10 ways to a great NBL start this season

The National Basketball League (NBL) is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in Australia and New Zealand. The league was founded in 1979 and is currently contested by nine teams; eight from Australia and one from New Zealand.

Almost all is in readiness for the new NBL season. There has been plenty to get excited about. it's no surprise the signing of new referee boss Alby Joseph slipped under the radar, even if there was some controversy that Joseph lacks experience refereeing at the NBL level. Unfortunately, last season things dropped away, with focuses like finishing inside broadcast windows and the obsession with flopping detracting from gains made in 2013/14. This is the NBL's chance to get back into favour as an entertainment product, and for that to happen, skilful and athletic players must be allowed to shine.

Here goes  the 10 kick-ass suggestions:

1. Give offense the required space - An offense is the methods to score baskets and get open shots against your opponent.If you want players to show off their skills you have to respect their cylinder. NBL defenders are expert at initiating contact to put their opponent on the back foot once they've caught the ball, making it hard to drive. Crack down on defenders who initiate contact - by enforcing a gap between the player with the ball and his defender - and we'll get a better show.
2. Give the defense a chance - If you don't have a good stance, you won't have a good defensive slide, and you'll constantly be out of position and off-balance. This was a big weakness of the 2013/14 crackdown, resulting in quality big men sitting due to foul trouble when all they'd done was play positional defense.
3. Protect the elevating player - In the NBL, when an offensive player elevates to the basket and contact is made to a grounded player, it is basically called either a charge or a no-call. Hence you need to be aware of  defenders who establish position after their opponent has left the ground. Call those as blocking fouls and watch the athletes attack the basket more.
4. Make defenders earn charges - Balance is the key to a great defensive stance and guarding the ball. If the offensive player hasn't taken the defender's ground - that is they've met at the point the defender is located - then put the onus on them to play like men and hold their ground.
5. Respect the grey area –This dosent mean that you should call unnecessary technical     fouls. In other instances, where there is contact but not enough to warrant a charge, let the play go on. The defender who didn't hold his ground will then be punished by being out of the contest.
6. Allow the aerial contest - There are few things more exciting than athletes skying for rebounds. Unfortunately, in the 2013/14 crackdown contact in these situations was whistled tightly, even if the contact was incidental. Let the big men fly for rebounds, and only whistle fouls if they initiate contact to get an unfair advantage to grab the basketball, not if two bodies collide in mid-air.
7. Don't punish the stronger man -Too often fouls are called on bigs because their size and strength knocks a smaller opponent over. Referees must assess the technical element of what happened, not the reaction.
8. Punish the grappler - The NBL is famous for players being able to grapple off the ball. The key here is allowing positional physicality by established bodies, but punishing those who grapple with their arms to prevent an opponent going where they want. Again, punish defenders who initiate contact.
9. Let the open court flow - Traditionally NBL refs have been great at judging when to pay advantage in open play, but since the recent crackdown the whistles have been going off on intentional open-court fouls to slow a fast-break, even when the contact hasn't impacted the offensive player. Fans want to see open-court play, so take the time to assess if that foul needs to be called.
10. Hold the whistle - And that, of course, means holding the whistle a moment. The best refs do this - whether it be in the open court or on a blocked shot - instead of blowing quickly thanks to adrenaline and then regretting a bad call moments later. Fans, coaches and players want the right call, even if it is a little late.