The Ballarat Miners and Rush will likely go into their 2021 NBL1 South season without the aid of any imports. This follows a 2020 year which was cancelled due to COVID-19.
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Basketball Ballarat Director of Coaching and Miners head coach Brendan Joyce says one of the biggest reasons for moving away from imports is the unknown of the coronavirus going forward.
"The biggest factor in not going with the imports is the unpredictability of what's going on. With all of this uncertainty, realistically we're trying to sign our Australian players [because] they become even more valuable," he said.
COVID-19 and budget restrictions have also forced some clubs in the league, like Ballarat, to refrain from recruiting imports, turning their attention to local talent to fill their rosters.
Joyce says that second-tier competitions like the NBL1 are finding it increasingly difficult to sign players from overseas as they are not viewed as a priority.
"They're prioritizing the top level athletes, we're seen as the next level down, so they're not prioritizing us, that's why we struggle to get imports at the moment, combined with the travel rules," he said.
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Those players that decided to stay in Australia throughout 2020 instead of heading home are being signed by NBL1 clubs with no restrictions or isolation costs to worry about. However Joyce says their asking price is rising due to the high demand for their services.
"I know Geelong's picked up an import that was previously a really good player with Kilsyth. What's happening is obviously the cost is going up because ... of the unavailability and the unpredictability, so anyone who is here, they're getting pretty good offers," he said.
Joyce says more local players will now have the chance to showcase their abilities with more roster spots and potentially more playing time available.
"With some teams there's opportunities there for that local talent to be put into teams that probably wouldn't normally be put into teams obviously with the restrictions," he said.
The 2021 NBL1 South season will kick off in mid-April, with the NBL set to release a fixture in the next week.
