Even by their own standards, the Otago Nuggets had a dismal year both on and off the court.
The team won just two of its 18 games.
Star American import Lemar Gayle quit but not before he bagged coach Don Sims and his team-mates.
Back-up centre Jason Greig broke his leg and, midway through the season, Nat Connell and Steve Robinson tested positive for cannabis and were suspended for six weeks.
While the Nuggets were hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons, general manager Warrick Diack was at the front-line repairing the damage with the sponsors and helping hold the organisation together.
But a day before the Nuggets' last match of the season, Diack quit over a dispute about money.
He believed Basketball Otago (BBO) had failed to honour an agreement to pay a percentage of the sponsorship he secured.
Diack's departure has exposed some deep rifts in the organisation. Shortly after Diack announced his decision, BBO development officer and website administrator Alan Ayson issued the board an ultimatum - either chief executive Mark Rogers went or he would - and long-serving board member John Brimble decided the time was right to resign his position, citing a need for change at the top.
Earlier in the year, former operations manager Mohit Rao resigned without a job to go to.
While he was reluctant to speak out, he did admit to being fed up at being taken for granted.
To have three staff members leave an organisation with the equivalent of five full-time positions suggests disillusionment with the management runs deep.
Brimble, who is the chief executive of Sport Otago and has been involved with BBO for 10 years, paused, then chose his words carefully when asked if he resigned feeling disaffected.
"I think there is a need for some change and that is probably one of the reasons which has prompted my resignation," he said.
"It's an opportunity to bring some fresh blood in.
"From my perspective, I'm probably in a better position to assist basketball from the outside rather than the inside."
When asked if that change included reviewing Rogers' employment, Brimble responded; "That puts me in hard position."
Sport Otago endeavoured to be non-political, he said, and "on the basis we build up a trust relationship with them [sports organisations], so we can assist them to address some of the issues they are dealing with and get to where they perhaps need to be. I'd put basketball in the category."
While Brimble's comments seem to suggest a change is needed, BBO chairman John Gallaher said the board was behind Rogers.
"There are no issues with our CEO," Gallaher said. "He is working in an organisation that has had a lot of growth and a lot of challenges.
"He has the support of the board, no question."
Rogers still believes he is the best person to move the organisation forward.
"I wouldn't be here if I didn't," he said, pointing to his record over the past three years.
Even some of his detractors agree Rogers has done a good job in growing the sport at the grassroots level.
"When you look at where basketball has come from, even in the last six or seven years, we've now got phenomenal growth at the junior level," Brimble said.
"Miniball numbers are going through the roof. So it has rejuvenated at that level and we've got a very strong junior development programme in place, where we've got strength in all the age group levels."
The praise was largely unanimous but concerns remain with the way Rogers has managed his staff and, in particular, Diack's departure.
Diack was in no small part responsible for attracting the sponsors back to the Nuggets after a disastrous season in 2005.
He was instrumental in signing up Cartridge World as the major naming sponsor and getting Mark Laughton of Mark Laughton Motors involved.
When Connell and Robinson were suspended for six weeks for cannabis, Diack made sure the sponsors were aware of the situation and managed a potentially harmful incident with aplomb.
While Diack did not want to comment until after he had settled his dispute with BBO, he said there was no personality clash between the pair.
But somewhere the goodwill must have broken down. Diack resigned two weeks before he walked out on the franchise.
Originally, he had intended to see the season out but left a day before the Nuggets' last match against the Canterbury Rams in Christchurch.
Laughton, who had developed a good relationship with Diack, was left angered over his treatment.
"In my opinion, letting him go will harm them as an organisation. They need someone with Warrick's marketing and business acumen within their organisation, because otherwise we are really just supporting people who haven't got any clue about that side of things. I wonder without him there what will happen in the future . . ."
Graeme Cochrane, one of the directors of Cartridge World Dunedin, does not share Laughton's concern.
Someone would emerge who was just as capable, he said - a view shared by fellow-sponsor John MacDonald, of the Terrace Bar.
In an email to the Otago Daily Times, Ayson outlined his position.
Ayson served a letter of resignation but told the board he would withdraw it if Rogers was sacked, citing concerns about his relationship with members, players, volunteers and staff.
Ayson claims BBO owes him money and he plans to pursue a personal grievance against Rogers.
Rogers said he would not comment on claims Diack and Ayson were owed money.
"I'm not going to discuss individual contracts or employment issues with you."
However, he insisted there was still plenty of goodwill in the community for Basketball Otago.
"I don't think we would be where we are if there wasn't."
