National Basketball League (New Zealand)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| National Basketball League | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Sport | Basketball |
| Founded | 1982 |
| No. of teams | 10 |
| Country |  New Zealand |
| Current champions | Hawkes Bay Hawks |
| Official website | Basketball New Zealand |
The National Basketball League (NBL) is New Zealand's top domestic basketball competition.
Contents |
[edit] History
It was first set up in 1982 and is played in the New Zealand winter. The League usually kicks off at the end of March or in early April and runs until mid July - early August.
The league has been fairly amateur in the past but in recent years has turned semi-professional.
The New Zealand NBL features many players from the national side "The Tall Blacks" and members from New Zealand's professional basketball team in the Australian league: The New Zealand Breakers.
In 2003, the league signed a deal with TV2 New Zealand to become "the home of hoops". In 2003 and 2004, Sunday afternoon games were screened live on TV2, however in 2006, NBL hoops has been screened at 11 am on a Saturday morning. The semi finals and grand finals are screened live, free to air. From 2007, Sky Televison will cover a live game every week during the NZNBL season.
[edit] Current NZ NBL teams
- Auckland Stars
- North Harbour Heat ( formerly called North Harbour Kings )
- Waikato Pistons ( formerly called Waikato Titans/Warriors)
- Taranaki Mountain Airs ( formerly called Taranaki Bears/Oilers)
- Hawkes Bay Hawks
- Manawatu Jets ( formerly called Palmerston North Jets )
- Wellington Saints
- Nelson Giants
- Canterbury Rams
- Otago Nuggets
[edit] Defunct NZ NBL teams
The league has a number of defunct teams , the most recent ones are :
- Northland Suns ( left 1998)
- Hutt Valley Lakers ( left 1996 )
- Waitakere Rangers( left 1995)
[edit] Foreign players
Teams are currently allowed two imports. In the past the sides have relied heavily on American imports, but in recent years many of the teams have leaned towards using Australian imports from teams in the Australian NBL.
Recent New Zealand international players who have starred in the New Zealand NBL dominating scoring, have been Dillon Boucher, Aaron Olson, Lindsay Tait, Paul Henare, Paora Winitana, Pero Cameron, Tony Rampton, Lee Rapson, Mark Dickel, and Phill Jones. Current Maccabi Tel Aviv and Tall Black player Kirk Penney also played for North Harbour back in the late 1990's.
[edit] Competition format
The ten sides in the New Zealand NBL play 18 regular season fixtures , with each side playing each other once at their home arena and also once away at their opponents venue . At the end of the regular season the top ranked teams plays the fourth ranked side . The side which finished second hosts the third placed side . The winners of these two semi final match ups progress onto the NZ NBL grand final , played at the higher placed team's venue .
[edit] Television coverage
In recent years the NZ National Basketball League ( NBL ) has started to gain greater television coverage . In 2003, the NBL signed a deal with TVNZ for TV 2 to become the official " home of hoops " . In 2005 games were televised a Friday night NBL fixture was shown at 10:30 pm . In 2006 , TV 2 televised the game of the round at 11:30 am on Saturdays . Over the last few seasons , the semi final and grand final fixtures have been shown live . In addition to this Tv 2 often have live coverage of Tall Black ( the New Zealand national team ) games played in New Zealand . Current commentators include Bob Manthei , former New Zealand Breaker and Waikato Titans head coach Jeff Green and former Tall Black Chris Tupu . From 2007 onwards it has been confirmed that Sky Television (pay TV) will cover a live fixture each week. Commentators are likely to include Jason Costigan.
[edit] Imports in the league
The New Zealand NBL has usually allowed each side to play with two non-New Zealand citizens ( imports or restricted players ). From 2001-2003 however the league believed that overseas players were detracting from giving New Zealand born players significant minutes and playing time in the league and as a result , one import was only permitted per side . In the past , the NZ NBL sides have usually relied on Americans to fill their import player positions . These American players have usually been players who have had fairly good collegiate basketball careers , but who were not good enough to make it into the NBA . In 2004 the trend of using American imports started to change though with New Zealand gaining a professional side the Breakers in the Australian NBL . Many of the NZ NBL clubs began to use Australians for their imports , as the Australian NBL league does not run at the same time as the New Zealand NBL and many of the Australian players wanted to keep in shape over their off-season .In 2003 the Taranaki Mountain Airs pulled off a major coup by signing Link Abrams, the most consistent and dominate player over the past few seasons.
Restricted players who have stood out , over the last few seasons have been John Whorton ( Canterbury ) , Mike Pegues ( Canterbury/Otago), Greg Lewis ( Waikato ) , Ryan Prillman ( Canterbury ) , Dusty Rychart (Hawkes Bay ) , Jacob Holmes(Nelson) and David Cooper ( Manawatu ).
In the recently completed 2006 season American guards Garry-Hill Thomas of Taranaki and Dennis Trammell of the Canterbury Rams were the league's leading scorers with both averaging 25 points a game. Otago's American forward Branduinn Fullove and Nick Horvath of the Wellington Saints a former Duke Blue Devils standout, excelled also.
[edit] New Zealanders in the league
Many New Zealanders , " kiwi's " , who play for the New Zealand Breakers and the national side " The Tall Blacks " have played in the New Zealand NBL since its inception . In recent years "Tall Black" heroes who have dominated in the local New Zealand league have been Dillon Boucher, Lindsay Tait & Aaron Olson ( Auckland Stars ) , Paul Henare and Paora Winitana ( Hawkes Bay Hawks ) , Pero Cameron ( Waikato Titans ) , Mark Dickel ( Wellington and Otago ), Damon Rampton ( Taranaki Mountain Airs ) and Phill Jones and Ed Book from the Nelson Giants . Tall Black Kirk Penney who has played in the NBA for Miami Heat and Los Angeles Clippers and recently played for Maccabi Tel-Aviv in Israel , and previously played in New Zealand's National League in the late 1990's for the North Harbour Kings .
[edit] Past NZ NBL champions
Since its beginning and to the present day , Auckland have been the benchmark of the NZ domestic basketball competition . They have won the most titles out of any team : ( 9 ) . Next best is Wellington with ( 5), Canterbury ( 4 ) , Waikato (2) , Nelson ( 2 ) and Hutt Valley with ( 2 ) and in 2006 Hawkes Bay won their first ever NBL title.
Past champions :
- 1982 Auckland
- 1983 Auckland
- 1984 Wellington
- 1985 Wellington
- 1986 Canterbury
- 1987 Wellington
- 1988 Wellington
- 1989 Canterbury
- 1990 Canterbury
- 1991 Hutt Valley
- 1992 Canterbury
- 1993 Hutt Valley
- 1994 Nelson
- 1995 Auckland
- 1996 Auckland
- 1997 Auckland
- 1998 Nelson
- 1999 Auckland
- 2000 Auckland
- 2001 Waikato
- 2002 Waikato
- 2003 Wellington
- 2004 Auckland
- 2005 Auckland
- 2006 Hawkes Bay
