Anon
Years ago

Should the NBL look to revisit the Oceania rule?

Have not seen much traction surrounding the new 'Special Restricted Player' rule apart from the Brisbane Bullets signing Hiejima. But look how that turned out! Tai Wesley was a byproduct of the Oceania rule, and look at the impact he has been able to make for the teams he's been on.

With the recent expansion of the League, and more roster spots opening up, maybe the NBL should look to re-introduce Oceania, and look to re-classify it as an 'Asian-Oceania' special restricted player, while limiting teams to either one player, or a Next Star player.

There's a few players from the Oceania Region who would add some great depth to NBL Teams like:
- Josh Fox 6'6 Wing (Fiji - Played the last few seasons with Ballarat in the SEABL & NBL1, now signed with Frankston for the upcoming NBL 1 season)
- Earnest Ross 6'5 Wing (Guam - Former Perth Wildcat, played in Qatar, SEABL, SBL and was last with the South Bay Lakers of the NBA G-League)
- Marcus Alipate 6'0 Guard (Tonga - Played in NZNBL, most recently in SBL where he won a championship with the Geraldton Buccaneers last season)

Honourable Mentions - Jonathan Galloway 6'10 Centre (Guam), Darren Hechanova 6'3 Guard (Guam), Rehiti Sommers 6'5 Forward (Tahiti)

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Anonymous
Years ago

Baba - Japan

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Anonymous
Years ago

When they add an extra team, definitely.

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Anonymous
Years ago

Is it their choice to make?

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Anonymous
Years ago

Yes

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Anonymous
Years ago

I certainly agree the rule should be revised again, but I wonder how many of the guys you named would be able to contribute at the NBL level.

Ross I think would certainly be handy, but beyond that, Fox was an 11ppg guy in NBL1, don't know much about Alipate.

To me, it seems like the smaller pacific countries don't have many NBL level guys to offer - there's far more productive local guys that are on the fringes, such as Doyle, Hadziomerovic, Muo, Bose to name a few, maybe a few more NZNBL guys might be up to scratch, any domestic imports if they naturalize (Turner, Stith, Kendle some examples), and then plenty of room for young guys to get a spot and contribute (I bet guys like Travers, Mudronja, Wigness could all play effective mins next season).

If the Asia rule is to be revised and implemented, maybe it gets Wesley back as a local regardless of Aus naturalization, it gets Ross back in the league, but beyond that, I think we'd have to hope for some higher profile Asian players to be lured over. Plenty of talent over there, but the question is whether they can be lured away from Asian league money.

I'm still quite surprised Heijima didn't work out. He's a proven contributor at his National team level and has had Summer League opportunities - he was certainly talented enough on paper to contribute. I guess the transition is hit or miss for guys. But he's the sort of guy the Asian Player Exception should continue to target.

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alexkrad
Years ago

None of those players mentioned in first post would be more than 10/11th on an NBL roster, so why bother, leave those positions to give local players a taste and hopefully develop into more meaningful contributors.

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Anonymous
Years ago

Thanks Alexkrad

Earnest Ross laughing my arse off. He's not even seabl level a few years ago.

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Perthworld's big brother
Years ago

Not at this stage maybe when there are more teams.

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D2.0
Years ago

At the risk of making racist generalities, Oceania is not generally a great source of basketball types.
I've worked in PNG, and gees, pound for pound, strongest people I have ever seen, but very compact. Tall guys very much the exception. Even further East amongst South Pacific Islanders, they are taller but also much wider. Guys like Naitanui, and even Vukona, are an exception rather than the rule. Their populations are also numerically small.

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Anonymous
Years ago

Is there a point you're trying to make regarding yes/no to Oceania or do you just enjoy racially stereotyping?

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Anonymous
Years ago

Commwealth countries

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Anon
Years ago

I'm for it, but only if there is an expansion with the NBL. With Tasmania making moves for next season, and hopefully another team or two within the next 2-4 years (hopefully another New Zealand team too). That way there is more roster spots for Australians/Kiwis (local players).

From a Cairns supporter, the team is doing well, way beyond what everyone expected really, but I'd much rather have a guy like Ross or even Fox in the rotation instead of Blagojevic, and have him as a Development Player. That's my own opinion, others may not agree but that's how I see it.

Can someone name other players in the Asia market which are/could be potential targets?

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Anonymous
Years ago

Mentioned in Pick and Roll article - Kai Sotto could be a potential next stars candidate.

There was also Hyunjung Lee who played for CoE (from South Korea), he's having an excellent season at Davidson, if he could be lured away from college he'd be a great young NBL player.

Also if Terry Li keeps developing he could be an interesting local roster spot option. Obviously he's signed on to that 3 year deal with NZ.

Joe Alexander has been mentioned as a potential loophole guy, being born in Taiwan, I saw someone on twitter mention he might not qualify because he only has US citizenship though (though in my research, the rule is qualified by players who were *born* in certain countries).

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Anonymous
Years ago

Lebanon and Iran have half decent players too.

Don't think Chinese players who are good enough for the NBL would switch given the wages they'd be on.

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Reality
Years ago

The guys that are good players in Asia are a strong chance to make pretty decent coin in there own local leagues.

Also is there really many asian players that are difference makers in our league at the costs of a local player?

We already have 3 imports plus next stars...

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Simon Cowell
Years ago

That's a no from me.

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Perthworld's big brother
Years ago

How original Simon lol.

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Hoops

Should the NBL look to revisit the Oceania rule?

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