Basketball On The Internet.

IT stood out like the Wilsons on a German Shepherd. Officiating in the NBL in 2015-16 was the biggest bug-bear of the season.

The inconsistencies were legion and consequently actually encouraged issues such as flopping, the bane of the modern game.

But as demonstrated here with a Clint Steindl-Shawn Redhage example, no flop equals no call.

Redhage had Steindl defending him at the block, wheeled into his chest with his shoulder and got his shot off.

Steindl played perfect D but because he didn’t fall when Redhage barrelled into him, he didn’t get the call.

Identical play an offence later, and Steindl takes the contact again, but this time hits the floor. Foul on Redhage.

Now how does that help either player?

Redhage didn’t do anything different from Play 1 to Play 2 but gets a foul the second time.

Steindl plays the D identically both times, but Play 1 has shown him he’ll have to exaggerate the contact to get the call. So the referee has forced him to do that.

What is that teaching?

It’s one example, I know. But it so accurately encapsulates  all that is wrong with the officiating that I cannot help revisiting it.

It won’t be any plan to go to three imports that will retard the NBL going forward.

Far from it.

It’s the officiating which needs serious off-season attention.

CONGRATULATIONS TO MAC Adelaide Lightning guard/forward Alex Ciabattoni (pictured above by Trevor Kinross) today winning the WNBL’s Betty Watson Rookie of the Year award.

And given the manner in which the WNBL released the news, don’t expect there to be any imminent awards dinner/lunch/brunch/breakfast/afternoon tea either.

Maybe they could present the league MVP during halftime of Game 2 of the Grand Final on TV?

Oh no wait, I just remembered…

BASKETBALL ON  THE INTERNET PLAYER OF THE WEEK

YES, the NBL is over so throwing out any PotW awards now largely is irrelevant.

That said, in Week 1 of the NBL playoffs, Mika Vukona would have been the B.O.T.I. winner and in Week 2, Damian Martin.

In the WNBL, Sara Blicavs would have taken the Week 1 chocolates and Suzy Batkovic in Week 2.

You know, in case you were wondering.

YEAH, NO KIDDING

IT’S a wrap for NBL Season 2015-16 as far as the Fox and Nine television coverage goes and, let’s be honest, it was a great year.

Sure, there were stuff ups, some incorrect terminology and observations, along with the constant distraction of one particular commentator in the “sell, sell, sell” business.

And I don’t mean any of the Fox guys but one of our “specialists”. (You know who I’m talking about.)

Was a bit disappointed with Derek Rucker tending to defer to Shane Heal during the Swisse Grand Final Series because, frankly, he has a bit more to offer, to be honest.

Willing to bet that won't happen as much next season.

Plus as much as I enjoyed Dwayne Russell’s enthusiasm throughout the season, I don’t think the NBL needed as much of a hard-sell as he tended to want to give come playoff-time.

Ahead of Semi Final Game 1 between Melbourne and New Zealand, he stood outside Hisense Arena for a to-camera piece about how the league was back and had sell-out crowds blah blah and “tonight is no exception”.

Except that it was.

United had 5,000 for Game 1 and TV viewers could see that. Unnecessary flowery pre-game prose shouldn’t be required to sell a semi, regardless how many show up.

Similarly, lauding Perth’s Matt Knight in Game 3 of the Grand Final series with the description – and I’m paraphrasing – “he is the best rebounder in the league” is also unnecessary hype for a guy who is a champion but in actual fact finished fourth in the rebounding, Daniel Johnson at #1 with 9.3 per game.

That stuff is just over-excited hype to me and frankly, we’re beyond that.

You don’t hear callers on ESPN randomly throwing inaccuracies like that about, just to impress viewers with how good the players they are watching might actually be.

These are small grievances because, after all, never before have we had the chance to watch every game, live and in HD.

So 2015-16 was a watershed for the NBL.

SPEAKING of inaccuracies...

Perhaps getting Brendan Teys' name spelt correctly shouldn't have been that hard.

THIS WEEK’S TIPS

TOWNSVILLE to stun Perth in Perth and snatch Game 1 in the WNBL’s historic first Best-of-Three Grand Final Series.

PS

Brittany ... (and) Smart