Basketball: National league tips off on wobbly legs

It has new management, a new franchise and a wave of basketball interest created by the Breakers' success just waiting to be ridden. But there will still be more questions than answers swirling around the NZNBL when it rumbles into life again today in Palmerston North and Auckland.

Having hit rock-bottom last year when Auckland Stars were thrown out of playoffs for failing to pay an instalment of their entry fee, only to be re-instated after threatening legal action, the competition is now in the throes of a major restructuring.

The public batterings received over its management of the league in recent years have prompted Basketball New Zealand (BBNZ) to distance itself from its showpiece domestic product, handing over management of the league to a newly formed NBL board headed by Wellington Rugby's communications manager, Sam Rossiter-Stead.

Having inherited a competition with no "naming rights sponsor, no TV deal and no cash" when the board was formed in October, he has certainly had his work cut out.

"We have come a long way since then," Rossiter-Stead said.

Basketball fans will be hoping he is right. In true basketball fashion, the formal contract handing over control of the league was signed only on Tuesday. All nine of the teams signed up for this year's league have paid the first $5000 instalment of their entry fee but yesterday - the deadline for the final payment - the board was still awaiting several payments.

Rossiter-Stead has pledged to take a firmer hand than in the past, when many such deadlines were allowed to come and go without any action taken.

While he said the league was on the verge of announcing a naming rights sponsor, there is still no TV deal in place, with the Thursday night matches broadcast by Sky during recent seasons having been scrapped.

The first thing the league needs to do is demonstrate a degree of stability, something that has been palpably absent in recent years. This year's league has contracted from 10 to nine teams, with perennial struggler Otago Nuggets having pulled out and the Canterbury Rams replaced by the Christchurch Cougars.

Rossiter-Stead, however, said he was confident the franchises were all sound financially.

There has also been plenty of activity on the recruiting front, with key players heading in all directions.

Defending champions Waikato again look the team to beat. The import double-act of Jason Crowe and Brian Wethers is no more but the Pistons have recruited well, bringing in Tall Blacks point guard Mike Fitchett and exciting young Breaker Thomas Abercrombie to complement imports Adam Ballinger and Justin Bailey.

Their strongest competition looks likely to again come from Wellington, where former Stars point guard Lindsay Tait has been joined by Reece Cassidy. The Saints will also be reliant on their two new imports but they have the insurance of naturalised American Nick Horvath if either Mike Efevberha or Damon Thornton don't pan out.

The Stars have been boosted by Hayden Allen's move across the Ditch and the dynamic duo of Dillon Boucher and Casey Frank is still intact, but once again their roster contains just one import and looks to lack the depth necessary for a title challenge.

Across town, Harbour Heat's ranks have been devastated by defections. Tim Behrendorff, Oscar Forman and Mika Vukona have followed Allen out the door. Import Mychal Green, who impressed for Canterbury last year, is the major acquisition.

Having recruited Behrendorff, Paul Henare and former MVP Paora Winitana, the Cougars are the wildcard in the pack. Basketball fans will be hoping for once that most of the action takes place on the court.