Yeah I don't care about them kobe. Not serious games by any means, and the trips seem to poison the fortunes of teams upon return to NBL.

Just checked the box, wondering why Tacko didn't play after all the hoo haa of signing him to the exhibition deal.

Jazz won 116-87

I'm watching the b league, cracking game between Chiba and brex. Lot ex nbl players and both ex nbl coaches

All of our ex-coaches and players there literally puts the ex in B.LEAGUExNBL.

Ben apparently Tacko was rested for a very minor injury precaution and will play the next 2 games

Not certain how long smith, bullets last season will last under Gleeson, he is no defender. Anyway Gleeson team led by 23 just before halftime and got up in ot. Cracking game.

Is it true the Breakers might be looking to cut Mooney and replace him with Jordan Floyd?

Breakers played alright apart from when they went cold offensively. PJC needs that second scoring punch that Lamb was last year and while Mooney isn't the worst import, he hasn’t been shooting great.

These were massive news the first year or two, and now it's hard to even know they're happening.

Coach Koponen let his bench enjoy the experience and get some minutes .
I didn't watch the whole game but at one stage Pineau, Bairstow and DP Carlin Davidson were on court together.
The Breakers players missed some bunnies due to nerves but also had some great moments, especially Karim Lopez.

Tacko Fall has been ruled out for the rest of the Breakers NBA games due to a quad injury and Matt Walsh has added they won't be signing him for the rest of the NBL season either and are sticking with Gillespie.

Wow these games aren't about the result but they should be about developing a system, defence and set of plays.

At this stage coach kop doesn't seem to have put in place any consistent method of ball rotation, player rotation, offball screens or getting players open shots other than pjc drive and kick to the wings.

I'm worried kop looks way out of his depth of you ask me.

I know there'll be a couple of responses saying it's early days, it's against nba ya de ya but the way they're playing there's only two teams in the nbl they'd beat and that's the two they won against and that haven't beaten anyone yet.

No idea what sort of deal the NBL has with the NBA, but wondering if maybe the 2 leagues signed some kind of long term deal? It really looks like the NBL are just playing this out to meet some kind of contractual obligation, though no idea to what benefit this has for the NBA and why they'd care at all in return.

Seems to be absolute zero care factor now - even from the NBL itself and maybe they've had enough of it also, since no NBA team has reciprocated this and come out to Australia, which Id assume would be one of the NBLs goals for this concept to begin with?

As there is no NBA pre-season thread yet, Jack McVeigh got 8+ mins for 8 points, 2 of 3 deep in a loss to Utah

It shouldnt be happening during the NBL season, thats the biggest issue. Continues to make the NBL look like a training league for the NBA.

NBL Facebook doesnt even have highlights of the game. Are we on the second or first game of the series yet? I dont even know. Maybe the league is hiding it a bit because they know the scorelines are a bit humiliating. I loved the idea when it debuted in 2017. There have been a few closer-than-expected games. But I don't think the league is as good as it has been this year. I feel like we're trending to be even less competitive than any NBA side. And then there's that everyone knows the NBA teams don't give a shit. The games are the pinnacle of meaningless and should be shelved until the NBL improves such that they can give an NBA team an actual game - not some mickey mouse half assed trash where we get close if they rest their starters forever. Sorry to be so pessimistic but havent been blown away by what I've seen so far this season.

Just a touch of "devil's advocate", if you don't mind!

This Breakers team is brand spanking, not even out of the wrappers. No-one knows each other yet. Probably wearing nametags at training and even while they travel! Not blaming them. But a very rum choice this year/this team.

Agree that it's weird if NZ are not playing any of their stuff and with their main players. Perfect time and place to gain something from the trip. Are they trying to hide something from the NBA guys?

The initial idea was fantastic, great exposure for NBL (trying to brand itself as 2nd best league), maybe win back some fans hearing their local team going against the big boys, opportunity for players to highlight themselves and bench players just to maybe hit the floor with an NBA team. Plus a bit of fact finding for coaches, front office and other officials.
At some stage an NBL team was going to get an upset with great shooting, but in current format it's achieved its purpose. Simply can't begin the NBL season then a few teams travelling and really disadvantaging themselves. Either all teams go at the same time or delay season a few weeks. Play 2/3 games as a preseason exhibition, a week off to recover then into the season proper. Currently there is nothing to gain anymore except having tired players and blowouts. Biggest news was signing Tacko for a few games and that didn't work.
So either change the schedule or just scrap it.

Final game of the tour against OKC.
No Pineau, Bolden or Lopez for NZ.

Tied 60-60 at half time.

That last Breakers game was depressing in so many ways to count.

The Thunder pulled out an OKC Blue lineup. Their eight players consisted of two first round picks (neither of whom are in the top 11 of the Thunder rotation), three two-way guys, two Exhibit 10 players and a training camp guy who played for the OKC Blue last season. So much for any sort of NBA exposure to the NBL.

And then the Breakers start Sean Bairstow and Max Darling against the OKC Blue. Bairstow has played ZERO minutes in two games. Darling has started for reasons unknown to everyone (particularly with Mojave King performing off the bench). No Karim Lopez, no Jonah Bolden. What are we doing out there.

I didn't see the okc game but the breakers have big problems and kop didn't use these games effectively to get their shape right.

They are going to slide down that table over the coming weeks and are a chance to steal the wooden spoon off SEM and bullets.

Luckily two of their next four games are against those two so their problems won't be exposed till later in the season

Will be interesting to see how well they play on return, but it's clear Kop treated these like practice games, with his focus on the NBL season and making sure he didn't overplay his stars.