By: Paulo Kennedy

The Best Ever?

It's always a popular topic of conversation. Is the NBL better now than it has been on the court, or were the good old days - or just a few years removed - the glory times of the league?

Late in the 2008 NBL season, when comparing the claims of Ebi Ere and Chris Anstey for the league MVP, then Bullets coach Joey Wright said quite frankly that Ere’s efforts of scoring 27.1ppg at 49% from the field made him the standout candidate.

While Anstey’s 21.7ppg and 12rpg were also impressive numbers, Wright’s opinion was that while the Melbourne Tigers centre faced a very good level of competition in the pivot from the likes of Rogers, Rickert, Jawai, Crosswhite and Pepper, in the NBL Ere faced the best standard of guard play anywhere outside the NBA.

Now back downunder coaching the Gold Coast Blaze after a stint in Europe, Wright hasn’t changed his mind. “Even more so now. After being overseas and seeing some of those teams, the so-called European powerhouses, the top four or five from this league would be competitive with anyone in Europe, “ he said.

“The guards in this league are just tremendous. The ones, twos and threes are just really outstanding.”

Wright’s comments are backed up by teams like Adelaide, Townsville, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, who have beaten international club and national teams in recent years, making it clear that good NBL teams are more than competitive on the world stage.

With only 8 teams in the NBL this year, almost every line-up can be classed as a ‘good’ team. So that begs an obvious question. Is the NBL the best it has ever been on the court?

It is easy to make a strong case.

The thing that makes the NBL so good at the moment, even by international standards, is the versatility seen throughout every roster. For starters, there are almost 60 players in the league who are a genuine threat from deep. That’s nearly ¾ of the league and about 7 per team – how can you guard that?

While the league is sometimes criticised for a lack of depth on the interior, the skill-set of frontcourt players in this league is almost second to none.

Have a look at the guys who will spend time in the 4-spot – the likes of Worthington, Cameron, Ballinger, Redhage, Ronaldson, Mackinnon, Cattalini, Melzer – these guys can pass, shoot, handle, defend and rebound. They’ve all done it overseas too.

Pero Cameron was in the World All Star Five at the 2002 FIBA World Championship. Tony Ronaldson was a rock for Australia throughout the 90s, averaging 10.1ppg at 41% three point shooting in the fourth placed Atlanta team. Martin Cattalini showed he belonged with three different clubs in the Spanish ACB, the second best national league in the world.

Mark Worthington was Australia’s second leading rebounder at the Beijing Olympics, despite playing less than 15 minutes a game. He was also third in assists, shot the three pointer at 50% and had less turnovers than everyone else in the main rotation except the masterful CJ Bruton. Now that’s pretty decent all-court play at the very highest level.

Mention all-court play and you think of Sam Mackinnon, Australia’s best player at the 2006 FIBA World Championship, where he was top 30 in rebounds, top 10 in assists and second in steals. When you think that 288 of the world’s best players were at that tournament, those numbers are pretty impressive.

When it comes to centres, Chris Anstey is as versatile as they get. Anstey hit an incredible 7/13 from the perimeter at last year’s Olympics. Very few seven footers in the world have the all-around game Anstey does, something shown by his MVP performance in the ULEB Cup (now Eurocup).

Russel Hinder is one of the rare centres in world basketball who has to have a defender nailed to him on the three point line.

This year’s league also has a solid core of genuine, experienced 6’11-7’1 bigs, with Anstey, Rogers, Rickert, Burston, Crosswhite, Rampton and, if the rumour mill is correct, Luke Schenscher in Perth. Add some exciting young bigs led by Greg Van der Jagt and Breakers rookie and surprise Tall Blacks star Alex Pledger.

Mix that with perimeter players like Bruton, Kirk Penney, Phill Jones, Corey Williams, Cortez Groves, Glen Saville, James Harvey, Adam Gibson, Awvee Storey and an exciting crop of new imports, and the strong forward crew, and there is no doubt the league is super strong.

But is it the best it’s ever been?

Despite what you might think, I am going to say no. Close, very close, but no cigar.

With the amount of scoring threats in the line-ups, particularly from the perimeter, today's NBL clearly eclipses the league of 10 years ago and before. While the stars of those days were just as good as those today, there is a much more even spread of talent on each roster.

You only have to look at how imports with great college credentials often struggle, or are just middle of the range players when they come to today’s NBL, where most imports with any sort of resume dominated the scoring charts in years past.

I think this year’s NBL comes in just behind the 2007 and 2008 seasons for overall talent.

The reason for that is over the past two years the likes of Ben Pepper, Nathan Jawai, Matthew Knight, Julian Khazzouh, Alex Loughton and Craig Bradshaw have departed the NBL’s keyways (some might jest that Bradshaw and Loughton never made it into the key – but that is unfair!).

While the perimeter positions and the 4-spot are incredibly talented, and the middle is still very competitive, the big guys who have departed coupled with the retirements of Maher, Heal, Rillie and Jason Smith, leaves this year's league a fraction lighter on for size, and a fraction lighter on for experience than in 07 and 08.

Of course, I am be happy to be proven wrong, and the shift to 40 minute games will bring the intensity up another level, and allow the stars to be on the court for a slightly higher percentage of the games.

Regardless, this year will be the best ever or a close runner up, and with the talent on show, it will definitely be one to enjoy.

Paulo Kennedy
www.fiba.com