The lowest of NBA teams is still far better than the best of NBL teams.

And that's ok. That isn't me bashing the NBL. The NBL doesn't need to be as good as the NBA or even close. It only has to be the best basketball league in Australia.

"It only has to be the best basketball league in Australia."

That's a pretty low bar to set. How far could the NBL fall in standard and still be the best league in Australia? It need only be one or two okay players better than an NBL1 team. I don't see that being the only requirement of the NBL if you want a league that actually becomes financially viable. It's already the best league in Australia and it's barely viable.

"I think it is a good concept the way robt has laid it out. Possibly even just top two v bottom two in a round robin series. Nbl to cover the cost instead of clubs."

People who say this don't understand how these games are run. The NBA teams themselves put their hands up and say "sure, we'll take an NBL team." Seems Doc Rivers from the Clippers had a part in making the Melbourne match up happen. For a series to run as you suggest, it would have to be agreed upon by the NBA as this being a viable concept for a series. The bottom NBA teams would have to see the series as not some sort of insult. It would seem a bit of a booby prize and a series that no NBA team would want to be a part of because what it would say about them "you're only here because you're bottom two!"

"Now if we win some games, maybe we can say that we do belong in the lower half of the NBA. Like all the teams in the lower half of the NBA. Much better than no REAL chance."

I'm a huge NBL fan, as people know, but no, we do not belong in the lower half of the NBA. There is a small chance we "could" beat a team from there, and we've come close to beating NBA teams before, (1 point OKC, we beat Clippers for 3 quarters, NZ has been close before, etc), but we're not at a point where we could realistically compete consistently.

Well, I thought it was a concept that had kinda run its course, for now anyway. Taking Adelaide was always a dumb idea. This Adelaide team sucks, let's be frank. Even if you take jet lag out of the equation they were always gonna get smashed. The games to follow were a lot more competitive but I'd be interested to know whether the NBL has any stats that say that this series brings anything tangible to the league.

Everyone is missing the point of this exercise - it's a means to an end in finally getting NBA teams to come and play games in Australia. Once a team hit our shores it is going to be huge for the sport here. A relationship is being formulated between the NBL and NBA which three years ago didn't even exist. Do not underestimate LK.

It would make more sense for NBA teams to fly here. They were able to fly to China weeks before NBA season starts so no reason why they can't fly here perhaps a little bit earlier.

China has billions of dollars to throw at the NBA. Australia does not.

If I were the NBL or a club, I would not go back unless the NBA paid for the NBL clubs, as the NBA clubs can afford it much easier than the NBL clubs, and I would make the timing a week to 2 weeks earlier so its not in the middle of the season.

So you want the NBA to pay for something that brings them no benefit, and overhaul their schedule to accommodate it? Good luck with that.

Every four years there's a season with no FIBA windows. That means the NBL season can be two weeks shorter. In those years, the season should be delayed by that two weeks and the NBLxNBA games played during that period.

Then it's over and done with before the regular season starts for the NBL, more teams can go, and it's on less frequently so the novelty factor doesn't wear off. Because at the moment it seems like there aren't very many people at all who care about the series, compared to the past two years.

The fact that we're having to put up with a feed from the big screen tacked on to a radio broadcast because the game isn't televised anywhere just makes it worse. A TV broadcast needs to be a minimum requirement for future games, even if it's only televised in the US and is then streamed here.

OMG & Thanks all. I have to agree with all above, which sounds crazy. But that's just how hard it is to put a series like this together.

There are pros and cons for the series and how to change it (if, at all). Reckon there's a plan that we can all love? No, me either!

Real problem is I can't see what the NBA get out of it. Maybe just a reward for our buying so much of their merch.

NBA teams get to play a game against a solid international team that will play hard against them, yet is not so great that the NBA teams can't run their bench on them and get a look at their depth.