The National Basketball League will continue to work with the beleaguered Indian Panthers, who have lurched from one calamity to another following their controversial inclusion this season.
Their first month in the league has been an unmitigated disaster.
The coach quit. Their star player left suddenly. A bunch of players still have not shown up. They have lost all six games and they are shifting out of their home venue. And there are rumours circulating they have not been able to meet their financial obligations.
Maree Taylor, the NBL’s general manager, was unavailable for comment but media, fans and brand manager Casey Frank told the Otago Daily Times the Panthers still had the backing of the league.
"I would say, in the early stages, things haven’t gone as smoothly as we’d like, but we see it as a long-term partnership," Frank said.
"We think they’re going to be here for the long haul, and we’re going to work with them the best we can to make sure that that’s a reality for the league and for the rest of the teams in the league."
Tough start
The Panthers’ story so far has not been crammed with success.
It has been a public relations nightmare for the league, which has pinned its reputation to some extent on an Indian team actually working in a New Zealand competition.
There was not widespread support for the out-of-the-box plan in the first place and the Panthers’ troubles have not helped ease concerns in the basketball community.
What has been happening off the hardwood has fuelled the growing doubt they are not ready for the league and have not justified their playing licence.
Any excitement leading into their opening game of the season was quickly doused when they had difficulties getting key players from the subcontinent to New Zealand in time.
International commitments meant they played the Hawke’s Bay Hawks missing the 10 Indian players named in the squad.
A good chunk of those players still have not arrived in the country almost a month later.
The Panthers rustled a team together, but it was quite the malarkey.
Coach Miles Pearce, who has since quit, was featured in a television story driving around some Auckland schools picking up a bunch of teenagers and rushing them off to the airport.
Pearce lasted two more games then resigned. The former Otago Nuggets centre did not respond to interview requests.
Jonathan Goodman stepped in as interim coach, but Pearce’s departure was never really addressed by the franchise.
Where’d he go?
His exit was followed by another sudden departure. Star import Don Alex Robinson jun was subbed during the Panthers’ 96-79 loss to the Southland Sharks in the first quarter on Sunday and he promptly left.
Players leave. Coaches leave. None of that is new to basketball. It can be a brutal sport.
But players seldom leave in the middle of a game. And Robinson’s departure has only been explained away as a parting of the ways.
"I’m not privy to the details which led Alex to make that decision in-game or to exactly why, after the game, they decided to part ways," Frank said.
"That’s the decision of the team and the player, and the league doesn’t have any opinion on or any comment on those actions that happened in-game because that’s between the player and the team."
In the latest development, the Panthers abandoned their home court at Pulman Arena and set up camp at the Franklin Pool and Leisure Centre in Pukekohe, where the Franklin Bulls are also based.
The ODT understands the Panthers felt they were being charged too much and made the decision to move to Pukekohe.
But the decision has not enhanced their professional reputation, nor quelled rumours they are struggling financially.
Frank said the NBL had not received any complaints about the Panthers not paying their players or settling bills.
"I can say that we don’t have any official complaints from players [or from the Pulman Arena] in terms of the issues that you’re talking about.
"Obviously, we’re working closely with the Panthers, as closely as we can, to help them keep putting a competitive product on the floor at a professional level."
