Basketball On The Internet.

HARD to split between Tasmania-Sydney and Melbourne-Tasmania for the NBL’s Game of the Round this week because with Scott Roth’s JackJumpers, you always know you’re going to get a committed team-first performance, win or lose.

With the recent arrival of G-League coaches and Next Stars all aiming for NBA glory, the NBL rapidly is in danger of losing its identity. It definitely risks becoming a poor man’s NBA, with a succession of pick-and-rolls, drives and corner dishes, and occasionally that extra pass to the wing.

Wow. Show us something we haven’t seen.

The US has the athletes to make that style of game work. We don’t.

The European type of play that typified Germany beating Serbia for the World Cup but also was evident in teams such as Latvia and Lithuania, and always been staples for recent powerhouses such as Spain and France is for five guys to be working together.

It’s called teamwork. (Yes, you can successfully argue Germany’s pick-and-roll beat the Boomers but that’s only because the Aussies never changed their switching defensive strategy and were made to pay for it repeatedly. If something is working, you go back to that well until it dries up.)

All that fans have heard in this NBL season’s build-up has been about the talent, the talent, the talent.

Not a word about any teamwork, teamwork, teamwork.

Yet here we are and the team most pure basketball fans want to watch is Tasmania. The JackJumpers hustle on defence, they work the ball around for the best shot, they play for each other. You know, they play basketball the way it maybe should be played?

That’s what will make it tough for a multi-talented team such as Sydney or a refurbished outfit such as United this round. The Jackies come at you in multiple ways with a “Moneyball” type outfit that is “defending the island” and only knows one way to play – together.

That’s what team sport is. Sure, prodigious talent can still prevail. It just isn’t all that interesting when it’s not tied to a concept of team-first and winning as a committed unit.

And while we’re talking the team-first mentality, honourary mentions too for New Zealand and Cairns. They also play in a way that’s a joy to watch.

ROUND 2 TIPS
NZ to beat Brisbane
Cairns with everyone back, beats SEM. Without returnees, Phoenix wins.
Tasmania opens its home season with the scalp of the champs.
Perth makes it 0-3 for Adelaide.
Illawarra gets a second black eye at home, this time from SEM.
Brisbane staves off Cairns. Full strength Taipans? Maybe a different story.
Melbourne keeps Tasmania in the red.
Sydney sends the Sixers into a 0-4 spin.

NBL RANKINGS – WEEK 1
This Last
Wk     Wk  Club
  1       - Sydney (1-0) Impressed against Hawks but Tassie a truer test.
  2       - Melbourne (2-0) Did enough in Rd1 but the JJs will be a challenge.
  3       - NZ (1-0) Solid start and should have the jaws to chew on Bullets.
  4       - SEM (1-1) On the road, with neither match a given.
  5       - Perth (1-1) Up-and-down last week but should spank Sixers.
  6       - Tasmania (0-1) Looked good in defeat and can bounce back now.
  7       - Brisbane (1-0) Beat 36ers but many will. This round much tougher.
  8       - Cairns (0-1) Personnel absences the key to early fortunes.
  9       - Adelaide (0-2) Showed some steel against United but no real threat.
10       - Illawarra (0-1) Embarrassed themselves at home. Must improve.