I'd like to see more teams go with just 2 imports & back their local home grown talent...

If the third import WAS marquee for all 8 teams (somehow equitably funded) then so be it, but when a lot of teams use that spot for a role playing type, I'd prefer to see 8 more Aussie vets still on a roster or 8 more Aussie young guns getting a crack.

Kinda sad that guys like Bragg, Heiur, Ellis etc. are going to be lost to our league for this season : (

Surely Taipans need another centre?
Heard none of the scuttle before Kelley left for the States so no idea what's on the official shopping list, but is anyone seriously imagining a full season from Nate?

Loe & Young sport!

Waxy too if anything they might be a bit too top heavy.

Even Loughton could play a bit of 5.

And look who won, money talks. United could even afford a 4th import as a replacement who was out of the price range for other teams.

I understand why Melbourne is waiting with regards to their PG and SF positions, considering Carrick and Casper are hoping to get onto an NBA roster.

But I'm surprised they haven't signed up Boone.

I thought it seemed likely Boone wasn't coming back when they signed Pledger and elevated Smith-Milner to the roster.

Kings only have 1 import. Who's the second?

"Could Perth still sign 3 imports and not suit someone (ie. Hire) up each game?"

No.
Years back teams had a 12 player roster, and only suited 10.
Now it is an 11 player roster, and all suited, plus teams can suit DP's to make it up to 12.
Various rules around nominating DPs as (short-term) injury replacements, but the bottom line is only 11 players on the regular roster.

The issue would appear to be the 5-man cap (and role/minutes)
That means that with a team like Perth, where you already have a solid local core (Martin, Norton, Wagstaff, Kay, Brandt, Jervis) even if your 3rd import was happy to be a 7~8th man off the bench, the cap is going to limit your budget.

I'm having a trident probe here!
1. Taipans need another centre.
Mitch Young, at 6'9, is only a maybe centre in QBL.
Loughton at 6'10 is the oldest beanpole in the garden. The way he has held up the last 2 seasons, from Marlins to Taipans, is quite extraordinary. All the more reason to believe he can't keep doing it.
Ruby Wax isn't a problem, but like the two mentioned above, he's a forward, and like the others, not dynamic enough physically to be rated 'power forward'.
No anchor centres in this group.
All GREAT players, but 'rapidly maturing' or outclassed.
Zodiac and ThunderJam: I think you're just plain wrong.
Knock out Nate and the stress in the front court will be crystal-clear.
2. Imports don't block local talent.
From a player perspective you've known since you were 16 that if you've weren't already a 6'5 point guard in an excellent elite programme, or 6'8 and growing rapidly,
basketball might not be the only or best option. If there is nothing extraordinary about you I'm truly sorry, but there aren't any social justice warriors out there who have yet thought the way to compel people to pay to watch you (underperform). Bell-Curve still rules here [as it should everywhere].
So, much as I love Damo H, admire and respect the hell out of him, he's had a couple of contracts DESPITE the odds. More power to him; may he dwell glowingly on this in the nursing home.
Meantime Cairns have A.Fish as a dev player, in all respects interchangeable with Damo, but effectively 'no charge'. He's self-funding his sale price at some future talent
auction, fully aware of what has happened to his mate Damo, but heedless of the probabilities. Taipans would be nuts to not exploit him.
Ditto round the League.
[Mr. Gerrans knows this already. That's what makes him such a sarky b to be writing about Heuir the way he did last week, from the full professional jouno platform.]
3. Which of course leads to how many imports is too many.
Well, the number is probably not that important. But what clubs are allowed to pay for them is.
The Bell Curve puts Scottie Wilbekin in Europe (Turkey), not USA or Oz.
If 8 teams in Oz could find 11 imports for less than the cost of local equivalents would punters care? Not sure they would fret too much if their team was competitive, and until we started to slip in international ranking.
Given the Club player payment equalisation scheme was dead without ever taking breath, I'd love to see every club restricted to spending no more than $375k on imports.
Still gives Scottie a chance to launch.
Still gives Andrew Fisher a chance as 11th man somewhere.
Still gives Cairns a chance to be in the League in 2020.
Still gives Oz a tested talent pool to draw on for international comp.

From a player perspective you've known since you were 16 that if you've weren't already a 6'5 point guard in an excellent elite programme, or 6'8 and growing rapidly,
basketball might not be the only or best option.

The Bell Curve puts Scottie Wilbekin in Europe (Turkey)

Given the Club player payment equalisation scheme was dead without ever taking breath

I'd love to see every club restricted to spending no more than $375k on imports.

Andrew Fisher

Still gives Cairns a chance to be in the League in 2020.

I like your last paragraph Koberulz, and had considered some of those same ideas before putting my 2-bob's worth out there.
My ambition is to see the best teams of locals that money can buy, and if future Oz talent enters that market by starting with poverty-pack teams like Taipans, that’s a positive.
Still works for the untried imports too(even if they do end up in Tel Aviv!).
Thanks.

The idea behind the new rules was that teams would choose between upto 3 imports OR upto 3 extra local Marquee players.
But that only works if teams are using marquee provisions to lower their tax payments. Otherwise it seems some teams will still sign top-notch locals (who might otherwise be Marquess) and still use imports.

On the one hand I think that we did fine for many years with only 2 imports, including in a much large league where local talent was spread even thinner.
Issue is now, with no effective salary cap, that some teams are able to go nuts sucking up local talent. Once the local cupboard is bare, imports represent the only chance other teams have to catch.

I actually liked the concept as proposed, but it is clearly not working as I hoped it might. Sydney has repeatedly spent overs on locals, and still signed imports.