An audacious bid to launch the New Zealand National Basketball League season – which many thought would never work – is less than 24 hours away from starting and will be the only basketball league in the world with crowds.
Complete with an historic draft, the Auckland-based NBL will bring together seven teams, five of which have had to shift players and support staff to the north for the quickfire season.
So what will be home for 80 players and staff over the next six or so weeks? Auckland’s SkyCity Hotel – casino included.
NZ NBL general manager Justin Nelson told 1 NEWS he doesn’t see players getting distracted by their new surroundings though.
“The good thing is they're playing three times a week, and training every other day,” Nelson joked.
“They'll be too worn out.”
Nelson Giants duo Tommy Gargiulo and Dane Brooks will be roommates for the duration of the competition and have already moved furniture around in their room to feel more at home – and establish personal space.
“When we turned up, first thing I thought was, ‘six weeks living with someone, I probably don't want to be breathing on the guy when we're sleeping’,” Gargiulo said.
Despite the arrangements, Gargiulo is still pinching himself at the opportunity after being around the Giants for a decade but never making the final cut – until now.
“It’s taken me back a bit,” he said.
Roommate Brooks from Taranaki has a breakthrough story of his own too, having recovered from a heart issue which almost forced him to retire following a breakout season last year.
Down the hall, coach Mike Fitchett has made himself at home too after packing his life into his hatchback last Thursday and waving goodbye to his young family before driving north.
Fitchett told 1 NEWS the truncated league will be worth it though.
“Basketball is on a huge upswing,” Fitchett said.
“To sit out a year is a little bit dangerous for our supporters, sponsors, corporate backers when we're struggling to get support from the Government.”
Basketball NZ told 1 NEWS earlier this month they were “bewildered, disappointed and frustrated” that they had been left out of a $4.6 million funding package for high performance sport in New Zealand by the Government while other sports such as netball, rugby and football were all supported.
The import-free NBL instead was told to wait for the next round of funding which is set to be announced on July 1.
“We're putting our hand up,” Nelson said.
“We put our hand up before and we'll put our hand up again.”
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