Nuggets manager happy about new Queenstown team

A new National Basketball League team in the South has been met with positivity from one of its neighbours.

Otago Nuggets general manager Angela Ruske welcomed the news of a Queenstown-based team joining the league from 2024.

The team will be one of two new franchises, the other being the Bay of Plenty Stingrays, bringing the total number of teams to 12.

They will be the first new teams to the league since 2020, when the Nuggets rejoined after a five-year hiatus and the Franklin Bulls first entered.

The ownership group behind the team remains unknown, although prominent sports administrator Karl Budge has been named as the franchise’s spokesman.

While potentially a threat to the Nuggets, Ruske was not taking that viewpoint.

"We’re very positive about having another team in the lower South Island," she said.

"Obviously it’s better for fans to get across both areas and it’s great for our region to continue to have that strength of NBL presence in the area."

She said it would give the Nuggets more preseason opportunities.

It also provided the possibility of the new lower South team in the revamped women’s NBL, also owned by Nuggets owner SENZ, to play doubleheader matches in Queenstown.

It is a considerable jump for the South to now have three teams in the league.

For the majority of its history, there has been just one — aside from between 2010 and 2014, when the Southland Sharks formed and co-existed with the Nuggets, until the latter withdrew.

Last year was the only other season to have two southern teams, as the Sharks did not play in the 2020 NBL Showdown, when the Nuggets first re-emerged.

It had the potential to spread talent thinner, particularly given the limited number of top-level players Queenstown has produced.

Luke Aston, who played for the Nuggets last year, would be the resort’s most prominent product.

However, Ruske felt the new franchise would not necessarily just look locally for new players.

"That doesn’t necessarily mean it will drain from our player group.

"If you’re going to get players in, they could recruit from up north just as easily as from here. There were always going to be 12 teams, so having that 12th team more locally for us is a good thing.

"If it was based up north, there’s still going to be a player drain somewhere.

"That’s going to impact on all the teams, especially for New Zealand players at the top end.

"For the younger players, just because the team is in Queenstown doesn’t mean they’re going to select from the lower South Island player pool. So that’s not a concern."

Having recently been involved in setting up an NBL team, Ruske had a fair idea of what was involved in being successful.

"It’s having the support of the community, but also the expertise.

"From our point of view, I think what we did well was we had some strong people behind us in various areas that gave us that strength.

"If they get that right, it just makes the whole process that much easier — and I’m sure they will."

-- jeff.cheshire@odt.co.nz