Basketball On The Internet.

SNIPPETS of information continue to emerge about the new Brisbane Bullets and other expansion plans of the NBL as finalised decisions draw closer to completion, with announcements pending.

Here's what I've been able to suss out, because players do tend to talk after they've been approached and the more people drawn into the "loop", the more chances for stray comments.

SEABL Brisbane Spartans coach and NBL great CJ Bruton will be on the coaching panel in Brisbane. Mentioned that yesterday.

Now the name of respected Basketball Queensland official Narelle Kelly is one I'm hearing linked to the new Queensland-capital based NBL club, in an operations or even general manager capacity.

The initial owner will not be from Queensland but someone with NBL Board connections.

That Board currently is Perth CEO Nick Marvin, Paul Bendat, Richard Clarke, Steve Dunn and Adrian Garrone.

My information is the Board will change on Friday with Marvin stepping down as Chairman and a couple of people stepping off.

Frankly, that's a long overdue and good thing for the integrity and perception of integrity for the league.

All due respect to Marvin - and I don't mean that in any disingenuous way - but having a club CEO as your league Chairman is and was ridiculous.

Can you imagine Collingwood president Eddie McGuire, for example, also being AFL Chairman?

No. Ridiculous.

That said, Marvin is a good operator and I have no doubt we wouldn't even have a league if he and others such as Dunn and Clarke hadn't worked their way through the NBL's complicated demerger process from Basketball Australia.

Those guys put in a lot of hours to ensure we have a league today and toupees off to them, and most notably Nick.

But come on now. We're a long way removed from that and to still lack an independent board opens it up to accusations and allegations of impropriety whenever decisions are made which also suit the clubs of Board members.

Witness the "Pacific islanders can play as locals" farce at the start of this season when two clubs - coincidentally with Board members - utilised a rule which was not officially on NBL books anywhere to add US-based, Guam-born players to their rosters.

Right or wrong it looks shonky and that is NOT the look basketball should be presenting to the public at any time.

(That's FIBA's role...)

Fraser Neill's resignation after 13 months as league CEO and dealing with the Board also is not a good look.

The shelving or modifying of his plans to take the NBL forward also smacks of self-interest along the journey.

The second NBL club out of Melbourne was heading toward a South East Melbourne Magic line.

Now all the news is about South Dragons returning under the ownership of previous management and Mark Cowan.

To what extent is the friendship of Cowan and Marvin relevant in that decision over the actual qualities of the two bids?

Not saying the Dragons bid wasn't or isn't better than the Magic's. What I am saying is there's already a perception the Magic were told not to waste their time any further because Czar Nicholas was annointing his friend's bid.

Is that right or wrong?

Only the men in question can confirm or deny.

Again, that isn't the point.

NBL management not only has to be clean it has to be seen to be clean.

Already the new bid processes are murky, at least in the eyes of the general public which mostly has been treated with disdain and disregard.

Why hasn't the NBL made any statement about the Tasmanian bid?

Long ago Neill said the Tasmanian one was the one which most had legs for the 2015-16 season yet since his departure, it now doesn't even rate a mention anywhere.

Clearly for the next television deal, Tassie doesn't rate anywhere near as importantly as having a presence in Brisbane does, fair enough.

But while the NBL continues with back room machinations - or at the very least appears to - it's difficult to have any confidence in its expansion plans.

It is way past the time the league should be making announcements.

Tell the world Brisbane is up and happening and give the ownership a face.

Tell the world Melbourne is ready for a second team and let's see Mark Cowan's smiling face again.

It is the middle of January. Guessing the next season will tip off in October. In Brisbane particularly, the NBL really needs to give the Bullets time to re-establish and not appear ramshackle or hastily formed.

Names such as Kerle, Loggins and Sengstock also should be attached to it somewhere too.

And if the Tasmanian model only suited Neill's vision, then make that clear. A lot of good people are putting in a lot of time for precious little.

The NBL's long faithful public deserves to be treated better. This lack of transparency can't be blamed on BA, Kristina, The Derwinator or PERFORM.

PS

For the social media folk west of the SA border troubled by my take on their CEO, maybe revisit:

http://www.botinagy.com/blog/fraser-says-cheers-and-best-of-luck/