Food For Thought

Mark Worthington and Chris Anstey - perfect rebel league candidates.

It is amazing what thoughts you have when you have spare time during the day. Yesterday my good friend Isaac over at Hoops.com.au forum and I got into a little discussion on Twitter about players and a rebel league.

Below in black is his list while the red ink is my reply.

I understand that this is old news and will not happen due to the recent announcements, but I will play along just so I fire a few players up with my comments.

While I don't think that it's that likely that it would come about, I was wondering which players a rogue league might attract.

John Rillie thinks you'd get enough players interested in a rogue super league, but I'm not convinced that the standard would be all that much better than a budget interim league. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but players (and refs? Not sure about coaches) who suited in an unsanctioned BA/FIBA league would be ineligible for international play (for a particular period? Anyone know?).

Any player likely to make a national team or even squad now or in the future would probably avoid falling afoul of that.That'd leave imports (bar Ere and maybe Thomas if he still wanted to play for CA?), veterans unlikely to be considered for the Boomers (Rillie, McGregor, and potentially guys like Harvey and Black?), and others (Dowdell, Reed, etc).

Going on last season's rosters, here's who I think would avoid a rogue league (add or subtract from the list if you think I'm wrong). Remember, I'm including anyone who might make a Boomers squad in the next 1-3 years, including some that might scrape in if the top players are unavailable for minor tournaments and trials.

Perth: Weigh (work needs to be done if he has aspirations for the National Team), Crawford (may get invited to camp but it will end there), Rogers (will my college teammate play again?), Robbins (camp fodder), Loughton (has Boomer potential), Redhage (will go where the money is)

NZ: Penney (I agree), Bruton (he would have a tough decision to make), Forman See Peter Crawford), Abercrombie , Webster, Daniel, Boucher, Henare (comment for all these Kiwis, my seven year old son is asking for a Kiwi passport because he could make their team right now.)

Melbourne: Ere (Would look for a new country to play in), Kendall (Should call Brett Brown to see where he fits), Greer (undersized for international ball), Thomas (Dicky Knee), Anstey (He is a rebel), Barlow (fair call), Crosswell (Too late in his career for this)

Gold Coast: Cameron (Pero will roll with whoever has the best family restaurant sponsor), Vanderjagt (Boomers are deep up front right now)

Cairns: Crosswhite (see Vanderjagt), Williams maybe (he needs to buy my jumpshot, then he has a chance)

Adelaide: Bruce (if interested in Boomers) (or if Boomers are interested in him)Winitana (see fellow Kiwi report above), Hill (green and gold are not his colours), Schenscher (Brett Brown will have him around), Holmes (No longer going to happen for Jacob)

South: Gibson (he has a chance), Ingles (I'm tipping Brett Brown will love this guy), Worthington (this guy would become the poster boy for this league), Vukona (yes, the kiwis are bad), Horvath (a seppo, sheep shagger..no room for him in a rebel league), Burston (not in the same league as Bogut, Nielsen and Andersen)

Sydney: Khazzouh (he will stay in Europe), Smith maybe (maybe? a certainty), Knight (he would have to think about it), Rush (no green and gold here), Martin (see Robbins and Williams)

Townsville: Hinder (his Commonwealth Games Gold Medal is safe from being scratched by any other medals..his time is done), maybe a Cedar (a young two guard for training bait), Tovey might give up basketball soon? (just don't make it a free throw comp)

Wollongong: Tait (how many kiwis are here?), Davidson (no chance for Boomers) , Tragardh (if it was Australian ABA team, he would be the first one selected) , Saville (retired from international basketball) (stick a fork in him), Petrie (the Tenterfield saddler is a rebel, thru and thru)

That's a lot of pretty decent players.

As you can see, I disagree with Isaac considerably. If it ever got to a rebel league stage, I don't see too many guys having to make the tough decision.

Let me know what you think!