Basketball On The Internet.

IT’S Grand Final week for the WNBL and a week when the focus only should be on Bendigo Spirit and Townsville Fire.

Sadly, it isn’t though, the long and well-established Adelaide Lightning now sending up a flare that it is sinking and Basketball Australia – the worstwhile (I think I spelt that correctly) body which administers the WNBL – determining it will keep us all in suspense about the league MVP.

Worst things first.

Naming an All Star Five and not adhering to the five on-court playing positions already has made BA look foolish, that coming on top of its self-serving, penny-pinching, non-promotion or marketing decision to avoid an awards dinner/lunch/brunch.

BA at its finest – fulfilling its promise to throw its weight behind its premier league. Not.

But now we get an All Star Five with a point guard in Leilani Mitchell, a small forward in Jenna O’Hea, a power forward in Laura Hodges and two centres, Suzy Batkovic and Gabe Richards.

Now I hate to point out the obvious but the Five has two centres and no off-guard.

That is unless you move O’Hea to off-guard, Hodges to small forward and either Suzy or Gabe to power forward. Of course, that’s ridiculous because they don’t play those positions in the WNBL.

So let’s presume the “All Star Five” – none of whom I have any issue with – became the AS5 because those five girls polled the most votes.

Fair assumption?

OK then. Why interview Kelsey Griffin for the league website as one of the MVP possibilities?

For mine, Griffin would be a great MVP but how stupid will BA look if she does win but isn’t in the All Star Five?

So can we then presume she won’t win it? If that’s the case, then who is BA kidding with the story?

It’s such a farce.

Whether Jenna, Suzy, Kelsey, Tess, Laura or Abby win the MVP doesn’t really matter now much, does it?

Because the focus should be on Bendigo-Townsville, surely?

There cannot be any women at BA making these decisions for the women. That is patently obvious. (Come back KK. All is forgiven … Almost)

And so to Adelaide, which today revealed through its owner Vince Marino that it has been haemorrhaging money for seven years.

Big surprise there for BA, just as Logan was a “big surprise”.

Marino said in the News Corp article you can access here: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/basketball/costs-and-no-support-strikes-down-lightning-as-wnbl-club-looks-for-new-ownership-or-to-hand-back-license/story-fnii09ki-1226844946315 that no-one cares about the fate of the Lightning.

Neither Basketball SA nor BA could not take the time to make direct comment, which surely immediately backed his contention.

If only the federations recognised and encouraged the connection between their massive pools of juniors and the elite game, instead of sitting by and either ignoring or encouraging clashes that can only harm their WNBL participants.

Working together though for “one basketball”? It’s about as impossible as organising an awards dinner. Or focusing on a Final.