Basketball On The Internet.

HOW can the NBL get marquee names such as Andrew Bogut, Patrick Mills, Joe Ingles, Brad Newley, Nate Jawai and others playing in its competition? With a biennial Winter Superleague, that’s how.

Despite the constraints of inherited BA contracts and deals, the NBL has shown it is trying to look forward and to be imaginative so a biennial NBL Winter Superleague might be something worthy of discussion.

Picture this. Every odd year – that is, non-World Championship or Olympic year – the NBL runs a six-team, four-week Winter Superleague.

The teams are West Australia (Perth Wildcats), South Australia (Adelaide 36ers), Victoria (Melbourne Tigers + a second Melbourne-based club in time), New South Wales (Sydney Kings and Wollongong Hawks), New Zealand (NZ Breakers) and Queensland (Cairns Taipans, Townsville Crocs + Brisbane Bullets in time).

Invite our overseas superstars, players such as Bogut, Mills, Ingles, Newley, Jawai, Aron Baynes, Matthew Dellavedova, Aleks Maric, Daniel Kickert, Anatoly Bose, David Barlow and our best current guys in college to compete and run it from late July to early August.

Obviously any of the men in Div.1 NCAA programs could not be paid and there could/would/might be insurance issues with some of our foreign-based pros.

And some might simply not be interested.

So suss that out first.

Take those that ARE interested and pool them into a draft, or alternatively have them subject to “state of origin” – whichever works best – and off we go.

Everyone plays each other twice – once home, once away for a 10-game season condensed into four weeks maximum, with midweek fixturing a la the NBA.

The drawcard of such name players back playing in Oz should make say a Tuesday night fixture workable, while also giving the NBL invaluable data on what nights might work in the future of its own league.

At the end of the 10-game season, teams finishing 1 and 2 have a Grand Final.

Given this is COMPLETELY independent of existing NBL fixturing, the league can do a different TV deal and maybe a network or two might be interested in jumping onto something like this.

For heaven’s sake, if Jeff Van Groningen could sell that High Stakes Hoops concept, how hard would this be?

Maybe a few clubs also could use this as an opportunity to trial an import or two, or show off our great country to a potential import.

Is there a risk the Superleague could diminish the NBL-proper?

A little but it is a “Super” league concept and as such could play 48 minutes, could do any number of innovative things while wrapping in four weeks. It would have a different identity.

And being that brief a season, its impact on the six-month NBL would be minimal.

It is a “Super” league so picture the best players from Cairns and Townsville, plus Nathan Jawai in Queensland’s unit. Or Bogey and Delly joining Wortho, Goulding and Co at Victoria?

Aligning Superleague teams to existing NBL clubs gives you instant infrastructure.

Would NZ maybe pick up Steven Adams?

Kyrie Irving anyone?

Does this idea excite you even a little?

I’ve tried to time it so it doesn’t mess too much with the Oceania calendar and leaves NBL clubs the chance to get into their preseason without the Superleague being an issue.

Have it earlier, reduce it, expand it. This would be a time for the NBL and BA to work together because the Superleague would be a huge plus for our sport.

Even Kevin Bartlett would have to pay attention.