Basketball: Aussie eligibility a plus: Dickel

New Zealand's National Basketball League is safe, and the eligibility of Kiwis to play in the Australian competition should be encouraged, not feared, according to leading point guard Mark Dickel.

Dickel has just finished a successful season with the Victorian Titans in Australia and will soon head to the United States to again try out for the NBA, the top professional league in the world.

From the next Australian season, played over summer, New Zealanders will be classified as locals and some are expected to be picked up by Australian clubs.

Officials here fear a diluting of the NBL, but Dickel said there was an upside.

He said only three or four Kiwis would initially be joining himself and Tony Rampton (Cairns) at Australian clubs.

"It's only good. I don't think there'll ever be an issue of losing too many players [to affect the NBL]," he said.

"It's not going to be a situation where there's suddenly 30 players over here. The Australian teams, even the poorer ones, are very deep. There's just not that many spots.

"Players aspiring to make it, I think ... is more important. It shouldn't be a thing of 'how's New Zealand going to cope?' It's going to help New Zealand.

"The league is significantly better [than New Zealand] but once you get playing in it your own level of play lifts."

The other positive spin-off, he said, was that it provided a career path of sorts for young New Zealanders.

Dickel returns home for a Tall Blacks camp with new coach Tab Baldwin this month. He's keen to improve performances when the team compete in the Goodwill Games and then against Australia.

"I felt we could have done so much better," Dickel said of the Olympics, where the Kiwis only just avoided the wooden spoon.

"With the team we had we could have won more matches. I'm definitely looking for a huge improvement. I feel we can win games and do really well."

Australia are regrouping with the retirements of playmakers Andrew Gaze and Shane Heal and a new coaching regime.

"If we really come together to play well there's no reason why we can't do very well," Dickel said.

"I don't think there's any doubt this will be our best opportunity. We've got so many guys playing overseas and standing out."

- NZPA