Changes afoot in the NBL

Recent annual meetings provide a few alterations for the league’s seventh season in 2017-18

Not one to stand pat, the National Basketball League of Canada has several changes for the 2017-18 season coming out of its recent board of director meetings, including upping the number of Canadians on NBL rosters.

Now, teams will carry a mandatory five Canadian players, up from the usual four.

The league said in a release it’s been trying to increase the amount of Canucks on the court and after the league champ London Lightning started three Canadians and played all four regularly, the time was right.

Next, the season moves back to its November season start, somewhere around Nov. 18, after two seasons of starting on Boxing Day, Dec. 26, with an end date around April 2.

The league said good weather in the spring is too much competition as well as losing players to overseas leagues with earlier start dates.

Also, the regular season expands by two weeks as the league hopes to schedule more weekend games. It should also mean a modest increase in player salaries.

Playoffs will follow last season’s format of best-of-five first round matchups, then best-ofseven series in the conference and league finals. The top four teams in each division make the playoffs.

In Moncton, a new team, the Moncton Magic, replaces the Miracles for 2017-18.

The Magic had struggled the last few seasons with ownership, but a new group of three businessmen with Moncton roots stepped forward to head the new organization. It will play out of the Moncton Coliseum.