As the National Basketball season is about to tip-off, the league and its teams have done a better job than ever of embracing the power of technology in spreading the word about their opening clashes. In the near future, we will be analysing the social media presences of each team (twitter, facebook, website etc), but today, take a look at some of the television advertisements that are pulling the fans in.

NBL Season Launch: "It Goes Off"

(A longer version of this commercial, with player footage, can be found at this nbl.com.au link)

The Sydney Kings are back.

But then again, you already knew that. The biggest story in the lead-up to the 2010/11 National Basketball League season has been the return of the team from Australia's biggest city. Everything has been said about basketball in Sydney -- it is vital to the success of the league... it will never work... it needs to have star players... the franchise enjoys favouritism from the league office...

The reality is, the veracity of all of those assertions will not be proven until the team gets out on the court. That return to the court is all that really matters right now, refueling a fan base that has been without their team for far too long.

The 2010/11 NBL season tipoff is just around the corner, with the Kings resuming their rivalry with the Melbourne Tigers on opening night -- 15 October, 2010 in Melbourne. Rising from the ashes of the recent failings of the Kings' franchise, a set of old hands (led by Bob Turner) have returned to the fold to bring back the glory days of Sydney Kings basketball at the Kingdome.

In an attempt to revive the good times, many lessons have been learnt and much of history has been brought back into play. The stadium is the same (the Sydney Entertainment Centre), the approach to marketing the team is much the same (a focus on the grassroots and providing an entertainment experience on game night) and a few of the old players are the same (the likes of Luke Martin, Ben Knight and Graeme Dann all have a history in Kings' colours).

Less than a week ago, the National Basketball League launched its new television advertising campaign to promote the commencement of the 2010/11 NBL season. The campaign features an amusing, irreverent and ultimately surprisingly controversial commercial. The spot shows a number of stars from across the league infiltrating a family home to presumably portray the message that the NBL is entering your household in a big way.

Sounds smart. Sounds innovative. Sounds good -- right?

Well, according to a few former league legends, the answer is no. Leroy Loggins, Cal Bruton and Darryl McDonald claim that the ad is tainted by racism, as it shows American import Taj McCullough jumping into bed with a married couple.

The National Basketball League has announced that tickets are now on sale for the return of the Top End Challenge pre-season tournament in Darwin. The tourney will run from 28 September until 2 October. All nine NBL teams (including the newly returned Sydney Kings) will take part, as will the Darwin Airport Resort All-Stars.

The objective is to get the Brisbane Bullets back into the National Basketball League for the 2011-12 season. And club legend, Leroy Loggins is the man driving the bid.

A founding member of the NBL, the Bullets stood the test of 29 years before collapsing under the disaster that was then-owner Eddy Groves' financial difficulties. Basketball in Brisbane has the history and supporter base to theoretically be once again a force in the NBL, but can Leapin' Leroy lead them back into the competition?

Ricky Grace, a legend of the Perth Wildcats and a former Australian Boomer, will be inducted into the Basketball Australia Hall of Fame.

Basketball Australia has released invitations for the Australian Basketball Hall of Fame & World Championships Dinner, to be held on Wednesday 18 August, 2010 in Melbourne. If you're interested in celebrating the likes of Ricky Grace being inducted into the Hall, along with the other 2010 inductees, as well as sending off the Boomers and Opals to the World Championships in style, then click on the invite below to enlarge.

Australian basketball is attempting to go through a renewal phase -- a return to glory. Basketball Australia and the NBL have put numerous plans in place to bring the fans back and re-create those amazing 1990s. Quite a few of the NBL's member teams are doing their best to follow suit. In terms of online content, the Wollongong Hawks certainly have to be right at the top of the heap.

This week the Hawks have launched a Hawks History website. The site houses a remarkable collection of photos, videos and news archives and encourages fans to contribute their own pieces of Hawks history.

There is a whole stack of people behind the contributions to this site, not the least being Joel Armstrong and Mili Simic, both of whom do a great job with keeping the good times rolling at the Hawks' main website.

Make sure you check out Hawks History and add any relics of your own.

(image credit: Roy C Arneman)

The Australian Institute of Sport has just named Ian Stacker as the Head Coach of their Men's program. He come into the role as a highly respected nurturer of young basketball talent, with well-regarded technical skills.

Stacker has been known to rub some people in the Australian basketball fraternity the wrong way, but clearly politics did not get in the way in this instance.

One area in particular that Stacker can no doubt help young Aussie players with is career progression. Clearly in recent years, the decisions of promising young Australian basketballers have been varied and questionable. The decision-making process on whether to attend College in the States, play in Europe or the NBL and when to nominate for the NBA Draft has been a contentious one for many. Some young Boomers have been successful in their progression to the NBA, whilst the timing of others' choices could be second-guessed with 20-20 hindsight.

The Eagle has landed. Former Winthrop Eagle, Taj McCullough, that is.

(As corny headlines go, that would be a great one for the papers to run with -- you can have that one for free, guys.)

Today the Sydney Kings introduced 24-year old forward McCullough to the Sydney media. He does not enter the country as a total stranger, having played in Israel with fellow new King, Julian Khazzouh.

The pair, forming a front-line with import Rod Grizzard, will likely be the most productive segment in the Kings' lineup. And McCullough had plenty of good things to say about the move, as persuaded by his big man, Khazzouh: