15 Reasons to be excited about the coming season

With only a week and a bit to go until the start of a new season I thought I would go through what is going to make this season great.  Here are 15 reasons to look forward to the 2012/13 NBL season.

1.       New imports.  There are some quality imports coming over this season with the likes of Darnell Lazare, Lance Hurdle and Seth Scott (who in a pre-season game recorded 24 points and 21 rebounds!) filling up the score sheets.  It is always a waiting game with imports as it won’t become clear if they are keepers until a few games into the season.

2.       First import to get the boot... oh wait.  Imports aren’t always keepers and sometimes it is best for a team just to let them out the back quietly and get on with the rest of the season.  Not for Townsville though, as they have sacked both Jason Forte and Curtis Withers before the season starts.  This is a radical move and there must have been something going on behind closed curtains.  Let’s hope for the Crocs sake that this is a good move.  Gary Ervin anyone?

3.       Rookies.  Cairns has the upper hand here nabbing both Clint Steindl and Cameron Gliddon but look for Melbourne’s Nate Tomlinson who will get plenty of court time as the Tigers are very front court heavy.

4.       Wollongong/Adelaide.  The two worst teams in the league last season have re-tooled massively, with the Hawks retaining their core while adding firestarter Adris Deleon and potential star Lance Hurdle.  The 36ers have gone local, adding Boomer Adam Gibson, Luke Schenscher and Anthony Petrie to the squad and have playoffs in their sights.

5.       Sydney/Melbourne.  These two rivals weren’t the best of the bunch last season but at least they held their own for most of the season.  Not this one though as they are unanimously tipped to finish bottom two.  With no stand out players they are going to play hard and as a team which I just can’t see happening.  This is one prediction I will be very happy to be wrong about.

6.       Ben Allen.  His form leading up to the season has been outstanding but we all know once the season starts it is completely different.  As a former teammate of mine I am crossing all my fingers and toes he really cracks into the league this year and proves he is a quality player.

7.       Cedric Jackson’s triple double watch.  He was so close on numerous occasions last season but I have a gut feeling he is going to nab on this time around.  The last player to record a triple double (that I could find) was Corey “Homicide” Williams for Melbourne in January 2011 when he notched up 12 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists in their win over Adelaide.

8.       NBL.tv.  I have written about this service before so I won’t harp on about it but it is done right then I’m going to be one happy NBL fan.

9.       OneHD’s improved telecast.  With two games being shown at decent times maybe more people will tune in and a little public awareness will start to grow.  Knowing One HD they will stuff it up somehow.

10.   Players in new teams.  The likes of Cameron Tragardh (Melbourne -> Cairns), Ian Crosswhite (Cairns -> Sydney), Luke Schenscher (Townsville -> Adelaide), Adam Ballinger (Adelaide -> Melbourne) and the remains of the Blaze going to their respective new teams the league is going to look a lot different to last season’s makeup.

11.   Dream Team.  I wrote about my picks last week so have a look if you are drawing a blank on players to fill your team.  There is still room in my public league, it’s code is 460678.

12.   New Zealand’s three-peat chance.  There has only been one team that has won three championships in a row, the 2002-2005 Sydney Kings.  New Zealand has the chance this season, and even though they might be the favourites the gap has closed a little.

13.   Andrew Gaze’s enthusiasm.  One thing I always look forward to is hearing Andrew Gaze get excited.  It’s one of life’s great pleasures.  His rants and waffle is like ear heaven and I can’t wait until he is going overboard during a regular season game.

14.   Sport other than Cricket and Soccer.  To me Soccer is in my top three of all time boring sports, to go along with Baseball and Gridiron.  Other than Cricket there really aren’t many other choices to get a fix of a great sporting competition.  Basketball brings excitement and wonder that other sports just can’t match.

15.   Finally, after six months without college basketball, four month without the NBA and an unbearable year without the NBL we get to see some basketball action!