Nelson: Facts don't back up regional NBL salary cap theory
“I think in this case, the Sharks probably have a bit of work to do to catch up with the other teams [with local player development].”
Former NBL boss Justin Nelson says the facts don’t back up the theory regional National Basketball League clubs are hindered by the current salary cap system.
And he’s also suggested the Southland Sharks has some work around its local player development in its push for long-term success in the league.
Sharks interim coach Andrew Wheeler told The Tribune this week that the league had made massive strides in recent years.
Although he confirmed that the Sharks plan to raise some concerns with NBL officials during the offseason around the salary cap system and potential tweaks they’d like to see.
It included a belief that the system aided clubs in the bigger centres, particularly the Tuatara and Bulls which are based in basketball’s biggest catchment area, Auckland.
It’s no secret the Sharks were previously one of the bigger spending teams in the league and they did so to help entice some of New Zealand’s best talent away from the bigger centres.
Nelson was the NBL general manager when each team’s salary cap was reduced to $155,000. It became harder to lure leading players out of the likes of Auckland and to Southland.
On top of that Auckland has some of the best high school talent on hand which helps to bolster roster depth with little to no impact on its salary cap. Those players are often classed as amateur players to protect their college availability.
Dontae Russo-Nance was an example of that with the Auckland Tuatara last year, and Charlie Dalton this year with the Tuatara.
Nelson - who now works with the league in his role with broadcaster Sky - said there previously had been a 250% gap between the highest spending team in the league and the lowest, before the cap was brought in.
That’s why the competitive balance system was introduced.
Nelson pointed to the fact that last year both the Taranaki Airs and Nelson Giants were part of the semifinals.
“Further to that, in 2021 under the competitive balance system, 50% of the teams that made the finals were regional based.”
“Clearly since its introduction it’s helped the regional teams. The Sharks are an anomaly.”
Nelson felt what the competitive balance system had done was put more emphasis on organisations to develop their own talent within their own region.
“If you look at some of the success of regionally based teams in recent years, for a number of those teams it has included local talent that they have developed and brought through their programme.
“I think that the Sharks would agree that’s one area that is vital for them going forward, in an exciting competitive league, is they need to find ways to develop local rising players to ensure they are part of long-term success for that organisation.”
“I think in this case, the Sharks probably have a bit of work to do to catch up with the other teams.”
The former NBL general manager does not buy into the theory that there was a barrier for those with a much smaller population base, like Southland.
“Phil Jones came out of Reefton, how many people live there? There are plenty of stars out there, you’ve just got to go and find them, unearth them, mould them, and polish them.”
“You look at some of the other regional teams, they’ve had great young talent come through the league over the past decade.”
“In this new innovative world of the NBL, it will positively push teams to do things a little bit differently. And if that includes finding and developing local talent then that’s a really good thing.”
“Look what the Giants have done. Unbelievably successful at developing long-term local talent. Have a look at that team and the players that have been local success stories.”
The Southland Sharks playoff hopes look to be all but shot after it dropped its fifth straight game on Friday night.
It went down 102-72 against the Franklin Bulls who will be part of the playoffs in 2023.
The Sharks would need to win its final two games and hope a whole heap of results go its way to snatch an unlikely top-six spot.
Southland’s final home game for 2023 will be against the Canterbury Rams at ILT Stadium in Invercargill on Thursday night.
They will finish the round-robin season against the Nelson Giants in Nelson on July 16.