curtley
Two weeks ago

NBA Global Academy in Australia to close

The academy which nurtured josh giddey, Dyson Daniels and John furphy is due to be closed at the end of the year in favour of less traditional basketball nations. Not sure why it can't include Australia and expand given the money the NBA has. Also to get players from countries where players aren't even good enough to play in US colleges or Europe to NBA level is a very long term plan.

For example Indonesia has soccer as it's number one sport but as far as I know no Indonesian soccer players have been able to make it to a high level in Europe. Same can be said for countless other countries. Even with a culture geared towards a sport these countries can't produce top flight sporting talent. Good luck NBA.

https://www.espn.com.au/nba/story/_/id/42270842/nba-academy-venture-undergo-significant-restructuring

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Bullets
Two weeks ago

It's all about return on investment for them.
Australia provides them with a great revenue stream via league pass but they likely have decided the amount of elite players being developed there outweighs the cost.

When they say they will focus on less developed markets, I understand the desire to get more eyes on the game and the commercial return that will bring, but from a player developmental standpoint, it’s highly unlikely they are going to develop huge amounts of talent out of Asia. They’ve been trying to in China for years and despite the ongoing effort, they suck at basketball.

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AssistantsPen
Last week

The NBL Next stars program has hurt this in a way and our distance to europe when you read a few articles on that seems to be the biggest factor Aussie kids are getting to the NBA and youd say almost without it

the internationals don't want to be here

Shame - but our league is stronger be interesting to the impact to BA programs as no doubt NBA was paying well to be based in Canberra

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