I've voiced my concern elsewhere about having footy-focused commentators doing basketball games as in the past they've always gone on and on about AFL especially...

But these guys seem to be pro play-by-play guys, so hopefully it can work out if they stay focused on the sport they're actually watching...

The AFL style of commenting play-by-play suits AFL and horseracing - I don't know how well that will transition to basketball.

I much prefer the NBA style of play-by-play.

Will wait until the end of the first round before making judgement.

I think you'll find Gaze was a no go for a number of reasons: morning radio gig,corporate work and wasn't great coin.

Gaze still gushes anytime someone does a dunk so I'm pleased he's not commentating.

I actually love that commentating team. Good to see Huddo and Russell on board from AFL. I don't watch NRL but in the highlights I know Warren Smith is a prominent voice, and a decent one at that.

These are big name voices, these are the types of voices that will get the casual channel flicker to pay attention.

Would have liked to see John Casey back though.

Maybe Gaze isn't on the list because he has been a fixture on the NBL commentary scene for the past decade and they've decided to stop making the same mistakes over and over again.

There just aren't any basketball first commentators in Australia, its something that just always going to be.

However, it would be good for the guys who are taking it on to watch a few NBA games to research how they go about it over there. Dont focus on calling the plays as such, but more conversation unless its a huge play.

Good coup getting Warren Smith. Definitely the best commentator going around in rugby league.

I remember when Dennis Commetti used to call the Basketball.

I don't mind the team, but I was under the impression that Corey Homicide Williams would be involved due to a conversation a friend had with the Townsville Crocs owner. Maybe he has a yet-to-be-disclosed TV involvement of some kind.

Other than that, I don't mind the team. They are renowned in their respective sports, but they need to remember that this is basketball - not just the game people play during an AFL off season. They need to give the game the respect it deserves by bothering to research it.

remember colour guys will have to get experience somewhere, so we will have to wait and see if they are any good.

as other people have mentioned there arent many commentators that a basketball trained first

gives these guys are chance and we will see if they are any goods

Doesn't matter,do you need to listen,you can see what's happening cant you?
Better off without the biased ex player commentary anyway.

What!!!
No Steve! Who said they don't read Hoops, or are influenced by this forum?

1 season in they may struggle early but can only improve think of how the commentry would be after 3-4 years of calling it! Gotta start somewhere, have faith relax and enjoy the game!

Benno has a point.

I'm actually pretty keen to listen to these guys, especially huddo, will be interesting how his voice goes with bball.

Pretty happy with that as long as the football first commentators keep the AFL/NRL references to a absolute bare minimum!

Will have to accept that they will mention the football codes at various stages. Just hope they don't use the NBL as a promotional tool for the AFL/NRL.

Gaze at 7 for Olympics, not sure abt continuing Foxtel gig ATM.

Hudson struggled terribly tonight. About as bad a start as you can get. Let's hope he gets to work and does some homework on the league and how basketball is commentated in other competitions.

Wasn't his finest couple of hours, i'd imagine he'll develop fine as he goes

I didn't think he was that bad, other than getting really confused about a jump ball call.

Hammer rattling off a list of names at one point and mispronouncing half of them was amusing.

Out of curiosity, where is Clinton Grybas these days?

Oh crap. I had no idea about that. Very sorry to find out, he was a really good b'ball commentator.

I thought Huddo was fine, all things considered.

If you want to convert people to the NBL, you can't have commentators with no idea what is actually happening out there. Thankfully it's on FSN for the first few rounds so that by the time it gets some wider exposure he will have improved.

Getting non-basketball people to commentate basketball makes absolutely no sense at all. Imagine the reverse - getting Carfino / Gaze commentating AFL or NRL. It would be ludicrous.

What? No Carfino?
Basketball is such a slow-moving and boring sport, you need somebody like Carfino to fill in all those empty hours prattling about some minor incident in the 1st quarter.

If you want to convert people to the NBL, you can't have commentators with no idea what is actually happening out there. Thankfully it's on FSN for the first few rounds so that by the time it gets some wider exposure he will have improved.

I thought Huddo did a good job first up.

Hudson seemed lost. Didn't know his players, and doesn't know the terminology to call a basketball game. Shane Heal did a far better job than him.

Should get better as the season wears on though as he is usually a quality commentator.

My personal preference would be to have an American accent in there somewhere, but unless we can get one we have to accept what we have.

I know there was some dislike for Carfino but I for one miss the American pizzazz calling an NBL game.

How much better is it when the A-League have that EPL style of calling during the soccer games by including a commentator from England, just saying...?

Horses for course!

"FSN is available to more people than FS1-5 are"

But watched by far fewer, which is prob a blessing for Hudson games. Dwayne Russell was pretty solid a few years back so looking forward to hearing him, just a shame John Casey isn't the other play-by-play guy.

What didn't I like about Hudson's call? He didn't know the players. He didn't understand the game. He often missed the moment of big plays. He didn't provide a solid call of the game, having long pauses when something happened because he didn't know who made the play or understand how to call it.

You would think he'd have the ability as a pro commentator to fill while figuring out who made the play, or just to hand smoothly over to Heal to fill the gaps, but he just left pauses or made noises a fair bit of the time.

There's a test for me with commentators, is the game better to watch with the sound down? Last night it certainly was with Hudson, as it was for Carfino doing play-by-play (but not special comments).

Hopefully Hudson knuckles down, studies, practices and improves, as Bill Woods did last season after a very shaky start.

Cj Bruton isn't a commentator.... No offence meant to him

Neither of them tonight are much good at all.

Tom King did play-by-play in Cairns. I think Smith worked far better for NBL TV than he would in a more mainstream product, but surprised King hasn't got a gig.

The play by play commentator for Fox was really good tonight in my opinion. Seemed to know enough and even did some research on the past.

Agree Matt Russell did a solid job, hopefully more of him and less of Hudson. I also agree Tom King was excellent, would be great to see Fox and the NBL open their eyes a little and cultivate a talent like his.

Similarly with guys like Bruton and Bradtke for special comments, their previous efforts have shown they aren't great in that role yet they're being rolled out here, is it just a lack of research on Fox/NBL's behalf? Bruton needs to find some of the excitement he showed on the court and take it into the commentary box.

Cairns v Hawks games was much better from a commentary point of view. Colour commentary of the moment goes to Shane Heal though, he is much better at it than CJ Bruton. Shane Heal knows basketball, is a very smart basketballer and has experienced all levels.

That was his only real mistake, albeit a bad one. I'll take a commentator getting one players' first name wrong in the first game over someone not knowing the league at all!

For me, commentators are secondary to production, and the production so far has been half assed.

Anthony Hudson is pretty good at football, so with a few more games he should be OK here.

I am disappointed that they can't get the ticker (score) working for the entire game. They can do it for the AFL, yet they can't here.

Regarding this forum, how do you go to the latest post in a thread quickly? I have to scroll down the page to the very bottom to see the latest posts.

Also, how do you add a quote from a poster when replying?

The conversational style commentary that the nba uses is the best style of commentary for basketball. and Carfino had a little bit of that

because the key moments in basketball are in the last 2 minutes of quarters, the commentators need to have a good rapport to talk about team prospects, injury updates and season contexts as opposed to "on-the-nose" commentary.

Andrew Voss has a good way of understanding the tempo of games, he does adjust if there is a fast/ frenetic start, but he does have a conversation with the 'colour commentator' when games are in a state of stalemate

That was Adam Papalia has called the games on radio a couple of years ago also very good AFL caller.

Yep, he was good, and Robbins was solid, no amazing insight but just kept it simple and did that well. I enjoyed the Hudson-Greer combo do, Hudson still with some work to do but a big improvement over opening night.