On the way up...

just have to win a medal at an olympics imo and we will have made it...

that bronze medal game, was it sydney, where they counted a two a three for the opposition that hurt... best chance we have had at medalling... (Longley, Bradtke, Gaze, Vlahov.... just to name a few)

You make a good argument.

One seems to come before the other, but maybe we are putting the cart before the horse in some respects, which concerns me.

The money we are spending on junior basketball and the government's level of commitment to the AIS for the sport seems to be less than needed, while we are expecting massive improvements at the elite level to drag the sport into the lime light at one end, maybe not supporting it consistently enough at the other.

It's a catch 22 situation I feel, something we can't judge properly until those world championship and Olympic events conclude, but the signs are promising...

Anyone seen Joe Ingles numbers for macabi? His playing very very well!

agree with all points except the NBL part. Its really not on the rise in Sydney. No team in Brisbane.

^ You forget Isaac, if its not happening in Sydney is apparently doesn't exist. Just ask anyone from Sydney.

Seriously, why does anyone care so much about Sydney? in Perth the NBL is the hot ticket.. crowds grow everywhere else. Sydneysiders need to realise they are not the whole country..

Basketball is getting a lot better in Sydney. I have been going to Kings games for over 20 years. It is not like the Ken McClarry D-Train days but its getting back we had 6000 last Sunday. I just think were doing a terrible job of marketing the sport in Syndey.

What we need to do is keep encouraging our imports to have babies out here!

Dante Exum, Ben Simmons, Jonah Bolden. Keep up the good work fellas!

If only Kyrie Irving would commit to the Boomers.

Yeah you guys are right and the fact that Perth was in town and word has spread about James Ennis (the fact that a lot of wildcats faithful are now residing in Sydney) really skewed those numbers. I expect no more than say 4000 tomorrow night I hope I am wrong. I have been to games where there has been 1000 at the Entertainment centre capacity of 11K and that looks terrible. Were getting there a lot more work needs to be done though. The game has thrived before in Sydney because we had the right people at the helm running the marketing and promotion of the game. We do not anymore IMO.

NBL is basically on the rise everywhere except Townsville and Wollongong, which is great for the sport.

I dare say that the Breakers numbers will continue to fall off a cliff if they keep losing as well.

Serious question here to anyone that goes to NBL games sporadically.

What stops YOU from going to NBL games?

Price?
Location of venue?
Parking?
Other event scheduling?

AJ, Do you think we should introduce Ennis to Liz Cambage?

@natwhereyouat a few years ago I went to watch the South Dragons play because I am not a Tigers fan and in Victoria we have no other options mate!

Simple...

PS. That's why we love our SEABL and BigV comps...

Nat, The price is a little steep compared to the footy but I guess the footy gets much more crowds but being the mad 36ers fan that I am I go anyway.

Indoor sports are always going to charge a bit more because footy ovals are cheaper on a per-seat basis to build.

As a fan who regularly attended tigers v magic v giants games 20 years - where the average crowd size was 15,000 - I can't see Australian basketball returning to that level for another 20 years for three reasons:

1) The NBA has become so accessible now it's easy for anyone to watch ANY live game, keep up to date with players and stats, and see highlights. 20 years ago you had to live with seeing Don Lane present a week old game on the ABC, buy outdated and expensive copies of hoops magazine for stats and results. It drove people to watch the NBL and those crosstown rival matchups were always played with playoff intensity.

2) Money - of the lack of it. Australia is too small a market for players of any decent talent to remain for too long. With the nations population continuing to grow I believe in 20 years time we may reach a stage where more fans mean more supporters leading to bigger crowds and more league revenue.

3) There's nothing new. The game changed significantly at the start of the 90s with jordan and magic Johnson bringing a more uptempo game. The Australian style of play up until that point focussed on the tall big bodied slow oafs (John Dorge, Larry Senstock, Ray Borner) dominating - the sport became almost unwatchable. With the new era fans were treated to fresh faces such as Copeland, James Crawford, Robert Rose landing on our shores and showing our oafs that size meant nothing vs athleticism. It changed the league, the game, and these new faces were able to get the crowd involved.
Back to the point - we have seen everything thus far. There's no reason I can see that will drive fans back in droves. Quality players are here for a maximum 1 yr which is unfortunate.

What I will say about Sydney, is they regularly have C grade stars floating around the place. Last televised game I saw Dazza there from Housos... how hard would it be to get the guy to do a couple of Sydney King youtube adds for a couple of season tickets for him and a mate?.... publicity like that pays for itself.

Koshie is there... why cant he do a morning sunrise or whatever hes on 5 min clip of him trying a training session with the Sydney Kings?

I think a certain amount of Sydney Kings, and the NBL at larges problems is laziness and lack of imagination.

Bliss n Eso did a video with the Sydney Kings that was well recieved by fans of both... and B+E are multiplatinum artists with fans across the country... why not a few more initiatives with them? ... why not have them co host a game?... Sydney had more potential then any team in the league to get its face out there. they just dont do it!

As for being Australias best basketball years.. Well, its on a rise. I am not sure you can compare the Andrew Gaze days and the times where the Boomers were household names to today, but when it comes to the sheer amount of talent we are producing and our medal prospects... Right now is the brightest ever in that respect. As for health of NBL... it is nowhere near the early 90s but it is far better then most of the 00's... except maybe 06-09 when we seemed to have a lot of good aussie talent thats since gone to europe.

Great argument from this post but i still go with 90s where schools were packed at lunch n recess with bball games, n playgrounds courts were packed night n day 7 days a week. Just cause we are churning out the players doesnt make it popular.