WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THIS IS AWESOME STUFF!!!

THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT!

as long as the Sixers stay...

im have my concerns a little, considering we do not know how well nbl will take of in asia, its all well and good having the occasional game over there but will it be popular week in week out? i hope so as it seems the nbl is putting all its eggs in 1 basket,

personally i like the idea of 1 side atm, get a guage see how it goes, and spend some time promoting developing the asian idea,

i would like to see the nbl clean up its own backyard first before heading off in another direction leaving several foundation clubs in need of help (not just sixers)

I'm sure the NBL will be huge here. I've been living in Asia for the past 3years and live, in the flesh sport at a professional/semi-pro level is almost non-existant.

English football is the biggest thing here, which is of course strictly on TV and the local leagues are shocking. To have a organization like the NBL getting involoved will be a huge plus, especially if they can focus on development of the game here. Basketball is the No2 sport behind football, but with 2 full time pro teams that are accesable to the public, it cant fail to be a winner.

They'll need to address player dilution, possibly with asian players not taking up import spots, otherwise these new teams could be quite weak. Or, it will give second-tier players the opportunity to demand bigger contracts.

was it on channel 10 the announcement?

i think i heard it on there...

Just as I feared, this league will lose Australian ownership if we keep this up.

Think channel 9 reported something about it.
Suppose a new schedule will have to be drawn up.

it's all about business

How can they do this? Surely the quality of the overall product will have to drop as Isaac said. And next season I am led to believe there is a handshake agreement in place for the Gold Coast to get a new licence as well.....At this rate Ill be getting a game in the NBL!

Oh and while on Asian teams.....have Singapore actually signed anyone? Or come up with an official name? Coach? anything?

$$$$$$$$

THE REST WILL FALL INTO PLACE

the asian teams will get big imports - the salary cap will rise

players are not short in numbers it's attendances and money that the comp needs and these franchises will provide this

1 team, 2 teams does it really matter how many. The league has already comitted to 1 team so why not have 2.

At least it will spark even more interest having their own Derby.

I think it is a great move considering that they had already approved the Singapore team.

Be interesting to see how the schedule comes out now?!

Asia road double's for all teams, wednesday/saturday games or friday sunday?

Could be a chance to get more games on Fox as hopefully (I was going to say obviously but you never know with the NBL) they have someone lined up for coverage over there and the NBL better be getting some good $$ from it.

Just on this announcement/rumour there has been hardly anything spoken about the Singapore team, who have they signed, what is their name, colours, stadium, etc etc?

This is meant to be the AUSTRALIAN basketball league... Not New Zealand and Asian league... Soon we will have European teams... God can't Australian basketball survive on it's own two feet?

DJ - I thought the same thing.....on the nbl website Hunter are still listed as playing out of Newcastle? IMO there are a few things to get in order before throwing another team in...just seems like a blatent attempt to grab a headline by the Commish

Or is it possibly just Thomo having a bit of fun?

no, i heard something on 10 but it wasn't that clear. Maybe it was just singapore...

i think a second asian team will be great!

I think there are economies of scale travelling to asia for two games instead of one. China are a strong country in world basketball, so I don't consider there will be any dilution of our league. I hope the team plays out of Hong Kong.

What about Tracy York as coach? She is still in Singapore, would bound to have put her name in the ring.

Plus don't forget on top of all of this is the talk re the Gold Coast... although they wont be in for 06/07 - nor will the 2nd Asian team unless they can extract a digit fairly quickly... but either way, 07/08 could be a 14 team league if the 2nd Asian team plus Gold Coast enter. That's more the way that the NBL should be.

NBL = National Basketball League

National = Nation

Nation = Australia + New Zealand + Asia

Apparently they are apart of Australia the same as Tasmania. Its only a little bit of ocean in between.

nope not haveing fun and no didnt here it on the news, heard this from a source that cannot be denied,

im still somewhat stunned but, who knows,

as statman said, GC have been given the green light to purchase i license for 2 seasons time,

Wow hasnt Darren Ng's dad been busy ?
You could have a line-up with all 3 boys in the starting 5 !!

Beljulian on OzHoops:

Just asked someone about the wording Burton used on Talking Hoops yesterday. Apparently all he said was NBL basketball would be played in a fourth country during the upcoming season which probably means a team like the Wildcats playing a game or two in an Asian city (two of three home games away from Challenge Stadium have not been assigned a location yet - HK has been mentioned as a possibility to replace the Singapore Spectacular).

I have to agree with an earlier post. Its probably a good idea, but I would have liked to see how the 1st team out of Asia fairs first.

It may just be that Asian economies and philosiphy dont put much creedence on sport as they do with other things.

On saying that; we have had an NBL that has sat on its hands and done bugger all except for the last few years. No one could accuse them of standing by and doing nothing.

I just hope I can continue to go to the Dome and watch the team that has given me so much joy over the last 15 yrs.

WBL!

World Basketball League!

I can see the dollar benefits.. but personally I think its pretty strange....

I am liking NBL less and less each year.. isn't the idea to try and make it better?!

Next I'm going to have to loose some teeth and brain cells and (cringe) watch Football instead :-(

I was also surprised to read this thread where people were talking about another Asian NBL team. I listened to Talking Hoops last night and only heard Rick Burton talking about a 4th country joining the NBL, not specifically Asian. In fact, after that interview, Paul Bell, Scott Ninnis & Brett Maher were having a debate over which country he may have been referring to because he didn't give any specifics. Burton made it quite clear that he would not reveal which country it is.

China? Philippines?

Really, basketball isn't big in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam etc and they really don't have infrastructure for a team.

Basketball isn't big in Singapore, but at least has the money and facilities. The only live sport locals can watch in football, and really poor standard. National team couldn't even beat Vietnam, and Vietnam were being paid to throw games!

As for Philippines, basketball is national sport and China has enough people to support anything!

Philippines is a real chance as it has a history not to dissimilar to Australia. Basketball took off during/after WW2. There was a MASSIVE US base at Subic Bay (as big as a city) and the locals really took to the game.