Hooley has been awfully repetitive recently.

I mute it. I love Gaze and have enjoyed his combos with Copeland. I'm sick of the term 'big hit’ and Shane Heal and homicide are the worst of the lot.

I’ve just accepted it won’t get better.

The.... Land..... Of..... Plenty....

Multiple times this had been referred to previously but Heal adding in "be able to" to every sentence is deplorable.
Leave it out FFS. The sentence still has the same meaning.

Homicide is just a self promoting clown.

Santamaria just sucks everybodys you know what.

Homicide adds absolutely nothing to the commentary. He picks a player to hype up, he suggests every game is going down to the wire, and from the midway point of the second quarter he just starts reading out player stats with amazement in his voice.

Casey or Heverin + Santamaria and Gaze is my favourite combo, by quite a stretch.

Casey and Herevin to call the games, Herevin been great imo, him Hooley on their own the other night with homicide in Launceston was good because they only went to homicide in time outs.
Expert commentary I like Gaze, Hooley, Santa is ok. I'm still not convinced you need two experts, I’d try one caller and expert for a while with one at game.
Heal is not good and Cameron is horrible.
Rosen is fine at stadium. I’d like to see McQuade call a few games.

I’d like to see each stadium have their own commentary team, yes there will be bias but there will be lots different styles in each city.

Santa might be a fanboi of the league but he provides insights into things like offensive sets and touches on advanced stats which is something the game has never had. He knows his x's and o's and is one of the best commentators.

I'll take that over "non preferred left hand" any day of the week.

Santamaria & Hooley sounds like a couple of local bozo's who should be commentating NBL1/Big V games

Homicide try's to street it up far to much and make it sound American which is great apart from the fact I'm yet to meet anyone who likes it.

In New Zealand we have Casey Frank and Andrew Mulligan commentate the Breakers games.

Andrew Mulligan is an excellent talker and Casey Frank provides awesome and funny insights.

I have watched only a few games with the Australian commentators, but something that annoys me a bit about them is some of them don't know the bench players etc. I know its not the NBA but to even make the bench for an NBL team is a great achievement for the lads, show them some respect.

Santamaria actually provides analysis of what the teams are doing tactically, he's the only one who provides that insight.

Keep for in game:
Gaze, Copeland, Hooley, Casey
Add: Damian Martin, Carfino
Keep for courtside
Santamaria, Luke, Heal.
Get rid of:
Corey, Russell and any other AFL crossover

We all love Damo as he's a top bloke but to be a play by play commentator? No thanks.

Seems everyone agrees Santa/Homicide should be shelved for any type of commentary/courtside and stick to the panel shows.

Have some local ex-players doing sidelines or guest comments for home games make sense but they have to be serviceable.

Hooley has been great but I agree of late over talks a bit. Him and Herevin on there own we're great.

They all suck and the whole production of the NBL broadcast needs an overhaul. Nothing has changed for the better in years. Same old and its stale.

Well tell us how you would fix it then please. No point in saying its crsp without a solution.

A good start would be for the commentators to actually commentate the game rather than talking about random crap while play is going on. Often we don't even know who got called for the foul because the commentators are too busy going on about other irrelevant stuff.

Well tell us how you would fix it then please. No point in saying its crsp without a solution.

No point trying. Nothing ever gets heard. We just have to put up with it. To get the ball rolling: Maybe some professionalism? Take the sport a bit more seriously? Be more entertaining without it becoming stupid or boring, try new phrases, provide more stats and analysis, improve the banter? Pretty much the whole production.

I also would like to know what happened to James Harvey - this never gets answered when its brought up.

Word is Harvey wanted too much money a couple of years ago so got turfed. And hasn't been heard from since.

"Seems everyone agrees Santa/Homicide should be shelved for any type of commentary/courtside and stick to the panel shows."

Seems you didn't read the thread at all.

The best part about Heal being a commentator is that he has to remain somewhat neutral throughout the games which means he has to praise Perth a helluva lot but he then runs to Twitter to whinge about them because he's a punk-ass bitch.

Why should we put up with Heal talking up crap players because he's mates or their agent. Call the game, yes tell us who got the foul, supply some stats, game and player. Santa the other night telling everyone that Krebs was a great shooter, I don’t see it, check stats and he’s low thirties, I mean it’s not that hard to know the players. NZ guys do it best, two commentary and one on sideline.

"No point trying. Nothing ever gets heard. We just have to put up with it. To get the ball rolling: Maybe some professionalism?"

Yet you said "and the whole production of the NBL broadcast needs an overhaul..."

How about starting there. The commentators will all be an issue. Rest assured all the experts here couldn't do it that for sure.

How about starting there. The commentators will all be an issue. Rest assured all the experts here couldn't do it that for sure.

- Im certainly no expert. Never said I was. Just a fan with an observation and an opinion.


It needs a revamp. Not enough people watch NBL on TV. The ratings stink. I love the game but have found it hard to watch on TV sometimes, therefore I contribute to the poor ratings by not watching. And when I do watch, it looks like nothing has changed in years. Maybe its just me. Maybe I'm just a little cranky. But if their ratings are horrid year in year out, yet the game is reasonably popular, then why hasn't the league done enough on the production side to improve?

Casey, Herevin, Gaze and Santa are easily the best. Damo's been good as a courtside commentater. Homicide speaks a lot of shit and Hooley talks way to much without really saying anything. He's ok when he's at the game tho.

I agree the league needs fresh commentary from people who are not trying to pitch his brand to the general public like some. The issue is especially with Homicide is he thinks he's doing great and I notice each game he messes up name and important information I still can’t get over him saying the Snakes are missing DJ Kennedy who played for United and hasn’t been in the league for a couple years!!!! I turned to sound off from there hahahah

"the whole production of the NBL broadcast needs an overhaul."

The starting point should be the work that happens away from teh microphones. The research into players (backgrounds, human interest stories, past exploits, season/stats to date, etc.), teams (who's on the bench, season performance/stats to date, record at the venue, etc.), coaches (as for players, include assistants and other staff - there are often gems in support staff's histories, tactical preferences, coaching styles, etc), crowds (locating human interest stories in the spectators that might be worth running (get them from the host clubs and use them if they're worth it).

The review all that research output and put together a broadcast plan for the game that allows you to fill dead time with informed. hopefully interesting material rather than just filling it with stream of consciousness babble. This sort of research, plus intelligent application of the results, are what distinguishes the excellent commentators.

The other stuff that happens away from the microphone is the camerawork, production and support staff. The statisticians who feed useful data to the commentators; the directors and video staff picking the replays and cutting them in at the right times, to support the commentary, not to stymie it; the different camera angles etc.

As far as I can tell, NBL is on a budget that doesn't allow for any of the above to be done well. i.e., commentators woudl only be paid to call the games, not to do the research; only a couple of cameras per game; no stat person to feed stuff to the commentary team etc.

So you're left with commentators relying on existing (necessarily personal) knowledge and experience, with little or no control over replays and access to stats. The result is whatever comes into their heads, peppered with anecdotes, inter-commentator banter and repetition.

Add to that the fact that the commentators are watching the game remotely, on a screen. They have no broader view of the court, stadium and crowd. So they can't feel the atmosphere nor can they talk about off the ball and off the court stuff that doesn't get camera time.

Any commentator who can come across as half way interesting and not overly repetitious in that setting, is doing well.

"no stat person to feed stuff to the commentary team etc." Don't tell Statman that he hasn't got a job.

Swell

Stat Man exists. True that is.

It's sad that this a thread.
None of us forum twits are good enough for the job anyway.

On broadcasting- replay the ref calls rather than flicking to highlights.
So hard for both viewers AND the commentators that are not in the centre to figure out wtf was just called!

Keep highlights for time outs and other dead space.

Dont care who is commentating but wish they would actually call play by plays and update on scores frequently. If you are vision impaired it is impossible to enjoy nbl anymore.

So who gets canned and who should be retained ????

If you're vision impaired you should apply to be an NBL ref!

Now that's funny !!!! Hahahah

"Dont care who is commentating but wish they would actually call play by plays and update on scores frequently. If you are vision impaired it is impossible to enjoy nbl anymore."

Sorry but that is the last thing they need to do.

Homcide is terrible same on the panel shows and in commentary...its US street type stuff he spews and the ghetto talk...relly they type of things people want there kids listening to.

The ghetto talk? wow ok then

Homicide is fine on 360 and the sideline, and possibly with Gaze. Other than those spots no where. Heal as well on the sideline, just keep out commentary box, don't need his waffle and bias.

I don't think many like Homicide but to say his "ghetto talk" is bad because kids might copy him is just ludicrous.

What is the definition of ghetto talk exactly???

I get commentary is a very hard gig. You're talking non-stop for hours. But please, can we say goodbye to:

"(Insert player) doing (insert player) things", or any other variation.

The only exception I'll take is for players who stuff up regularly, stuffing up. That would make it funny.

The only consensus I have found is Homicide sucks!

They continue to drop the ball muted then completely turned off both games. It's like they were battling for who knows best with Heal constantly correcting Homicide. The commentary was absolutely horrible and that’s sad because both games seemed to be going well. Soon as Homicide started his "Hammer" !!!!! Crap I was done

"This comes in numerous forms but includes making this game sound like the most important they have every called,"
Clearly you can't read. The post said 'make it sound like', not ""the biggest match in the history of our sport" Damm, no wonder you piss so many people off.

Homicide was actually quite reasonable yesterday, Heal just makes shit up. If as Heal says Froling is a 7' footer, Hunter would be 7’3. Froling is around 6’10".

Hunter standing next to one another Hunter stands over him, I don't believe what’s written on web sites, I’ll judge what I see. Hunter is bigger than Froling, Harry is taller than Sam.

That's the point tho they both ruin it for the casual viewers it’s like watching to clowns cry nobody wants to see crying clowns. How about good insights and decent banter and the energy should match the play on the court. They scaring the Jr and Seniors with some of the outburst.

Tobeabletobeabletobeabletobeableto

Mute.

"Hammer still can't shut up about the Kings and they're not even playing."
Was there a point? Sydney, Sydney, Sydney!!!

Santa and Herevin on their own yesterday again was great, homicide in Launceston. I'm on just one caller and one analyst commentary.

Yes that was great because we didn't have to hear him hahah

Homicide is cringe worthy in the box tonight, just talks and repeats crap. Far better on the sidelines.