MELBOURNE (Paulo Kennedy's View from Downunder) - The 2015 international season is run and done, and now all basketball-shaped eyes in Downunder turn to next year's Olympic Games and Olympic Qualifying Tournaments (OQTs).

Of course, chatter turns to potential line-ups for the Boomers and Tall Blacks, and this season the NBL shapes up as a place to keep an eye on who's doing what.

The league contains probably seven Aussies with designs on a trip to Rio and 10 Kiwis eyeing off a spot at a FIBA OQT, adding to what has been the most keenly anticipated and promoted season since the NBL's switch to summer in 1998.

It didn't start so well, the first game in Adelaide on Wednesday a low-quality blowout with technical issues on the television broadcast and a first-time play-by-play commentator who came in unprepared and didn't do himself or the league justice!

Thankfully, things got much better, with a couple of really good hit-outs, plenty of highlights throughout the seven-game round, the NBL doing a great job on social media, and crowds in almost every centre pleasing for Round 1.

Just as importantly, some of the stars showed their quality to confirm this is likely to be one of the best years ever on-court.

I mentioned there are 10 New Zealanders vying for Tall Blacks spots at the qualifying tournament, but there is potentially one American also in the race.

Import point guard Cedric Jackson is in his fourth year in Auckland, and Basketball New Zealand are eagerly trying to secure his citizenship.

He gave them a reminder to hurry up in the Breakers home opener at Vector Arena, producing a 14-point, 14-assist, 10-rebound triple-double to power his team to their first victory of the season.

The game was also notable for the return of Alex Pledger, who missed the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup with injury, limped through last NBL season and then missed the FIBA Oceania Championship post-surgery.

Finally the 2.15m Pledgehammer graced the courts injury free, and his 8 points, 6 boards and 3 swats in 15 minutes were a nice reminder of what he can do, for both club and a country mostly devoid of genuine big men.

New Zealand faced Perth on Friday night, but Pledger sat that out as a precaution, robbing fans of his match-up with Boomers centre Nathan Jawai.

The 2.09m behemoth registered 11 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists in Round 1 against Adelaide, but most impressive was his ability to read the double team and pass out of the low post.

Of course, the test for Nate ahead of Rio is improving his conditioning, and the first two rounds have showed that is still a work in progress.

I've threatened a number of times to write the article called 'The curious case of Vinnie and Bubbles', looking at whether Todd Blanchfield or Chris Goulding is the best fit as a sparkplug for the Boomers.

Other topics have gotten in the way so far, and lo and behold they are now teammates at Melbourne United, and what a pair they make.

Blanchfield made his debut for Melbourne against his former club Townsville, the one that nurtured from a promising youngster to a burgeoning superstar. He thanked them for everything by pouring in a career-high 29 points on 7-of-9 three-point shooting!

For his part, Goulding missed his only four long-range attempts but turned his focus to getting the red-hot Vinnie the ball, dishing out 11 assists. That’s a side we always suspected the shooting guard known as Bubbles had, but we hadn’t yet seen.

Fast-forward two days as United faced Illawarra and Goulding was suddenly feeling it, knocking down 26 points of his own including a couple of sweet, snakecharmer-like moves that lulled his defender to sleep before banging a triple in their face!

Blanchfield wasn't stroking it on this occasion, but he went to work on the boards, pulling in 15 caroms to match his points tally.

Not surprisingly, with that pair firing, Melbourne are 3-0 and atop the league. Their one concern is what we thought it would be, interior defense.

With NBA vet Hakim Warrick and 2.08m sharpshooter Daniel Kickert their main men inside they lack nothing for offence but suffer for size. Second year pro Majok Majok is a great rebounder, but at 2.06m he is undersized defensively at centre in this league.

New Illawarra centre AJ Ogilvy - a man long on the Boomers fringe but slightly off the radar the past couple of years - made the most of this with 20 points to go with 15 boards and three blocks.

A big year could put AJ back in contention given his mobility at 2.11m, but he has to show he is a tougher version of his previous self, and he had a few moments where it just got too hard for him late in the game against Melbourne. He can't afford to show this again, for his sake and that of the Hawks.

Ogilvy's new teammate is New Zealand legend Kirk Penney, whose intentions for next year's Olympic qualifying tournament are unknown.

If the Kiwis can get Jackson naturalised and Steve Adams on board they become a huge chance to qualify for Rio, which might get Penney back into the black and white for one last dance.

Penney struggled at Spain 2014, last season he signed with ACB team Sevilla late in the piece and was up and down, and to start this year the 34-year-old has again looked rusty.

But when the Hawks welcomed New Zealand to town on Wednesday to open Round 2, Penney unleashed 36 points on 7-of-12 from deep to show he's still got it, helped by two early fouls on counterpart and Tall Blacks teammate Everard Bartlett.

Bartlett was only signed by the Breakers as a late replacement when Corey Webster headed to New Orleans Pelicans training camp, but I'd expect him to be retained even after Webster's imminent return.

Bartlett's 19 points on 5-of-7 from deep against Townsville and 17 on 5-of-8 in Perth show why he's an important piece off the bench in the Tall Blacks' Olympic quest.

Paulo Kennedy

FIBA

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