The National Basketball League and Basketball Australia have certainly seen their share of troughs, but after an extensive review of basketball downunder and a rebirth of the NBL last year replete with a Sydney team, things are definitely on an upward trajectory.
One aspect that is particularly refreshing is that the league has learnt from past mistakes in the areas of communication and media. Whilst there is still some room for improvement, particularly in the promotion of the game to a wider audience, it is pleasing to see the use of online media to engage fans and a more open line of communication with league head office opening up.
Justin Milne, the relatively new chair of the NBL Commission, has addressed the fans on a variety of topics in a just-released video interview. Opening the floodgates to fan scrutiny is always a dangerous ploy, but one to be commended from a league that is striving to regain public sentiment. The NBL did just that by asking fans for questions via the league’s Facebook page, prior to the interview going ahead.
If you’ve spent even five minutes in the comments section under a news article, or followed the conversations on Facebook and Twitter in the past, you’ll know that the online world can be a cesspit for misguided, uneducated and downright stupid ‘thought’. True to form, there were plenty of ‘questionable questions’ thrown at the NBL to be addressed to Milne, but they were carefully navigated during this interview.
Importantly, Milne speaks at length about the prospects of clubs from Brisbane, Melbourne and Newcastle in entering the league. He dismisses the notion of returning to 48 minute games (the NBA is the only other league in the world to not have adopted the FIBA 40 minute game) and excitingly, mentions in passing that Basketball Australia has had discussions with the NBA about getting an NBA exhibition game to Australia down the track.
Milne shows impressive knowledge of the game and its history — which, given the nature of many executives and their failure to take their post seriously, is impressive — despite his background being mainly devoted to telecommunications (Telstra, OzeMail etc). Enough from me. Watch the video.
