The NBL announced this week that it will be expanding to nine teams with part-owner of the NZ Breakers Romie Chaudhari purchasing an NBL licence.
With Jeremy Loeliger hinted at the NBL looking to start the 2019-20 season with a "minimum" of nine teams and a consortium in Tasmania likely to announce their intentions to enter the NBL in the next few weeks the competition looks set to grow beyond eight teams since the demise of the Gold Coast Blaze in 2012.
Australian Basketball Hall of Famer and former Sydney Kings coach Bob Turner who has been vocal about the dangers of NBL expansion (listen to our previous podcast with Bob) joins our host Dan Boyce on the show to talk about the negatives, the positives and even more important... who is Romie Chaudhari and why does he want to buy an NBL team with no city?
Topics discussed on the podcast include;
FIBA World Cup Basketbrawl Fall out and how it's been positive in promoting Australian Basketball (2:00)
Who is Romie Chaudhari and why does he own two NBL licences? (7:00)
How do you buy a team in a professional league without a designated city? (8:00)
Why are American buyers ie. Romie Chaudhari and NZ Breakers Matt Walsh and Shawn Marion seemingly so interested in the NBL right now? (10:00)
Why it is obvious the ninth NBL team is ending up in Melbourne (12:00)
Hobart expected to announce it will enter a 10th NBL franchise in weeks (21:00)
Larry Kestelman believes Melbourne could sustain three NBL teams, but could they really? (27:00)
All of this and a whole lot more...
Listen to the full interview below or download on iTunes.
Listen to our previous interviews with the biggest stars in Australian Basketball, head to Aussiehoopla.com. Check out previous podcasts featuring;
Australian Basketball Legends - Luc Longley, Andrew Gaze, Shane Heal, Mark Bradtke, Andrew Vlahov, CJ Bruton, Chris Anstey, Brett Maher, John Rillie, Tony Ronaldson, Brad Newley
Current NBL Stars - Kevin Lisch, Rotnei Clark, AJ Ogilvy, Damian Martin, Daniel Kickert, Thomas Abercrombie, Jason Cadee, Stephen Holt, Bryce Cotton, Chris Goulding, Mitch McCarron, Cam Gliddon
Our Finest Coaching Minds - Brian Goorjian, Joey Wright, Adrian Hurley, Aaron Fearne, Rob Beveridge, Phil Smyth, Ian Stacker, Shawn Dennis, Dean Vickerman, Trevor Gleeson, Lindsey Gaze
NBA Stars Past & Present - Matthew Dellavedova, Stephen Jackson, Randy Livingston, Torrey Craig, Acie Earl, Josh Childress, Reggie Smith, Todd Lichti
Aussie Basketballers Abroad - Ryan Broekhoff, Brock Motum, Jack White, Ben Madgen, Clint Stiendl, Ater Majok, Rhys Carter, Clint Stiendl
The NBL's Greatest Imports - Darryl McDonald, Ricky Grace, Derek Rucker, Leon Trimmingham, Scott Fisher, Lanard Copeland, Mike Mitchell, Terry Dozier, Isaac Burton, Shawn Redhage, Willie Farley, Al Green, Corey "Homicide" Williams, Andre Moore
And the men who run things - Larry Kestelman, Vince Crivelli, Jeremy Loeliger, Chuck Harmison, Jeff Van Groningen, Bob Turner
All that and much more. Follow @AussieHoopla on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and email at info@aussiehoopla.com