As a South Dragons fan, there's one thing that gets on my nerves more than anything else about the fact the club will be spending a year – at best – in exile, with the very real possibly of never returning.
It has nothing to do with Mark Cowan and how the club has handled things.
It has nothing to do with Seamus McPeake and how the Melbourne Tigers have 'dogged' their rivals once again.
It has nothing to do with (pre-Larry Sengstock) Basketball Australia and how their failure to deliver on promises forced both clubs into rebellion in the first place.
It has nothing to do with (Larry Sengstock-led) Basketball Australia and how, according to Cowan, the Dragons didn’t get any of the information – if it even existed – that was used to force the Tigers’ hand.
Rather, it is the knowledge that were the South Dragons introduced today, they would thrive.
The NBL of late 2005 – when Cowan obtained the license of the old Victoria Giants – was not ready for the vision of him and his team. Back then, the concept of reform wasn't taken anywhere near as seriously as it should've been.
The NBL was a league where clubs had to spend more money than they should to have a genuine shot at winning the championship. This was a practice that the Dragons, from the outside looking in, were reluctant to partake in.
Sure, they were big spenders. But it seemed that they’d rather get stuck into promoting their games, putting on a show to gather return visits and, more importantly, set a new benchmark for the rest of the league to follow.
You know, like Melbourne Victory did with the A-League.
But the difference between the two clubs was the environment around them. Victory’s opponents were bound by a salary cap; the Dragons’ opponents were bound by a salary cap that wasn’t policed.
Some of those opponents, for obvious reasons, weren’t profitable. And when their owners ran out of money – or, in the case of the Sydney Kings and their infamous owner Tim Johnston, out of the country – no investor wanted to touch the damn clubs.
At the same time, the Dragons languished down the bottom half of the ladder, accumulating an embarrassing number of losses. The lack of success was hurting the club.
Responsibility was eventually thrown out the window, with the Dragons belatedly joining the group of clubs with suspiciously ‘stacked’ rosters. It won them a championship from finishing last place just a season earlier.
But it was a sad consequence of how the ‘old NBL’ operated.
Any league that forces clubs to ‘sell out’ to win a championship has a serious problem. Clubs shouldn’t have to compromise on what’s best for the game just to taste success.
Thankfully, it’s all in the past.
Despite some concerns that the previous set-up was to remain, recent reports suggest there will, in fact, be a policed salary cap in the ‘new NBL’.
The clubs in the league are more committed to reform than ever, even if it will be stagnated over another thrown-together season.
With a level playing field in place and other clubs committed, the obstacles that held back the Dragons in their initial years are far less evident. The league is ready for a benchmark-setting, Dragons-like club to step in and lead the way.
You know, like Melbourne Victory did with the A-League.
Unfortunately, it seems the opposite is happening. Instead, the Dragons are being looked down on as traitors, as part of the old days where owners controlled the game and drove their own agendas.
In a way, it’s true. That does reflect how the club acted, even though my personal opinion is that BA have more to answer for in that little saga, but to only look at their recent history is to ignore all the good they had been doing for the game.
What really gets me riled is that the same people who have been looking down on the Dragons – and even though I love his work, I am thinking of Boti Nagy as I write this – are now welcoming Seamus McPeake back into the fray with open arms.
Is there anyone still involved in the game today that embodies the bad ways of the past more than McPeake?
In an ironic way, the Dragons – before the days of excessive player spending – embodied more of what basketball should aspire to than probably any of the clubs that will partake in the upcoming season.
Right now, the new league needs more South Dragons about it than some people’s pride will let on.
