Giants all in for short NBL season

A hectic schedule, no home games at ‘‘The Hangar’’ and an unconfirmed roster is presenting some tough plays for the Nelson Giants, but the team is determined to keep up appearances in the league they’ve competed in since 1982.

The 2020 New Zealand National Basketball League will tip off in Auckland on June 23 with seven teams, minus the Wellington

Saints and Southland Sharks.

The Auckland Huskies, Canterbury Rams, Franklin Bulls, Manawatu Jets, Nelson Giants, Otago Nuggets and Taranaki Mountainairs will play up to three games per week, over six weeks in the 2020 Sal’s NBL.

All teams will be based in Auckland, with the venue to be confirmed.

As well as the live screening of games providing a welcome dose of live sport for fans, a new ‘‘world-first innovation’’ would also be trialled to decide tied games with a unique ‘first-team-to-score-seven-points’ concept.

The heavily condensed format loomed as both a challenging and exciting prospect for Giants head coach Mike Fitchett.

The obvious upside is the fact basketball — and live sport in general — is able to resume after an uncertain few weeks.

However, the prospect of no home games at the Trafalgar Centre as well as having to relocate the team north for six weeks had left players and coaching staff with some important decisions in the coming days.

As the only club who has consistently been involved with the national league since 1982 — Fitchett said every effort was made to ensure Nelson featured in the 2020 league.

‘‘It would be really hard to see an NBL go ahead without us – there were certainly financial considerations, but we’ve managed to largely overcome those.’’

‘‘It is what it had to be, given the current climate, but we are gutted not to be having any home games, which was a big revenue driver for us.’’

Fitchett said while no-one had confirmed their unavailability as yet, several had indicated that the shift to Auckland would be a tough undertaking.

‘‘We’ve got a lot of semi-pro and amateur guys who have jobs and many have just had to take six or eight weeks off work – so we’re not sure how many guys will be able to commit to it at this stage.’’

For the first time in its history, the NBL will also feature a player draft.

With the seven clubs now confirmed, it is understood a process pre-selecting registered players would soon follow where players could register their involvement, after which clubs can pre-select on a number of criteria.

The remaining players that don’t get pre-selected go into the draft.

Fitchett said current 2020 Giants squad members can be pre-selected.

With teams like Wellington out of the frame this year, Fitchett was looking at some top-drawer options, such as former Giant-turned-Saint Finn Delany.