NBL at the crossroads
New Zealand’s National Basketball League has survived into its 37th season, but can it carry on? investigates.
Nick Mills reckoned the National Basketball League had reached rock bottom. ‘‘Third-world’’ refereeing, daft decisions from the NBL board and ongoing frustration with the competition looked to have finally broken the resolve of the long-time Wellington Saints owner.
Mills, who has poured more than a million dollars into his beloved Saints over 25 years running the team, was deeply concerned.
Then he had a change of heart. Attending a game in Palmerston North between a depleted Saints line-up and the Manawatu¯ Jets, back in the NBL after two years out due to financial issues, Mills experienced a cathartic moment.
Having been critical of Manawatu¯ rejoining the league, he believed they had showed the way forward.
‘‘It was a full house, a great atmosphere, and I saw a great game of basketball.
‘‘I walked away and said this is what our league should be. There should be more regional teams and the league should be a complete standard down to what some of the teams are trying to make it.’’
The NBL, which has been around since 1982, is at a critical juncture.
While many domestic sports leagues in this country have undergone different guises or fallen away, the NBL has been one of the few great survivors. It experienced its zenith in the 1980s and early 1990s when it was a truly geographic national league, played in front of packed stadiums, and dominated by larger-than-life Americans.
Since the inception of the New Zealand Breakers into the Australian NBL (ANBL) in 2003, the Kiwi version has effectively become a second-tier feeder competition.
Aspiring Kiwi hoops talent are desperate to gain attention and take the next step in their career with a professional deal with the Breakers or another ANBL team. For others, it offers the chance to play basketball all-year round during the ANBL off-season.
But for the majority this is as good as it gets, representing your province with pride and getting a small amount of remuneration.
‘‘I think it’s at a crossroads, where it needs to sit down with some sensible people and decide which way do we want to go,’’ Mills says.
‘‘Do we want to be the Southland Sharks and Saints-type league [where the wealthy teams excel] or do we want to be the rest of the country, where it’s two dollars to get in and they have 1000 people in smaller stadiums?’’
In Mills’ perfect model there would be a second Kiwi ANBL team based out of Christchurch. The NBL would morph into a cheap-to-run development competition featuring the provincial centres. Court-time for emerging New Zealand basketballers would be paramount.
‘‘It would break my heart because I’ve spent 34 years trying to make it into a showpiece. I believe it’s probably the way the league should go.’’
NBL THRIVING?
NBL chairman and Basketball New Zealand chief executive Iain Potter believes the competition is in a great place.
He waxes lyrical about the strides they have made.
For the first time in many seasons every NBL team has a naming rights sponsor. After several years without one, the league does too, pizza company, Sal’s.
This is the third straight season games have been live streamed online, increasing from 36 last year to 42 in 2018. Potter says between 5000-10,000 people are picking up the stream for each game via various devices.
Average crowds are hovering around the 1500-mark with many teams constrained by the size of their stadiums.
The Canterbury Rams broke new ground on June 8, achieving a league-record crowd of 6000 for a one-off game at Christchurch’s state-of-the-art Horncastle Arena against the Saints.
About 1500 free tickets were given out in schools, but more than 4000 paid, illustrating basketball’s popularity. The game was underwritten by Christchurch Casino with a fundraising dinner held to generate sufficient revenue to stage the contest there.
This season has proved competitive with the top three sides having lost at least twice and the Rams and Bay Hawks fighting for the last top four spot.
‘‘We feel it’s probably one of the strongest NBL seasons for quite a few years,’’ Potter says.
‘‘Not just in terms of the teams on court, but also the way the franchises are delivering the event experience. That’s reflected in social media interest.’’
SURVIVAL
There’s no shirking the fact NBL teams are completely reliant on private owners and loyal sponsors to stay afloat.
So, is the NBL sustainable longterm?
Mills, who owns a number of restaurants and bars in Wellington, has been pivotal to the Saints’ dynasty of success. Passionate investors, community funders and commercial partners are vital for the other teams.
People don’t get involved in the NBL to become rich. Most teams lose money every year or are doing well to break even.
The Waikato Pistons and Otago Nuggets both folded after the 2014 season because of money woes. Manawatu¯ returned this season after two years out of the league.
National Basketball League Limited (NBLL) had net assets of $55,000 at the end of 2017 after a $25,000 loss that year. They lost $5000 in 2016.
Their last surplus was in 2014, but Potter anticipates they’ll break even this year or make a small profit.
‘‘I think it’s always been and still is a league for people, who are prepared to spend money,’’ says Jeff Green, the colourful coach of the Auckland-based Super City Rangers.
‘‘A lot of the teams are run by individuals, who put their own money in and hide their money from their wives, so they can put money into their basketball teams.’’
Mills has propped the Saints up financially for decades to enable them to field star-studded squads, but it’s always been out of his love for hoops.
He stresses they haven’t always had the highest payroll in the competition in recent years. The budget for the top teams is understood to be between $400,000-500,000 annually.
‘‘People perceive us as being a wealthy family, but we’re not. We have a basketball team, not a bach, and we still don’t have a bach. It’s a passion. We scrimp and scrape every week.’’
BREEDING GROUND FOR TALENT
Mills and Potter agree on the fact the NBL punches above its weight.
It’s easy to forget some of the names who have taken their formative steps in the elite ranks through the competition.
Kiwi NBA star Steven Adams cut his teeth with the Saints in 2011 while a student at Scots College before heading to the US to attend the University of Pittsburgh. The NBL has acted as a springboard to the NBA for several United States imports.
Torrey Craig was a Saint between 2015-16 and NBL MVP in 2015. He then catapulted into the NBA this past season on a two-way contract with the Denver Nuggets. Point guard Jerry Smith started out his pro career with Waikato in 2011. A year later, he played five games for the Nets in the world’s best basketball league.
Potter lists Tall Blacks and Breakers point guard Shea Ili as the latest poster boy for the NBL. Ili has flourished with Southland and now the Saints, where he is a frontrunner for 2018 NBL MVP.
He’s taken that confidence and form over to the Breakers, where he was named ANBL most improved player last season. Last week, Ili travelled stateside to take part in a two day mini-camp with the Dallas Mavericks.
Nelson Giant Finn Delany and Saint Jordan Ngatai are other recent examples, who have graduated onto Breakers contracts via the NBL. This season 18 players who featured in the 2017-18 ANBL are competing in the NBL, including six Australians.
‘‘I think it’s a cracker of a little league,’’ Potter says.
‘‘It’s one of the best sporting domestic leagues in New Zealand.’’
‘‘I think it’s at a crossroads, where it needs to sit down with some sensible people and decide which way do we want to go.’’
Nick Mills
‘‘We feel it’s probably one of the strongest NBL seasons for quite a few years. Not just in terms of the teams on court, but also the way the franchises are delivering the event experience. That’s reflected in social media interest.’’
Iain Potter
GROWING THE NBL
There’s a feeling the NBL hasn’t taken full advantage of soaring growth in high school playing numbers or the hype surrounding Adams in the NBA.
In 2017, 25,649 secondary school students played the sport in this country. By 2020, basketball is set to surpass netball and rugby as New Zealand’s most popular high school sport.
‘‘That’s probably the biggest question facing the NBL and basketball at that sort of level. What do we do to capitalise on all those things,’’ Green, who is in his 15th year as an NBL head coach, says.
‘‘I don’t think we’ve found the answer.’’
The NBL doesn’t help itself at times with discrepancies in their statistics, mistakes with live scoring, and the crazy call to stage last season’s Final Four in Tauranga, which doesn’t have an NBL team. The event was a flop with feeble crowds attending.
Mills and Green believe the NBL board also made a blunder by allowing three imports per side this season, eating into the court-time for young Kiwis.
Green is a keen advocate for six teams instead of eight.
‘‘The league should be about quality, so there’s a pathway for the best. Only the best can make the NBL, so if you’re one of those fringe Kiwis you’re working really hard to make the NBL.
‘‘Having more teams is not the answer.’’
The NBL is into its 37th season and Mills is adamant it will continue to be around in the future. The burning question is in what capacity.
‘‘I’m fiercely proud of this league. It’s an amazing league, but it’s probably time for us to relook at it and say what’s the right way or the wrong way of it surviving.’’