MELBOURNE (Paulo Kennedy's View from Downunder) - If you didn't have something to talk about after Round 1 of the NBL season, you weren't trying.

Now don't worry, over the coming months I'll be revisiting both the men's and women's international seasons – in fact I had the privilege of interviewing four of the bronze medal winning Opals this week - but for now let's talk NBL.

United divided
No team started better than Cairns, whose zone caught Adelaide and Melbourne on the hop, to the point where Melbourne's embarrassing 28-point capitulation saw coach Chris Anstey depart.

The club's official statement suggested Anstey walked of his own accord, a stance backed up by journalist Boti Nagy, which gave it more credibility.

But a couple of people I spoke to who are relatively close to the situation believed that was simply a nice way to end the relationship.

Melbourne certainly have form, last season proclaiming import Ayinde Ubaka had returned to the USA for "family reasons", when behind closed doors it was no secret the decision was based on form.

I actually like that approach - no point publicly whacking someone who has already copped their whack in private - and I guess it may be some time before we know more about the Anstey situation.

Growing pains?
Townsville overachieved last season playing an aggressive style, often outlasting teams with their fitness and hurting opponents with dead-eye foul shooting.

But in Round 1 they may have suffered some literal growing pains.

The Crocs have upsized in almost every position, but did that increased size play a part in them running out of gas to the tune of 77-101 after half-time in their two losses?

As a double blow, they shot a wayward 13/25 from the free-throw line against Adelaide after almost setting an all-time NBL record for accuracy on charity shots last season.

Big name imports
There was an interesting contrast between the three NBA-linked imports making their NBL debuts in Round 1.

Veteran Josh Childress, rich with experience from his time with Olympiacos, knew exactly how to pick his moments and produced a massive first half, then a patient second half, to guide Sydney to an 86-83 win over Wollongong.

Toronto Raptors draft pick DeAndre Daniels started out like an impatient young man desperate to pile on the numbers as Perth fell in a 23-point first-half hole against New Zealand.

His veteran team found their rhythm in the second half and Daniels accepted his role, finishing with 19 points, an impressive towering dunk and promising signs for the season.

Philadelphia's Jordan McRae also had ants in his pants trying to make an impression, but his Melbourne team had no rhythm on league debut and their import mostly looked lost.

A big job for new Melbourne coach Darryl McDonald will be to get the shot-hungry McRae playing team ball, then get the rest of the team creating good situations for the talented youngster.

The refs
The Round 1 clashes were good to watch, the games flowed and for the most part the athletes were free from overt physicality to make plays. Mission accomplished for the whistle-blowers.

The charge call reared its head again though, highlighted by Scott Beker - usually a good charge-block official - making two very poor charge calls in the Sydney-Wollongong game.

League refs boss Mal Cooper must wonder is his "if there is any doubt call a block" message will ever get through.

Perhaps the solution is to change the message. Too often our refs feel the need to call something if a defender falls over, with the emphasis being on a charge, block or flop.

But a no-call is often the best call, and that was the case when Ben Madgen toppled and was rewarded with a charge by Beker.

Madgen didn't flop, there was some contact to the side of his torso, but he was off-balance and the contact was minimal - no-call, play on, and soon enough players learn they have to keep their feet.

My message would be "only call a charge if you are certain it is a charge".

The promotional message
Around 35,000 attended the opening six games even without major promotion from league HQ, the best turnout I can remember since the days of double-headers, a great achievement from the clubs involved.

The only downside was in Townsville, where the Crocs have jacked up prices after downsizing into the 2,200-seat RSL Stadium.

The result was less than 1,500 people attending their opening home game. Had the Crocs examined the Victoria Giants lack of success with a similar strategy in 2004 this could have been avoided.

The TV message
Credit to the NBL's production company for teaming up Lachie Reid and Steve Carfino in Perth, then Bill Woods and Andrew Gaze for commentary in Melbourne.

One person who knows the hoops and one who knows the broadcast game is a welcome departure from the long, failed experiment with Carfino doing play-by-play. He is in his element doing special comments.

It would be nice to see Woods do some research if he is going to be a regular commentator though, it was clear he'd done little in the off-season and that's not good enough.

Another area I hoped the NBL would step up in this season was the use of highlights in the Ten/ONE broadcasts.

After a full off-season there should have been plenty of great highlights from last season ready to roll to make opening round broadcasts the best possible advertisement for the league.

But there was none of that, and if the NBL wants to improve their ratings - and increase the bargaining power of their product for a new deal from 2015/16 - this has to be addressed.

With games running shorter this season - a big tick for the league - there must also be highlights ready to roll when time needs to be filled.

These don't cost as much as feature pieces but sell the league very well.

Paulo Kennedy

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