MELBOURNE (Paulo Kennedy's View from Downunder) - I am sure I am not the only person who sometimes wonders how certain topics become 'hot'. A great example in Australia at the moment is what trades as important political debate.

We currently have a manufacturing industry that is dying and recent governments have done little or nothing innovative to address it.

Employment is becoming dependent on either glorified sandpits or glorified retail (which is also under threat), our banks have gambled enormously on the world markets and are highly susceptible to further global shocks, and our governments have accumulated debts so large they will not be able to bail out the financial institutions if trouble does strike.

So, with an election coming up before the end of the year, what do you think the dominant debate has been about? Asylum seekers. That's right, the few thousand people each year who arrive on our shores by boat.

It's not that I don't think this is a reasonable measure of a government's competence or that fair treatment of refugees is important, it's just there are other things that are far more significant for our country's future.

When there are major issues about how Australians will support themselves and the nation's economy into the future, about whether our banks can survive, and how on earth our government can spend the money needed to upgrade infrastructure to support a growing population, the national conversation should be about solutions to these genuine problems.

The good or bad news, depending on how you look at it, is this is not something that's confined to politics.

With the owners of NBL clubs taking back control of the competition from Basketball Australia (BA), fan chatter has turned to what they can do differently to improve the league, especially as we await official announcements of the relaunch.

While the league has enjoyed a clear increase in crowds over the past four years (50 per cent overall, 33 per cent median) and TV ratings are at their highest point in over a decade, those numbers are still small on the Australian sporting scale and the returns aren't enough to make most clubs sustainable.

So as you could imagine, there are many areas where changes could be made. But what are the first things mentioned in social media discussions and blogs?

Bringing back 48-minute games and jump balls! Seriously.

Some people have even suggested that the switch should be made because that's what the NBA does and they're the leading basketball entertainment brand.

Sorry for letting facts get in the way of a good story, but the NBA's popularity has very little to do with 12-minute quarters or how held ball situations are resolved.

That's easily seen by the fact that, by many measures, NCAA basketball is just as popular in the USA as the pro game despite playing with a different rulebook.

The reality is the NBA is such a success for a few very obvious reasons:
1. Basketball is a cultural institution in the USA.
2. Of the top 50 basketballers in the world the clear majority play in the NBA.
3. Most of the great basketballers-athletes ply their trade in the NBA.
4. The game is refereed in a way that allows those athletes to show off their great talents.
5. The NBA has done an outstanding job of marketing their product and making sure many of the great highlights that happen on-court are seen around the world.

Now whatever the length of NBA games, with this combination of assets hoops fans would be craving more.

So rather than trying to mimic the superficial things - like wearing your favourite player's brand of shoes hoping it will improve your game - the NBL should focus on the basic things the NBA does so well that connect it with its audience.

While 2 and 3 are not relevant to Australia, 1, 4 and 5 can be translated to our shores.

Simple things like producing highlights of the best plays and producing profiles of the top/most interesting players, two things that weren't done at all last season by BA.

Calling the game cleanly so players can drive, cut and show off their skills, a strictness of refereeing that has been missing for some time now.

Making sure players are regularly engaging with their local community, something that has improved in recent years leading to increased attendances, but there's no doubt some clubs can still improve to the level of pacesetters Perth, Cairns and New Zealand.

This is vital for turning basketball participants into NBL fans and then club members, and creating a cultural niche for the league that has often been missed in the strive to be 'entertainment'.

There are other areas - not the least producing a TV broadcast that promotes the game not detracts from it - but I've mentioned them before.

The main point is whether we play 40 minutes or 48 is largely irrelevant, and if this is even a consideration of the new NBL management I would be concerned. There are bigger fish to fry.

From 1995 to 2009, the NBL suffered a long, slow decline to a near comatose state with 48-minute games and jump balls.

Since 2010, after switching to FIBA rules, it has experienced a steady growth in most key indicators. Of course, neither of those things were the cause, they simply coincided with other more important factors around management and promotion.

So let's stop wasting time talking about asylum seekers, le's forget about whether NBL quarters run for 10 or 12 minutes, let's hit the big issues and find solutions that really make a difference.

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.

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