Mills leaves NBL and Tigers, heads for China

Australian Boomers point guard Patty Mills has announced that he will be terminating his contract with the Melbourne Tigers of the Australian NBL, and instead taking a lucrative offer in China. Despite leading the league in points per game (18.6) in nine appearances for the Tigers, the lure of a pay increase was too much to refuse.

Mills said via Twitter,

“Hey everyone! Just wanted to let you all know that I got an unbelievable opportunity to play in China”

He went on to thank those involved in his Tigers experience,

“Just want to thank all the basketball fans in Australia for their support while I’ve been here. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity!”

“I want to thank everyone involved with the Tigers including my teammates, the ownership & all you fans for making this an awesome experience “I certainly look forward to supporting the team from China over the coming months. Keep the hard work up!”

The news comes on the back of recent developments with the NBA lockout, after the players union disbanded last week, and hope of a 2011-12 season slowly fades.

Without out an opportunity to resign with the Portland Trailblazers this season (in the range of $600k AUD), the 23 year old St Mary’s graduate went in search of a similar contract elsewhere.

As with all Chinese Basketball Association contracts, the deal will be in place for the entire season, regardless of the outcome of the NBA lockout, meaning Mills wont have a chance to re-sign in the U.S. until free agency in July next year.

Meanwhile the Melbourne Tigers will be in search for a replacement player, with considerable salary cap and Player Points room now available.

NBA cancels first two weeks

It was announced Tuesday that NBA Commissioner David Stern has officially cancelled the first 2 weeks of the 2011-12 NBA regular season. The cancellation is a result of continued difficulties in negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement between the 30 owners and the NBA players association.

A total of 100 games have been cancelled. For each team, that means around to 6 games each, with some, like the Miami Heat, missing as many 8 key match-ups.

Sources close to the situation say there are still major differences between the two negotiating parties, so much so, that there is little optimism that even more games won’t be missed.

Among the major disagreements is the possible introduction of a ‘hard’ salary cap system, as opposed to the current ‘soft’ cap (which teams can exceed with the use of certain exceptions.)

The payers association are aggressively opposed to a new cap system, saying that it will see the end of guaranteed contracts for the majority of players.

Additionally discussed are the length of contracts, rookie salaries, annual raises and most of all, the total guaranteed split of Basketball Related Income (B.R.I). Under the last deal players would receive a total 57% annual share. The owners have pushed for a figure as low as 45% but have recently informally proposed a 50-50 split of B.R.I. The players have dropped to a 53% offer but have said that that figure will not go any lower.

Despite losing games, the majority of players will not lose any pay as a result of cancellations. The majority of layers only get their first pay check on November 15, a single day after the revised season opener. The hardest hit will be the operators and workers at arenas around the U.S., who will miss pay for games that aren’t payed.

It is the first time since 1998-99 that regular season games have been missed due to collective bargaining.

Commissioner Stern has publically stated that if no deal is signed by January 7 that the entire season, including post-season games, will be called off.

For more information on the details of the bargaining, refer to my earlier breakdown and analysis. 

TEN Sport negotiations a worry for NBL

News arose this week that the NBL is still in discussions with TEN network negotiators about the status of their NBL broadcasting for season 2011-12. Up until these negotiations became public, it was believed that TEN was contractually obligated to play at least 3 live games a week until the completion of the 2014-15 season, on either Ten, or its digital channel One. Its now believed that a secret clause is contained in the NBL agreement. The clause is said to allow the live games to instead be broadcast "near-live" (within three hours of tip-off), presumably this clause is invoked due to the collapse of the all sport OneHD channel.

The problem for fans, and those not yet attracted to the league, is that TEN, once thought to be a key saviour of Australian basketball, is now stabbing the NBL, and the state of basketball in Australia, right in heart.
Without live television coverage this season the league will be hamstrung, unable to properly capitalise on the introduction of Patty Mills and (possibly) Andrew Bogut to the league.
Whereas there was a 298% rise in television viewership last year, it's now likely that we will see a contraction of viewership.
Tuning out on the television will mean tuning out across the whole league. For those potential fans that will never be exposed to the league and for those fans that once turned off but may have otherwise returned, this is a big hit.

The impact will be felt most of all though, by the die-hard fans. With no internet streaming available and non live TV, they will be forced to watch box scores and twitter feeds for live game info.

There is still a glimmer of hope remaining though. The negotiations are on-going and there is talk that One may show 1 live game and two delayed each round. Even if this compromise does shape out, its still going to mean a massive blow for the sport of basketball in this country.

For those interested in helping the fans plight, you can put your name to a petition here ( http://anzballaz.com/blog/2011/09/25/how-you-can-help-get-nbl-live/ )to show the people at TEN your support for live NBL coverage in 2011-12.