

The Brad, because he's a great coach with 35+ years of experience that NBA teams have consistently tried to get across to the big league? Wikipedia has him turning down all five NBA offers he's received, including a $40m deal from the Lakers that included part ownership of the team.

I heard that no amount of money could convince him to associate with 48 minute games... ;) Checkmate!

someone needs to give isaac a ball....

The ball functionality is half broken because of me, so I don't deserve one!

In a nutshell, Daniel Eade prefers 48 minute games, therefore 40 minute games are the sensible solution.

Actually my original arguement was that the support for basketball is falling away and has become less entertaining and I think a major factor is the game going to 40 minutes.
I used to love a high scoring game, players dropping 50 points, teams scoring 120, it was entertaining.
Why don't we get rid of the shot clock and go back to the days of 20 point games too, wow wouldn't that be exciting!!!

What makes you say support is falling away? It might be low but it was lower during recent times when we had 48 minute games.

Because I have been going to games since the Apollo days and the crowds aren't what they used to be and you can see it's pretty much the same across all states except probably Perth and NZ.
I guess it must come with success!
I reckon the Sixers might have had one sell out in about the last 5 years! And that was for Brett's final game.

ok. The Brad. I agree with the premise that support for the NBL (not basketball) is falling.

Paul argues about average crowds being up but those figures are incredibly misleading. They are misleading because they are averages, they are misleading because they come in the context of different stadium and team entries, and they are misleading because they actually do not measure people going to games. (An AFL club can basically tell you how many unique individuals attended their games each year - NBL clubs cannot.) They are misleading because three of your long term indicator clubs - Townsville, Wollongong and Adelaide are not showing % increases that reflect the "average" touted by the NBL. In fact two of those "mature" markets have trended down worryingly in the last 3-5 years.

TV Support is not up, because no one knows what it was before three years of changing FTA deals and PTV that preceded that. Basically no one can measure or say whether 40000 viewers is good or bad.

Sponsor support, at least for the league, is down in both real and adjusted terms, and down massively to where the league was in 1996/7. The last Mitsubishi deal was something like 2 mil per year!

However, all of these trends started long before the introduction of 40 minute games. Your conclusion is un-provable, barely arguable in fact.

10 minute Quaters is a joke. What about all the records set in the NBL over the years. Ruckers 30 Assists or HEal dropping 60 or Gaze Averaging 35PPG. No one and I mean no one has a chance in hell of beating any of these records with 8 minutes left in the game. History and acheivements of past players has huge place in sports and this is killing the NBL history we have.
Imagine if the ICC woke up one day and said were reducing all Test Matches to 4 Days.

Woody, imagine if the NBA considered 40 minute games. Except that apparently it's been floated and some execs are for it.

Woody, if changing the game format is a crime then I am glad we agree so vehemently. The NBL should never have moved from 40 to 48 minute games back in the 80's. Thank God they righted that wrong three seasons ago eh?