Basketball On The Internet.

THERE was much to process from the NBL's third round and associated events, a round which, interspersed with two matches against the NBA's New Orleans Pelicans saw "basketball royalty" such as Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Joe Dumars in tow, and our own dual AFL premiership coach Chris Fagan enjoying the action.

What we learnt from seeing the Brisbane coaching mastermind at the Bullets-JackJumpers game is that you can take the boy out of Tasmania but you can't take Tasmania out of the boy.

Fages was resplendent in his Jackies jersey and applauding his connection to his home state roots and the NBL club he not only supports but works with.

Supporting his home team from New Orleans was popular jazz man and Oz fan Harry Connick Jr, although we could only whisper his name.

In Perth, the draft from the open roof - what a magnificent spectacle that event was too - got the better of Illawarra so we can pencil in the Hawks as not loving the outdoors. Who would've thought?

The well-travelled Shaun Bruce reached his 350-game milestone at Sydney Kings on a day the Breakers needed sea-sickness pills for travelling, even though they flew. 

So what did we learn?

Adelaide: New face Nick Rakocevic made an immediate impact in Cairns, completing a quality bigs rotation to support Isaac Humphries and Zylan Cheatham. Ben Griscti is a while away but will be another string to this team's burgeoning bow. The prospect of Bryce Cotton, Flynn Cameron and Dejan Vasiljevic all firing has to be terrifying for the rest of the league and there is still scope to add an import PG if need be. Isaac White is giving solid backup minutes in the role. The main issue for coach Mike Wells is finding minutes that keep everyone happy.

Brisbane: Crushed by injury - Casey Prather, Javon Freeman-Liberty, Sam McDaniel, Mitch Norton all out - the Bullets backups showed incredible heart and commitment to take a less-than-full-strength Tasmania to the wire. Taine Murray, Alex Ducas, Tristan Devers, Callum Dalton and Jack Purchase all made key contributions. Jaylen Adams' seven turnovers hurt his 19-point, 7-assist return and Tyrell Harrison, once Will Magnay's under-study, played accordingly against him. The mystery remains why sign Lamar Patterson, an NBL All Star five years ago, and not even afford him 10 minutes.

Cairns: Said it before, will say it again - Reyne Smith is a great shooter when he has an open look. But with hand harassment or contested, he is wayward and expensive. Andrew Andrews had the balance between his own shot-taking and facilitating completely out of whack against Adelaide. He was much better against Sydney and hopefully will return to that version of himself. That's who Cairns need. Without Sam Waardenburg, it's vital Marcus Lee shows greater foul discipline, Admiral Schofield is aggressive and Jack McVeigh focused. Kyrin Galloway is still allowed to content himself with inconsistent efforts.

Illawarra: Sorry, but Jaquori McLaughlin has got to go. He is so far off the level that even his late-game stats padding is ugly to watch. Tyler Harvey needs backcourt help as McLaughlin is McLaughable at this level. Jonah Bolden? Hullo? How many career lifelines do you expect to get? This is supposed to be third time lucky so time to get the lead out. How much potential does Biwali Bayles possess? Watching him reminds me of Davo Hickey two seasons ago. Let this kid play, Biwali bails you out, even if a little rough around the edges. Also, Mason Peatling? He is chomping at the bit to be given greater licence.

Melbourne: Did the NBL proud with another memorable performance against an NBA opponent, but may have to count the cost. Shea Ili played less than 12 minutes before appearing to suffer a soft tissue leg injury, Tyson Walker injuring his left thumb as a result of falling to the floor. Chris Goulding suited for the Pelicans game but did not play so it very much appears he is ready to be recalled into action. United's depth was to the fore against New Orleans and they appear to generally be in very good shape.

New Zealand: Peteri Koponen needs to go. The Breakers look lost, confused and are not playing as a team. The Kop finally starts his best five, they go well and he steadily subs them out and by the first break, his team is already in a hole. His rotations are impossible to follow or rationalise. Ray Borner Medallist Izaiah Brockington does not even resemble a chalk outline of his Blitz form, Parker Jackson-Cartwright is doing whatever he pleases, Karim Lopez is lost, and Koponen's love for his three Kiwi returness - Te Rangi, Le'Afa and Loe - borders on farcical. All three are past it but can still offer guidance and a few decent minutes now and again. Get the youngsters on. This is hideous. 

Perth: Yes, we know it's awkward for you John because it's not as if you're Lindsay Gaze and Andrew is your son. But your son Jaron is better value than this ludicrous starting experiment with Dontae Russo-Nance. DRN jacked up a series of 3-point bombs that never looked like going in and every second of his 7:50 of court time was expensive. Experiment tried and failed. Jaron sealed the deal in NZ and was highly efficient again against the Hawks. What we learnt is he needs more minutes, maybe even a starting role! You are, however, getting Ben Henshall right. Henshall plays as if he believes he is Big Ben. He is more a stopwatch. Talented? For sure. But now he needs to learn how to be a teammate.

South East Melbourne: While shopping for a replacement import for Vrenz Bleijenbergh, the Phoenix need to also consider whether Hunter Maldonado is the right fit. He has done precious little of note so far, other than miss a lot of shots. He was 2-10 v Pelicans, 1-of-8 v United, 5-of-13 v Taipans or 8-of-31 (26%) on the season. Ugly. What we also learnt is that like Brizzy's bench, the Phoenix have some real goers in Akech Aliir, Daniel Foster and Gorjok Gak who will help you win.

Sydney: Very much a work-in-progress, Kendric Davis' dominance of the ball leaves Xavier Cooks battling to score eight points for the second match in a row. Delly can still dish but his shot has deserted him, 0-of-6 this round, 5-of-15 against Cairns. Jaylin Galloway was starting to roll but then sat. If it wasn't for guys such as Makuach Maluach and Kouat Noi, the Kings would still be paupers. Congratulations to Bul Kuol for completing a game without a single foul, without a whine to the refs and for hitting 1-of-4 threes. 

Tasmania: Picked up a genuine prize interim import in TJ Starks and Majok Deng's replacement Jacob Richards worked hard in his debut. Ben Ayre just can't get a call and Scott Roth almost forgot about Tyger Campbell until Starks visibly tired in the last quarter and took a couple of poor shots. Bryce Hamilton also fell into a shadow so it is really Josh Bannan who can determine how far the Jackies go, provided Will Magnay also stays healthy and doesn't injure his back doing Jesse Wagstaff impersonations.

Officials: We learnt many things, not the least of which is if Xavier Cooks thinks he is fouled, stares down the baseline ref who still ignores him, the sideline ref will come through with the bail out call. The final minutes of the Brisbane-Tasmania game should haunt that crew because they came across as doing the one thing every coach, player and fan hates - call the finish inconsistently. Dish that early flop technical and you won't need to justify how Josh Bannan "got away with one" - did he? - and Will Magnay, hit square in the chest by Tyrell Harrison on that last play, had to add the exaggerated flop to earn the call. The call was correct, sorry. But he also should have copped a flop technical.

TV: Wow. You can take the boy out of the Kings but you can't take the Kings out of the boy. Podcast buddy Brad Rosen was in his purple-and-gold gear calling the Sydney-NZ game, especially in that first half. Had to look twice to recall who the Kings were even playing. Jack Heverin was so excited about the NBA-NBL games in Melbourne, he told us Rod Laver Arena was "sold out", "it's a sell out", "it's a full house" so many times on Friday, if it had been a drinking game cue, viewers would've become alcoholics. Decided to count how often he said it Sunday and mercifully it was only eight times. So just a reminder to the commentators, we hear you say something specific the first time and will give you the benefit of the doubt when you repeat it. Our NBL guys sadly seem to be approaching Dwayne Russell-style repitive territory now.

ROD LAVER ARENA: Wonder if it was sold out at all?