Basketball news: Big talking points out of Round 7 of the 2023-24 NBL season | Crosscourt

The Bullets were forced to cap membership in 2023 and there’s a growing concern the club has outgrown its 5000-seat home. Is it time for them to abandon Nissan Arena? VOTE in our poll.

With 12 new imports strutting their stuff in the NBL for the first time this season, Crosscourt looks at those who have been the most impressive through the opening seven rounds.

The booming Bullets might have to find a new home — for a good reason — the coach’s challenge remains a big topic of conversation and is Darwin the best spot for the NBL’s next club?

All that and more in this week’s edition of Crosscourt with Matt Logue and Michael Randall.

BREAKING DOWN NBL’S NEW IMPORTS

New Zealand might be second last on the ladder — and it's a long way back — but don’t blame their imports.

Speed machine Parker Jackson-Cartwright, the most impressive of all the new arrivals at No.1, is among three Breakers to feature inside the top-six of Crosscourt’s first-year import power rankings.

Who is the NBL's best new import?

The American-born guard is averaging 20.4 points, 2.8 rebounds and 5.6 assists producing a string of stunning performances despite his diminutive stature at 170cm.

Jackson-Cartwright edged out fellow Mighty Mouse and the NBL’s shortest player Tasmania’s Jordon Crawford.

The JackJumpers’ American guard has played all 10 games this season, averaging 18.3 points, 2.7 rebounds and 5 assists.

Crawford, who considers boxing champion Floyd Mayweather his “brother”, scored a game-high 17 points in Tasmania’s win over Adelaide on Saturday.

Cairns’ ball of muscle Patrick Miller came in at No.3 for keeping the Taipans afloat during a litany of injuries, although he is now sidelined with a back injury.

The Taipans’ star has averaged 18.3 points, 2.7 rebounds and 5 assists to enter the MVP conversation.

At the other end of the scale, Taipans teammate Josh Roberts can hardly get on the floor, while Jordan Usher has had the odd flashy line for Perth, but his play on the court hasn’t matched the hype so far.

BULLETS’ BIG STADIUM CONUNDRUM

The multi-billion-dollar infrastructure build for the 2032 Olympics represents a massive opportunity for the Brisbane Bullets.

But a planned brand new 12,000-capacity stadium, earmarked north of the CBD, is still nearly a decade away.

Amid basketball’s explosion in Australia and the Bullets’ early #NBL24 resurgence, game night has become the hottest ticket in town and there’s a growing concern the club has outgrown its 5000-seat Nissan Arena home.

Legendary Mark Bradtke at Boondall during one of the greatest moments in Bullets’ history, the 2007 NBL title.

The Bullets were forced to cap membership at 2000, a delicate balancing act between memberships and more lucrative game-week ticket sales. Expressions of interest far-exceeded 2000.

Queenslanders’ lack of affection for public transport has made parking a big issue at Nissan Arena, with bays quickly snapped up early in the week. The Bullets have worked with neighbouring QSAC stadium to open up more spots on gameday.

It leaves the Bullets with a big conundrum — where to next?

With a year to run on its Nissan Arena deal, if the club wants to keep up with the sport’s burgeoning growth, it must think outside the square.

Could that be a potential return to the older but larger Brisbane Entertainment Centre?

The Bullets’ former home at Boondall, while older, would be more than large enough to handle bigger crowds and looms as the only viable stopgap before the new stadium is available.

But a move north poses a delicate sell — it’s fair to say opinions on Boondall vary among the Bullets’ fanbase — and it’s a 30 minute drive from Nissan Arena.

The dream is a stadium in the heart of Brisbane but Boondall might have to be the next best thing, for now.

VICKERMAN BACKS COACH’S CHALLENGE CHANGE

Credit to Melbourne United coach Dean Vickerman for publicly calling out the coach’s challenge due to a loophole in the system.

At present, missed infringements from the officials cannot be disputed or changed via the coach’s challenge.

It comes as the NBL conceded it made a crucial mistake during United’s loss to Perth last round, which cost Melbourne a chance to win.

Referee boss Scott Butler admits the officials missed a foul on United star Matthew Dellavedova with 1.8 seconds remaining in regulation time.

Perth big man Alex Sarr made contact with Dellavedova as he completed a successful layup, which would have sent him to the free-throw line with a chance to put United ahead but Wildcats coach John Rillie appealed and had the on-court call of a “push” overturned.

Butler said the officials made the correct call to overturn the pushing foul, however, they missed the foul on Dellavedova.

Dean Vickerman wants to see tweaks to the coaches challenge. Picture: Getty Images

Vickerman used his weekly press conference to call for change on the coach’s challenge to allow officials to adjudicate on the entire play in question — and not just the on-court call.

Leading coaches also want change — despite initial resistance to including a “new discovered foul” in reviews.

Thankfully, it appears common sense will prevail.

Fans would also like to see tweaks made to the coach’s challenge, with 79 per cent of the fans who voted in our online poll keen to see the system altered.

Vickerman is hoping the league can implement change.

“Whenever we get video review, the purpose of it is to get the most correct decision,” Vickerman said.

“I feel like, in this case, the coach’s challenge didn’t get the correct decision.

“I’ve chatted to other coaches and chatted to the league and there has been good communication. We’ll continue the process, if we can, to make the coach’s challenge better.”

NBL LOOKS AT DARWIN BUT IS IT THE BEST CHOICE?

A push towards a new NBL licence in Darwin has taken a step forward, with league chiefs touring the city this week but is the Northern Territory capital the best option?

CEO David Stevenson and chief operating officer Vince Crivelli were in Darwin to inspect numerous sites with NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles.

The league has previously flagged its interest in the Darwin Convention Centre for a potential home team.

Stevenson said the league was keen to “continue discussions around a potential expansion team”.

The NBL’s club captains in Darwin during last year’s pre-season Blitz. Picture: Getty Images

“It’s a pleasure to meet with Chief Minister Natasha Fyles and representatives of the NT Major Events Company and we thank them for their time and interest,” Stevenson said.

“As with any expansion bid, a venue up to the high standards required by the NBL, government support, corporate partner support, and fan interest, must be demonstrated.”

Darwin would be fantastic in theory. There isn’t a professional sporting team in the Northern Territory at present — and there is a passionate sporting audience crying out for attention.

However Darwin provides practical challenges, evident when the city hosted the 2022 pre-season NBL Blitz.

The lack of direct flights “was a challenge” and that it was an “incredibly expensive exercise” getting the Tasmania JackJumpers and New Zealand Breakers to Darwin for the pre-season competition, NBL commissioner Jeremy Loeliger told NT News.

The question must also be asked: is the league better off expanding into another area like Canberra or the Gold Coast?

STORY BEHIND DELLY’S POPPED CALF

The inbounds foul called on Matthew Dellavedova with 1.8 seconds of regulation time left in Melbourne United’s controversial overtime loss to Perth left coach Dean Vickerman seething.

The whistle gave Wildcat Jordan Usher two free throws — which he blew — that would have put the game to bed. But it had a more devastating impact.

Code Sports understands Dellavedova popped a calf on landing.

Delly played the entire overtime, but looked noticeably hampered.

Matthew Dellavedova was called for a foul — and popped his calf moments later. Picture: Getty Images

Delly gutted it out, but could miss time. Picture: Getty Images

Our initial thought was he might have spent his petrol tickets during a dynamic defensive effort on Wildcats superstar Bryce Cotton (who shot just 5/17 from the field) and simply didn’t have any more in the tank.

But the calf injury, which forced him out of United’s Throwdown clash with the Phoenix on Sunday and leaves a cloud over his availability against Sydney next Sunday, was the culprit.

Testament to Delly’s resilience that he was able to play out the game but the Wildcats aced the OT period 13-6 to take the win and Delly missed his only shot and had a turnover.

HAWKS: MESSAGE NOT GETTING ACROSS?

Illawarra coach Jacob Jackomas is doing his best to instil change and winning habits in the struggling Hawks, but are the players listening to his plan?

This was on show during Saturday’s narrow loss to the Taipans in Cairns. The Hawks led 38-33 at halftime on the back of 14 points from star big man Sam Froling.

For some reason, Illawarra went away from the coach’s plan to play through Froling and fellow big Gary Clark in the second half, as the ball movement became stagnant and players took poor shots as the shot clock ran down.

Froling had just four shots in the remaining two quarters as the Hawks went on to lose by 10 points.

Coach Jackomas conceded post-game that his plan to have the big men as focal points wasn’t being executed in the second half.

“For multiple possessions, they didn’t touch it,” Jackomas said.

“It was being said, but we just fell out of it for a couple of possessions in a row and I thought that was a time where we could have really kicked on.”

Hawks star Sam Froling is feeling the pain of Illawarra’s dire NBL24 predicament. Picture: Getty Images

Froling also admitted the Hawks’ lack of ball movement in the second half, not only cost them victory against Cairns, but isn’t sustainable in the long-term.

“It’s hard, the ball gets stuck a little bit in guys hands and because we can’t move that ball, it becomes hard to score and you’ll have one guy going for it,” Froling said.

“Sometimes it comes off because we’re good basketball players – and sometimes it doesn’t because you can’t win like that.”

Froling is doing his best to remain optimistic, despite Illawarra’s 2-7 start to the season.

“It’s hard, it sucks, especially after a tough year last year,” he said.

“It’s a big test of character for everyone. I’ll guess we’ll find out a lot about each other through this process and we’ll just see where it goes.”

Originally published as Basketball news: Big talking points out of Round 7 of the 2023-24 NBL season | Crosscourt