If the season is scrapped, I am not sure how the league will get back off its feet!

A misleading thread title to say the least.

Yes, a 'might be' or 'could be' would have helped the objectivity of the title

We are a top ten basketball nation yet our national league is a shambles. We are heading for semi pro league at this rate. Even more of our best talent will head overseas

more crud from KK trying to be the heroine when in fact she has done nothing for the sport as yet, oh except getting WNBL players access to the Virgin Lounge. Massive get that one.

KK is afraid she'll look very stupid when the NBL is successful. NBL teams themselves & central NBL money was being used to pay for WNBL & every other program being run out of that office.

+1 Mick KK looking at a large deficiency of income now that BA cant siphon cash out of the NBL

Every club I've spoken to (which is all apart from one) are under the impression that the season is going ahead and these details are just a mere formality.

Is there a chance the season won't go ahead? Sure there's a chance. But there's more of a chance it will go ahead. So I wouldn't worry too much at this stage.

However - If it doesn't go ahead, who wants to start a rebel league with me???

Whatever happened with Slamball anyway?

YouknowMe, Why did you need to make that comment?

This forum is better than the other forum for a reason, and that is the standard of debate is generally better.

Why dive off into some sexist crass comment?

Any clue as to who you haven't spoken to on this matter Nat?

Cochrane wouldn't be putting his name to something if it did have legs

I apologise 'HO' (which is an unfortunate name given the point you are making) I guess its just my way of saying I think shes pretty hot (especially with long hair) But she hasnt actually seemed to have changed much

I probably agree YouknowMe, but I think the CEO of BA is a pretty powerless job. You can be very very good at what you do, but the external and environmental factors ranged against you make it extremely difficult to make a difference.

HO thats rubbish , good leadership finds away regardless of the circumstances

Muzz Buzz,

Sorry i don't agree. Its the same as the sentiment often expressed here that we need successful business people running the clubs and the league, and that this will lead to success in turn.

I've made the point before that successful business people have been running clubs (and to some extend the league) for a long long time and have consistently failed.

John Rymarz had an extraordinarily successful career before he took over the league.. he was hailed by many.

Leonidas might have held the Persians back with limited resources for a long time but in the end he still lost.

Its a lovely sentiment to say "good leadership" will get it done, but the reality is in lots of businesses, in lots of business sectors, organisations fails in spite of what many people would regard as good leadership.

Sometimes, the odds are so stacked against you, that you just cannot win - however good you are. Just look at what has happened to the once booming video rental industry.

I am not saying KK is doing a great job, and I am not saying the situation is hopeless, but what is basketball to do, keep sacking people every 3 months till they find the "good leader" they need?

Yeah the fact is that sports administration not exactly like running business in the "real world".

Sometimes a guy with little business knowledge but passion for the game will prosper, sometimes their lack of brass tacks business know-how will leave them exposed.

Sometimes a guy with a succesful business career will struggle to come to terms with the restrictions involved with sports admin and the accountability of being in the public eye under the constant media cycle, other times he will cut through all the basketball inside-club wankfest bullshit and thrive with little sports knowledge.

It's more like running a business in a communist country than anything an Aussie businessman would be exposed to normally, with a bit of politics thrown in. Or maybe more like hitting pinatas in the dark.

The problem with Australian ball at the moment is we have lots of passionate basketball people with no business or marketing sense whatsoever involved who are just killing the brand, and then on the other hand you have business people with no basketball sense who are pissing off the purist basketball fans, to the point where no one is happy. Then both of these two types of people are utterly failing to come together for the good of the sport and you end up with this watered down decision by committee crap. You really need a great leader. One man or woman with a vision that can make decisions from the top and hold everyone accountable down the tree. The NBA didn't get where they are today through white papers or committee decisions, they got there because David Stern had a sole vision for the sport and he did everything he could to realise it (Michael Jordan didn't hurt either). The vision has to have a wider scope. Stern had a vision for not only how the game was to be marketed, but how the business was to be run and then all the way down to how the game was going to be played on the court. They all tie together. If you want to market an exciting game you better make sure that the rules are in place for the game to actually be exciting on the court. It's a holistic approach.

The biggest hole right now, aside from the ongoing demerger purgatory, is the PR & marketing disaster. It's been so bad for so long, and it's so easy to do right, but I'd go so far as to say the NBL's brand is damaged beyond repair in the eyes of the general public for the immediate future at least.

The average Joe on the street either doesn't even know the NBL exists or if they do they think it is too passe for them to be seen following.

I also think there are many old-hat basketball minds involved that are so far removed from what basketball is today that they are just as useful as someone with no basketball knowledge whatsoever who bring other skills to the table. The game has passed lots of people by and they're clinging onto driftwood at this point.

Mick, You have made a whole series of statements there but I actually do not think we have enough "basketball people" involved with the administration of the game.

Take a look at BA. Haynes and Landon have gone, along with Sengstock.

There is no one in senior management (AFAIK) now with a long term basketball background.

The NBL has Chuck but he is, and has always been, involved with the administration of the NBL, not basketball per se.

The board, quite frighteningly, has one "basketball" person involved - Drew, and that is the frightening bit!

My point was that you need basketball-minded folk, but they can't be so out of touch with the game that their input is irrelevant to the point where it's a zero sum game and you're better off with someone with no basketball knowledge whatsoever. My bigger point is that reforms have to be led under a sole leader with a vision, no more wishy washy decision by committee stuff where it's a compromise to the point where no one is happy.

An aside: what's the bet that Drewy's input would be "Gee, that sounds great guys! Absolutely love it!!!" to every proposal ever tabled to the board...

+1 Mick

every successful sport is run by a dictatorship approach. Big thinking is needed not timid rats and mice approach. leadership id about being bold in the face of adversity

some sports that use the dictatorship model

AFL
F1
V8's
Olympics (are the biggest dictatorship of them all)
FIFA
NBA

and so on and so

NBL needs a dictatorship that is independent of the clubs

In the articles it says that if the clubs fail to complete the de-merger BA will take over and a $250,000 bank guarantee will have to be provided. THIS IS HOW MUCH THE BLAZE PROVIDED WHEN THEY WENT BROKE BUT BA DIDN'T ACCEPT BUT NOW THEY DO! What a joke.

Is that how much the Blaze actually provided, or how much they pretended they could provide with their mystery backer who wanted to provide no details whatsoever about how he was funding the club?

It was reported hat they provided $250,000.