Basketball On The Internet.

DON'T panic! To paraphrase the great American writer Mark Twain, rumors of the NBL's death are greatly exaggerated.

A Melbourne report last night, ignited by the contents of an email from Basketball Australia chief executive officer Kristina Keneally to its NBL clubs regarding the slow pace of the demerger process, appears to have been the catalyst for the "season may be scrapped" conclusion.

No-one I know in this biz wears rose-colored glasses so to rule out such a contingency definitively isn't possible. But then, I also can't rule out having tonight's winning lotto ticket either.

And there's as much chance of me winning as there is of there being no NBL next season.

So why the breaking story?

Well, let's be honest here.

It's been quite a while since we heard of the group of Melbourne businessmen - code-named NBC (National Basketball Competition) - who had excited our eight NBL clubs with their plans to turn the league into the profitable, high-profile league so many of us have been craving to see and support.

BA presented our NBL teams with its options and they unanimously voted for self-government, to get out from under the national federation and to determine their own futures.

So NBC came at the right time with its plans for restructure and rejuvenation. Except when it all came down to it, the restructure constituted too great a loss-of-control by the clubs over their competition.

When the overwhelming majority of your clubs vote against pursuing that restructure, you know it was either flawed or weighted against what they saw as their long-term best interests.

No big deal. Just the way it is/was.

So NBC exits and we have ... silence ... an untouched and languishing nbl.com.au website ... rumor and innuendo.

These are the times when silence isn't golden and often taken for inactivity.

In fact, NBL Pty Ltd was incorporated on June 10 with four of the club CEOs commissioned to work out the new constitution, structure, due diligence, operations etcetera.

V8 Supercars guru Tony Cochrane is in the picture, essentially contracted by NBL Pty Ltd to handle the broadcast agreement with Network 10. He may be overseas today but he will be back midweek.

In the same way, Melbourne Tigers owner Larry Kestelman is off overseas for six weeks, clearly not at all troubled by the future of the league.

Why should WE then be?

All eight clubs have signed the demerger agreement, significant investment has been generated and it is very much business as usual.

Give it about one week-to-10 days and expect the NBL to come bursting back to life.

Which brings us to the Melbourne story and the fact information was clearly "leaked".

A rule of thumb in journalism is always to see who benefits most by the leaking of sensitive material, the type of manouvre very active in politics and political life, for example.

Does NBL Pty Ltd benefit from it while it is still building the new league structure and trying to avert drama during the sensitive process?

Does it serve Basketball Australia to embarrass and harass expediency from the NBL?

Is there a perhaps even a scorned departed third party who might have an axe to grind?

Who knows?

Good journos don't kiss-and-tell.

And good leagues won’t be rushed when longevity and sustainability is their clearest goal.