Basketball On The Internet.

FIRST things first. Basketball “purists” who follow the NBL need to understand something. There aren’t enough of you to make a strong independent pro league work.

It’s that simple.

If there WERE enough of you, we’d still have Brisbane Bullets, Canberra Cannons, Newcastle Falcons, Bankstown Bruins/West Sydney Westars, Nunawading Spectres/St Kilda Saints/South East Melbourne Magic, Coburg/North Melbourne Giants, Launceston Casino City, Geelong Supercats, Frankston Bears, Devonport Warriors, Hobart Tassie Devils, Gold Coast Rollers, Victoria Titans, West Sydney Razorbacks/Sydney Spirit, Hunter Pirates, Singapore Slingers, South Dragons, Gold Coast Blaze, etcetera …

So you need to let go of the pristine idea the NBL is ostensibly the “highest form of basketball” in this country and that its major priority (still) is to look after Australian content.

The NBL is NOT a development league.

It is NOT the primary pathway to the Australian Boomers or to the Olympics and World Championships.

It was.

In fact when it launched in 1979, it was close to a direct route to the Boomers.

There was no AIS then either, and State Leagues quickly became secondary.

We had a local tyro tearing it up with Sturt Sabres in South Australia, (actually, I think it was the Sturt Pioneers back then) but even Phil Smyth had to go and suit for St Kilda in the NBL to maintain his level of play against the nation’s best.

But, as even the Monkees (Remember them? They’re not relevant anymore either) can tell you:  that was then, this is now.

Even BA CEO Kristina Keneally and BA High Performance manager Steven Icke have said the NBL’s relevance as a feeder to the Boomers is no longer anywhere near what it once was, what with the US (pro and college) and Europe so prevalent in luring our nation’s elite players.

So there you have it.

For the NBL to survive, it has to reinvent itself.

It cannot do too much along that path this 2013-14 season because effecting the demerger from BA, retaining the TV deal with Ten, restructuring how the league will run itself, retaining/adding sponsorships - these things take a little more time and effort than worrying about whether a dunk should be worth three points.

The reaction to this story: http://bit.ly/1cU42lw has been quite extraordinary.

The idea of a third import and/or a marquee player being under discussion has brought roars of approval and howls of derision, though not in equal parts.

The approval is far outweighing the dissent, which is good to see.

As BACEOKK tellingly said before the demerger even started: "The NBL in its present form is not sustainable."

Now whether Mrs Keneally actually meant it was time to dismantle the thing and start again back with club and association-backed teams OR that the NBL needed to go it alone and find its way to capture an entertainment market-share is up for speculation.

The point is she was right on the count the NBL is not sustainable as it currently exists.

As I have written here before, maybe all our population and the game's popularity can extend to is competitions that mirror the SEABL and QBL. And if that IS the case, that's OK.

That death list of NBL clubs named earlier certainly suggests so.

And that type of NBL - club teams, three-games-in-three-days road trips - is where it all began, after all.

So always remember, that is a pretty reasonable fall back position for the "elite" game in Australia.

In the meantime though, owners who can get 11,000-plus into a venue or street parades for their championship winning NBL teams have a right to see if there is a way to get the pro formula right in this country.

And we should be supporting them.

As Cairns Taipans coach Aaron Fearne rightly points out, with the best of our emerging young players now bypassing the NBL, there is real cause for concern.

In March, BA ran a stat that there were 85 young Australian men playing Division 1 college basketball in the US last season. That doesn't include Division 2, 3, NAIA, independents or junior college.

That's a significant amount of potential NBL talent gone elsewhere, which in itself is not as concerning as the fact so many will then go on to other destinations and not come home.

Someone recently suggested any player who goes through the AIS program - or now Basketball Australia's Centre of Excellence - should first sign a contract which obliges him/her to play at least one season in the NBL/WNBL after graduation or after graduating college if that is the direction they choose post-AIS/COE.

E.g. Put something back into the country which helped make you.

It has merit.

So does the new NBL exploring directions which are in the best interests of being value for the entertainment dollar and NOT necessarily in the best interests of developing personnel for the Boomers.

Read it again: the NBL is NOT a development league. It is here to entertain the masses by providing an "event" for fans, with the match its selling point. You want kids to remember their night at the NBL the same way some will remember their first day at the footy with dad.

You get the picture.

Interim NBL CEO and Kings director Steve Dunn threw out the idea of a marquee player who maybe gets paid $300,000. That guy doesn't have to be American.

Would you like to see Nathan Jawai back in the NBL? Or Brad Newley?

There are a couple of marquee players right there that the NBL cannot currently entice.

If we are going on to 10 teams in 2014-15 as planned, then three imports or marquee players definitely should be explored.

Ten teams with seven jobs for unrestricted players equals 70 jobs for locals. Currently our eight team league with two imports equals 64 locals with jobs.

No, we don't want to go the way of the Canadian NBL which launched with no restrictions and last season had only 15 Canadian-born players in it.

But a third import to ensure a league's entertainment viability is in everyone's interests. Those who protest it will mean job losses for locals should consider the alternative - the semi-pro SEABL-style competition where every fulltime pro is without a job.

Bums-on-seats is the goal to make this new NBL work.

The purists' bums don't take up nearly enough.