Basketball: Focus on grass-roots rather than NBL team

Basketball Otago general manager Justin Ludlow: ``We are at the point where, if we are going to go further with the Nuggets, then who can we tap on the shoulder?'' Photo by Gregor Richardson.
Basketball Otago general manager Justin Ludlow: ``We are at the point where, if we are going to go further with the Nuggets, then who can we tap on the shoulder?'' Photo by Gregor Richardson.

The National Basketball League tournament wound up during the weekend with the Wellington Saints winning their ninth title. The Otago Nuggets, meanwhile, have been sidelined for two years and fans may have to wait a bit longer for the promised return, basketball writer Adrian Seconi reports. 

The Otago Nuggets' comeback has become bogged down in talk. 

And talk is about the best Basketball Otago can do at the moment.

The organisation is still recovering from its close brush with liquidation and, understandably, has other priorities. Running an expensive National Basketball League team is not at the top of the agenda.

"From a board perspective we are still talking about them every month,'' Basketball Otago general manager Justin Ludlow said.

"But the reality is we need to [raise] anywhere between $250,000 to $400,000 to keep them in the league. That is a massive expense and our focus right now is just making sure we have got good grass-roots basketball happening.''

The sort of budget Ludlow suggested is at the no-frills end as well, with half a million probably closer to the amount BBO would need to field a competitive team.

The Nuggets dropped out of the NBL when BBO ran into financial difficulties two years ago.

BBO had accumulated debts of almost $180,000 and ceased trading in October 2014. Liquidation appeared inevitable but a deal was reached in May 2015 to pay creditors 30c in the dollar.

Ludlow was appointed general manager in December 2015 and has inherited an organisation still trying to find its feet following its near financial collapse.

"We want them back out there, whether it is the Nuggets or another Otago team, but at the moment our pathway for young men is going to be focused around the NBC [National Basketball Championships] at the end of the year.

"[It is] still a viable pathway for our top athletes to measure themselves against the best in the country.''

Aside from the obvious financial barrier, BBO has lost the services of board member Craig Hickford. He was a driving force behind the Nuggets' revival and had targeted next year for the franchise's return.

Sadly, he was seriously injured when he was struck by a car while out cycling on February 14. He sustained significant head injuries.

"Craig's accident has put a bit of a handbrake on things to be brutally honest. We are at the point where, if we are going to go further with the Nuggets, then who can we tap on the shoulder?

"It does not have to be someone who is on the board of BBO but just someone who is keen on basketball and keen on seeing the Nuggets back in the league.''

In September, Hickford told the Otago Daily Times he believed the best way forward was for the Otago Nuggets to split from BBO and for the two entities to operate separately.

"That would be the more pragmatic way to look at it,'' Ludlow said.

"It would have to split somehow from BBO because it would just be unsustainable for BBO to fund the Nuggets.''

Asked if there had been any tangible progress, Ludlow was only able to reiterate that the discussions were ongoing. So it seems while the Nuggets might crop up in conversation at the board meetings, their return appears as close as Donald Trump's next haircut.

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