Good ideas, let's get 'em right
MELBOURNE (Paulo Kennedy’s View from Downunder) - At the risk of sounding like an eternal optimist, there are some really promising things happening in hoops circles in Australia and New Zealand at the moment.
For starters, it's fantastic to see Basketball New Zealand (BBNZ) announce the dates for the Tall Blacks' home series against Korea in July.
With both teams preparing for the FIBA Basketball World Cup, they will meet three times - July 15 (Wellington), July 17 (Tauranga) and July 19 (Auckland) before flying back into Seoul for a return series.
This is the first series on New Zealand soil against someone other than Australia in longer than I can remember, and while that sounds exciting, it is almost a case of making first impressions count with the Kiwi sporting public.
There will be a lot of people watching who haven't seen much of their national team, and a lesson that should be learned from Australia's recent attempts to bring touring teams out is that the first game can be very ugly.
Both teams are getting used to each other after long club seasons, getting used to the way the game is officiated and just generally running the rust out.
But people paying money for tickets or choosing what they're going to watch on TV that evening don't care about that, they want to see a good spectacle.
My suggestion for Basketball New Zealand is to hold a friendly closed-door scrimmage between the two teams the day before the first official outing. Use it for teams to get some gunk out of their system, chat to the refs about how they are calling the game and sort out any differences between the teams' expectations on that front - in other words, get ready to put on a better show the next night.
ANZAC Rivals
It's a shame that the Boomers declined the chance to play New Zealand early this off-season, robbing Australian fans on the east coast of a chance to watch the team play before they head to Spain 2014.
The bigger picture, however, is how the two countries redefine their relationship given 2015 will almost certainly mark the last time the FIBA Oceania Championship is a qualifier for an Olympics or World Cup.
One option is the obvious one, hold a yearly series for the Al Ramsay Shield and build on the tradition.
Perhaps another possibility that covers that but could create more interest would be to capitalise on Basketball New Zealand's new relationship with Korea, and Basketball Australia (BA)'s growing relationship with China, which sees the Sino-Australia Challenge return to Perth this year.
Fifty-over ODI (One Day International) cricket had great success in Australia for years with the concept of a tri-series. It ran out of steam because there was not enough interest in the necessary matches between two visiting countries.
However, with both Australia and New Zealand involved there need only be home games, it could be run midweek in winter to fill the void in live sport on TV at that time, and played in smaller stadiums to generate atmosphere without require huge crowd numbers.
The series could run once a year alternating with Korea and China as the visiting team, as two tri-series throughout the winter or as a 'quad-series'.
Of course, there is also the potential of return series in China and Korea, which, if the idea works, could provide further midweek basketball content.
Work together and make it happen BA and BBNZ. It could make something both organisations want - home internationals - more feasible and much more regular.
Getting the points right
Another welcome development is the NBL proceeding with the marquee player rule and keeping the player points system alongside it.
How the marquee player idea will be used remains to be seen, with NBL teams already able to put together high-quality rosters within the salary cap.
However, it is great that clubs have flexibility, especially if it means keeping our current stars here longer, getting some stars back to their home country, or clinching a deal for a quality import that may have just fallen short otherwise.
For me the points cap is just as important, as it prevents the richer teams from stacking their bench with Australian talent and rendering less financial regional clubs languishing at the bottom.
The NBL is talking about bringing back 'loyalty discounts' for long-serving players at a particular club. While this has merit, it was tried before and became a very slippery slope that compromised the intent of the system.
The points a player takes up on the roster must be linked to merit, that must be non-negotiable.
On the other hand, clubs may be hesitant to sign a player in the latter stages of his career to a multi-year deal because even though their production might drop with age, their points value remains the same for the duration of the contract.
I see the solution as being quite simple: once a player has been at one club for a specified length of time, if his points rating drops mid-contract, then his club is able to use the new value immediately.
That way, Perth won't be punished for signing a 32-year-old Shawn Redhage for three years if his game slips, and that's the way it should be.
The other side of the points debate is a team wanting to keep their roster together as their own players improve.
This should also be allowed within reason, but there must be a price, either buying spare points off other teams for a significant price or having to be under the cap in a subsequent year.
Whatever the solution, this is something the NBL needs to get right and monitor it each season.
If loyalty discounts are used by teams to effectively breach the points cap year after year, while spending more than other clubs via the marquee rule, the competitive balance that is outstanding at the moment could well be lost.
Paulo Kennedy
FIBA
FIBA's columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.
FIBA takes no responsibility and gives no guarantees, warranties or representations, implied or otherwise, for the content or accuracy of the content and opinion expressed in the above article.