I find the New Zealand Bartercard NBL in a very interesting state. On the court it has been a mixture of success and failure. It has been one of the closest seasons for years with eight teams still alive up until last week. We still do not know the outcome of the play off make up with one week of play left. There have been so called up sets galore in the last couple of weeks that have really changed the make up of the final six.
As it stands the new boys on the block Southland Sharks are only one win away from securing the sixth spot. They play Nelson and Palmerston North. On paper you would say they will beat the Jets but the last couple of weeks have shown that is not the case and the Jets will be no push over.
The one down side of the league for me is the fact that we again had a team complete the season without a win. Is this good for the league, I don't believe so. We played Otago last weekend and won comfortably. It was an expensive exercise for what was really a waste of time and finances. While I understand that Otago have some potential young players in their squad, I don't see it as being beneficial to the league. It is all well and good to give young players court time but I don't think being pumped on the scoreboard each weekend is healthy. Also does court time guarantee development, I don't believe it does. Hard work and learning to fight for court time is where development occurs. Everard Bartlett could have left the Hawks a number of times over the years for more court time but he chose to stay and fight for his time. I feel he is having an outstanding year this year because of this.
I think it was in my second year as coach of the Hawks Otago took a number of young players down to Dunedin with the promise of court time to help their development. There where some very good young players in that group but now (I stand corrected if I an wrong) there is only Darryl Jones left and I really feel he didn't develop until he went into the Giants program. Will this happen again as the younger players are gifted court time and start to fall away as they get sick of being beaten so badly each week. If it does occur again it can not be good for the league if talented young players fall by the way side again.
Now I think the intentions of the Nuggets is genuine but I am not convinced they have the right model. There are good people down in Dunedin giving up their time and this is not a blight on them but a go at the expansion of the NBL.
Young players need to be taught to fight for court time and to develop great work habits. I didn't see this in Otago. We arrived at the stadium at 5.30pm to get there and start preparing for the game at seven. Not one Otago player was there getting ready. In fact at about 6.15pm there was only about two or three maybe four players out shooting from Otago. This is hardly the culture of hard work. People can say well it was there last game and they had nothing to play for but this is precisely my point. Shouldn't those young players be there working hard and developing the correct habits to become champions. Instead I feel they approached the game with the attitude of I can't wait for the season to be over. I can understand that but I feel regardless of their position they should have approached the game with a view of improvement and developing for the future. I must say that is not what I saw.
Where as in Taranaki this year I saw a coach and a group of players who worked hard to become better. Demands where placed on the players and they responded accordingly yet the talent was pretty much the same as last year. That is the difference and in my view I think Angelo Hill and his players have done a tremendous job. While I am sure they will be disappointed at not making the play offs, they worked hard and where a challenge each week. They had some great results and the future is bright for them.
It is important that the Bartcard NBL doesn't fall into the trap with the "More is better attitude" and makes sure that quality outweighs quantity. There are some very good players in the league coming through and others need to learn about work ethic and fighting for their spots. Not have them gifted to them. We don't need teams in the league that can't compete, we need a good competitive product that people want to watch and support. Otherwise there will be no league in the future.
With energy
Shawn Dennis
