"The OT" featuring the Tight Lipped Andrew Vlahov

In this week's episode of "The OT" we catch up with Perth Wildcat mastermind Andrew Vlahov. He is rumoured to be filling a position in the front office of the New NBL so DJ Rod and I ask the tough questions.

He also talks about his desire to improve the Boomers profile here in Australia.

Vlahov is very tight lipped about it all but you can read between the lines to some degree.

Download and enjoy the interview, while we also preview the New Year's round of games and look at the recent player movement around the league.

Grantley Bernard Is On The Money

Longtime Herald Sun basketball journalist Grantley Bernard wrote an article earlier this week that was right on the money for my liking. Below I have included the whole article for your reading enjoyment. I beleive it was that good.


CHRISTMAS is supposed to be about celebrating the birth of a religious saviour, the folklore of three wise men and the miracle it is purported to be.

What the NBL would give for a saviour, three wise men and a miracle right now.

That might be overstating the situation for a league in transition (some would say turmoil), but it needs an awakening as it heads towards its own Easter with the competition's planned resurrection.

The problem with this resurrection is a danger of merely propping up a corpse in the corner until the smell becomes too much to bear.

It is a bit like Weekend At Bernie's, but without the laughs.

Seriously, the proposed reform of basketball in Australia, especially the NBL as the masthead of the game, is not reform. It is more like an adjustment that will have the NBL, or whatever it is going to be called, heading down a familiar path.

Having scanned the 163-page report into basketball reform, most of it is about business, corporate and administration structure.

Most of it has been said before. The most visible aspect of the reform process, the NBL, its teams and games, will not change to the extent that people see change.

The report is broken into sections and sub-sections, including one entitled "Critical Initiative 2 - Create a Vibrant Showcase", followed by various ways that goal will be achieved.

It is also quite obvious how those goals may not be achieved.

* Creating a new league completely dissociated from the old NBL new name, new licenses, improved resources . . .

The new league will not be completely dissociated from the old NBL because the same teams with the same names will be involved. Maybe even the NBL name will be retained.

* Achieving a higher quality of competition with fewer teams . . .

The league is now at 10 teams and the saturation of talent means there should be more teams rather then fewer.

* Ensuring financial and operational stability through challenging club selection criteria . . .

What if only three clubs can meet the challenging selection criteria? Then what? There is no league or the selection criteria has to be compromised.

* The new NBL must be secured for the long term by a new business model that protects the financial integrity of the competition . . .

Financial integrity means spending responsibly, which means spending less, which means a reduced - not increased as recommended - salary cap and better venue deals. They are the two core financial issues killing teams.

* The selection and engagement of the best professional players in Australia . . .

Apart from Andrew Bogut, Nathan Jawai, Brad Newley, David Andersen and Matt Nielsen, the best Australian players already are in the NBL.

* The implementation of equalisation arrangements in the form of salary caps and points systems to maintain a competitive balance.

The salary and points caps are already in place. Stronger policing is needed.

There is plenty in the report, but there's nothing to really make your head snap.

Hence the interim board overseeing the reform is heading in the same old direction and is destined to go nowhere.

What has to be realised is the NBL is not the AFL or NRL or A-League. Just like America's National Hockey League is not the NFL, NBA or MLB. But the NHL has rejuvenated itself since the owners locked out the players for the entire 2004-05 season and enacted reform.

The NHL was in crisis with expiring TV contracts, small crowds and player-salary blow-outs, so the owners took action to make their business financially viable and thriving.

"It was like taking medicine that tasted awful," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman recently told Sporting News."But you knew you had to keep taking it to get better."

The NBL needs to take a big dose of reform. All it is getting is a spoonful of adjustment.

Australia: It Is Time To Vote

Vote for Andrew Bogut and make him a slam dunk at this year's NBA All Star Game in Phoenix.


Australia, it is time we had one of our own represented at a NBA All Star Game.

Now is the time to make it happen and vote for Milwaukee Buck centre Andrew Bogut. With less than three weeks remaining before the final votes are counted, time is of the essence.

I have made it as easy as possible for you to vote. Just click on the All Star logo below and cast your vote.

I'm sure Andrew will give us all a shout out from Phoenix if we can make it happen for him, just as China does for Yao Ming.

Is There A Place For Bloggers In The NBL?

caption time: There is a CD up for grabs for the best one. I now you guys can get creative with this great photo.

I truly believe it is time the NBL broadened their horizons and decided to use some of the material that bloggers provide to the basketball reading public.
Very much like NBA.com use the likes of superstar Gilbert Arenas and others to spice up their otherwise generic website. Fans love to hear from the players and blogging is a great way to connect and be somewhat interactive with them.

It is important that the league targets guys that are serious about producing worthy and insightful work, but I feel this is another avenue that has yet to be utilised by the NBL.

I'm surprised that club websites do not have some of their players blogging.

What got me thinking about the underutilisation (yes, it is a word in my dictionary) of this media outlet was a recent game the Crocs had against the Sydney Spirit in cockroach territory.

First, the game was sponsored by http://www.andrewbogut.net.au/. Bogut ponied up 30K of his own money to help out his mates at the Spirit. (Just between you and me Andrew, for a 30K donation the courtside announcer could have mentioned your website a little more often. I felt everyone should have been leaving that place just wanting to visit your cyber world once they got home.)

The NBL does link Bogut's website on the NBL's official website. (Can JR get a link?)

Also sitting in the crowd was the king of basketball forums, Derek Nielsen. Nielsen is the gatekeeper of the Ozhoops forum.

Whether you think these forums sites are good or bad, they are here to stay and they serve a purpose.

I feel Nielsen's expertise could be used in a situation such as this. Live blogging from the game. I'm not sure if any other media outlet was giving live, up to date scores on this game, but why not have Nielsen doing a live online analysis of the game.

Bring something new to the table for the fans.

Now I'm not sure as to the expense and magnitude you need to go to make something like this happen but, "if you build it they will come".

If people know it is there, they will keep an eye on the score while they are mowing the lawn on a Sunday afternoon.

AsaSpace is another cybernerd that was taking in the game. Every now and then this guy does a little work for Sportal, so I guess the NBL is using his skills indirectly.

Playing Penny to Asa's Shaq is photographical genius, S23Pix.

Another basketball diehard just trying to do his bit for the sport.

You need to check out his site. He has some great action photos. Too bad most of them are of the Wollongong Hawks.

Last but not least is asternwarning.

A Sydney King's fan from way back who now calls England home. He has been a long time blogger, mainly about his NBA Jailblazers, but I thought it would be interesting to hear his thoughts on how the game is travelling since he last took in a game, Down Under.

Now hold your horses before you climb all over me. Sure the NBL can not allow for anyone and everyone to come under the NBL media banner but take this game for example. There would have been more outcasts (no Andre 3000 and Big Boi were not at the game) then mainstream media at the game.

For a sport that is looking for improved media exposure, maybe it is time to look outside the normal parameters and include some of these other avenues.

I will use my own blog as an example and be very generous with the numbers. I will have more traffic come through my site in a week than over half the teams get at their home games.

The game is alive but are we moving with the times?

Nate Robinson with the tip jam!

Fast And Furious At Xmas For The Crocs

YOU can trust me when I say there will not be too many eggnogs going down the hatch of Crocodiles' players and coaching staff in the next couple of days.

The fact is if we want to be serious NBL championship contenders, the Crocodiles' yule time celebrating will need to be as speedy and efficient as Santa's house visits.

Yes, we'll all endeavour to have an enjoyable time with family and friends, but the second the clock strikes midnight on Friday, it will be back to business as usual.

After we fell to a pair of disappointing losses last weekend, particularly to the Sydney Spirit, the Christmas-New Year period takes on huge importance for us.

Take our eyes off the ball for a second by getting overly caught up in the festive spirit and all of a sudden you can be free-falling down the ladder.

That's the reality of this time of year – I have seen it happen before to many teams – and with the NBL as close as ever this season, the repercussions could be as deadly.

One win or one loss could be the difference between battling for third and fourth spot – which guarantees a home final – or potentially missing out on the finals altogether. With 10 games to go in the 2008/09 regular season, we're determined to avoid the latter.

Townsville in particular have a lot of games over this holiday period, starting with the always difficult road trip to Perth on Boxing Day for a December 27 clash.

We then head home to The Swamp to battle NBL leaders the South Dragons.

They are two difficult assignments, particularly travelling to Challenge Stadium where we haven't produced the greatest record in recent times.

Our last game there in November saw us on the end of a 37-point hammering.

But the reality is, if we want to be considered one of the better teams – up there with South, New Zealand, Melbourne, Perth – we need to be able to win these tough games.

These are the sides we will be playing in the playoffs and hopefully challenging for the NBL championship trophy, so rather than fear the trips, I see them as a positive.

We have already proven we can beat these teams when we are playing at our best, so if we can repeat the dose, it can act as a real momentum builder.

Although I have indicated the team will brush over Christmas, I think our day away from the court tomorrow will have its benefits to the remainder of our campaign also.

I'll still be thinking about basketball – that just comes with the job – but sitting around with family, ripping into some ham and pulling out the bat and ball for some backyard cricket all proves a nice distraction – a mental refresher. The key, as I said, is to enjoy it but not get too distracted.

You cn read my article every Wednesday in the Townsville Bulletin.

Merry Christmas Everyone

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone.

I have been reconnected to the cyber world so there are no more excuses for not blogging. (Take note Andrew Bogut!)

Have a great day and I hope you get all that you wanted from the Fat Jolly Fellow.

Waiting For Connection

Sorry that I've been a little slack of late, but I have just moved house and am waiting for my Internet to be reconnected.

I have been told by the authorities it will all be happening later today.

Until then, I wish everyone a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year.