The NBL needs to increase the level of entertainment. This is purely what brings in enough $$ to run a team. A league can be as pure as it wants but without an entertainment value, it will be as poor as it deserves.
Euroleague has more talent than the NBL and is able to play a more pure style than we should have here. When we have the money and talent of the Euroleague then a defense based competition will still have the requirements to succeed.
The NBA is overkill on entertainment, you lose the respect of the players when they can walk from half court so long as they dunk it.

We need to find the middle ground between these two leagues to develop Australian basketball. Kids (who need to be our largest growth market) don't go to games to see who set the best screen, or the best steal, they definitely don't go to see scores of 50 points regularly. They go for the best dunks, crazy drives to the basket and free flowing fast action packed entertainment. I will continue to say this and one day someone will listen!

No one ever said, I wish I could set a screen and keep the others team ridiculously low like Mike!

Euroleague basketball is really quality basketball for purists but the only thing holding the league back is the lack of exposure or marketing worldwide. It isn't sold to international markets with the storylines like the NBA is

NBL is relatively uptempo and a much higher standard of overall play than people give it credit for. The individual skill level isn't that high though.

There is obviously a massive drop off in coaching level from the second best team to the third best.

Conditioning and athleticism are not great: compare the body of a young NBL player to an NBA or AFL player of similar age. NBL guys don't seem to put in much work in the weight room.

As a Coach, I go to the NBL because teams play a style that you can use in a district game.
And thats what I tell the kids I coach.

We go to watch fundamental defense, big screens set, big box outs and to see NZ and Perth get through their offensive sets.

The NBA and Euroleague (particularly the top half) are the clear world leaders out of hundred of leagues, comparing the NBL with them isnt ideal.

The only half decent comparison with Euroleague could be NZ and Perth, because if we were a part of Europe they would be the two current clubs in the qualifying race.

Taking this year aside, where defenders have been allowed to be very physical with hand and bodies, the NBL is fast paced in the open and half courts, teams mostly have one true big man and a 4-5 man, then a lot of multi-skilled players.

The players are mostly quick and mobile, meaning the defence is intense and with a lot of switching. Offensively it is one of the more equal opportunity leagues with most teams having four (or close to) players in double figures.

The way it's played and reffed at the moment means it's hard to exploit and big line-up and quick players are favoured over strong players, which makes it different to a lot of Euro comps.

It would be nice to see that change so we could achieve a bit more of a balance between the two styles.

The NBL is considered a good defensive league.

But I wonder if that isn't just because there is a relative lack of good offensive players.

The ones at the top (Ced, Madgen) can fill it up and defenses stick to these guys, but there isn't many in the league nowadays.

the NBA has defence!
Its just hard to play when every player is a genuine threat inside the 3point line. A player would get really tired playing end to end defence for the whole game
The game is 48mins in the nba. And there's 82-100 games for teams. The reason why refs don't call as much fouls is simply because they don't want a game to be determined by a refs call . Entertainment wise its the best week in week out
Euro plays with lot of finesse
NBL is based a lot on structure and what the opponent can do and we can't . Most teams try to disrupt perths rugged defennsive style, or try and break nzs pressure and zone

It's not thought of that way internationally. It used to be thought of as a no-D league, but over the years that has improved. But when you consider last season it had the highest scoring rate of the world's top leagues (including NBA) it isnt considered a gun defensive comp by any means.

People OS I speak to think of the NBL more in terms of good offensive talent, especially when guys like Penney, Devries, Rowland, McKee, Wilson, Simpson, Darden etc are/have been amongst the leading scorers in some of Europe's better competitions.

[Entertaining play] This is purely what brings in enough $$ to run a team.

You can't just put down the level of structure and defense in Australia/Europe to a lack of athleticism compared to the NBA.

I'd say the defensive 3 second rule plays a big role in keeping an NBA court open and thus easier to play isolation/one-on-one plays.

The 82 game regular season and relative lack of practices because teams are often playing 4-5 nights a week certainly contributes to less structure and strategy compared to Europe/Australia as well.

And also that with such a long season (and 48 minute games) it's unsustainable to play any full court defense, let alone much half court defense.

Of course having said that the athletic and shot creating ability of NBA players is on the whole superior to Europe.

NBA has the best players/athletes in each position

Did I hear that correctly...The NBA has defence??????

Martin or Vukona wouldn't be able to handle kobe or wade
MJ was a beast defender
Lebron never gives up
Look how much damage Jackson has done to the nbl
Steals leader 2years in a row, yet he's not in the nba
Nobody gets payed in the nba to not play defence

"Perth aren't all that entertaining and are doing exceptionally well." - Isaac

That's because they are playing winning basketball, which is arguably the best form of entertainment.

Why not get the NBA to just buy up our little league and run it as a feeder league, like the D-league?

@ Jez, you make some valid points about the differences in rules and how this affects defensive play, also I agree with your assessment on the amount of games played and how hard it would be to play a 'college' style of 'D' for such a long period...

Yes, the NBA does play great defense, it is just not quite as structured as it is here, by necessity!

We have what we have because of the type of athlete we have, the rules we adopt, the way we coach, the way we officiate the game and no one is courageous enough to change it.

Yes we are not the same as the NBA, and we may never be, because when you walk down the street or to the park you do not see pick up games of hoops played by 6'6" brothers, all with amazing athleticism.

It is a cultural anomoli that Euro can close in on because of population and the fact that they adopt hoops as a world game, we don't seem to...

Not yet.........

That's because they are playing winning basketball, which is arguably the best form of entertainment.

NBL needs more indigenous exposure/players
There's plenty of patty mills and nathan jawais out there
Just need to find them
NZ Breakers aren't entirely european , there's plenty of diversity in there lineup.
No matter the background , basketball is on the rise globally.
NBL vs PBA all stars would be great to watch.

In terms of standard the NBA, NCAA D1 and televised Euro I've seen are far beyond the NBL.

The NBL doesn't have the consistent quality basketball, and in turn an entertaining and marketable product.

The gap between the best NZ and Perth a combined 46 wins, and (near) playoff rest: Wollongong, Melbourne, Sydney and Cairns combined for 48...is obvious.

NZ/P had 65% of wins of the the Final 4...or 49% for the top 6.

If you throw in the gaspers Townsville and Adelaide bumbled to a combined 18.

They still have 41% of the league wins.

While there wasn't parity across the league the NBL at its peak most fans thought their team was a chance.

Entertainment is a key factor for the league. It once had high flying, arcobatic players (mostly imports) who got fans up off their seats.

The Aussie talent was also competitive and was forced to rise up to match it.

The players were interesting, agitating or just annoying but it drew people in and got the game some excellent coverage.

It is now become over-coached, almost bogged down, play as coaches trade plays - that work about 25% of the time.

I find SEABL so much more entertaining, but I guess I am watching the best team going around outside the NBL, so I am bias as far as that goes...

Supercats are a great model for a SEABL team, two very athletics and exciting imports, quality across the board and a home crowd atmosphere to be envied.

Other teams could do a lot worse than go down their road IMO (that includes NBL teams in a joint comp)??