Former Cairns Taipans big man Matt Smith (100 NBL games) and Aussie Hoopla's Dan Boyce discuss what's happening in Australian basketball this week.

Topics include...

• Aaron Brooks goes down and the Hawk's look set to replace him with an NBA caliber small forward if things go right (2:00)
• Replacing NBL imports best fit vs best available (10:00)
• LaMelo Ball is 9th in the league in minutes and RJ Hampton 38th in the league in minutes... why? (20:00)
• Matt tells us about the NBL team he played on with the worst record - 2004/05 New Zealand Breakers (29:00)
• The NBL generates a clear return on investment with the Next Stars program (33:00)
• A decision to bring a Tasmanian team into the NBL expected to be made within the next month or so (38:00)
• The NBL1 expands to Queensland, absorbing the QBL (45:00)
• Why Sydney won't lose, Melbourne won't make the playoffs and Cairns are overrated (54:00)

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All of this and a whole lot more...

Listen to our previous interviews with the biggest stars in Australian Basketball, head to Aussiehoopla.com. Check out previous podcasts featuring;

Australian Basketball Legends - Luc Longley, Andrew Gaze, Shane Heal, Mark Bradtke, Leroy Loggins, David Andersen, Andrew Vlahov, CJ Bruton, Chris Anstey, Brett Maher, John Rillie, Tony Ronaldson, Brad Newley

Current NBL Stars - Kevin Lisch, AJ Ogilvy, Damian Martin, Daniel Kickert, Thomas Abercrombie, Jason Cadee, Bryce Cotton, Chris Goulding, Mitch McCarron, Cam Gliddon

Our Finest Coaching Minds - Brian Goorjian, Joey Wright, Adrian Hurley, Aaron Fearne, Rob Beveridge, Phil Smyth, Ian Stacker, Shawn Dennis, Dean Vickerman, Trevor Gleeson, Lindsey Gaze, Ken Cole

NBA Stars Past & Present - Andrew Bogut, Matthew Dellavedova, Stephen Jackson, Randy Livingston, Torrey Craig, Acie Earl, Josh Childress, Reggie Smith, Todd Lichti, Ryan Broekhoff

The NBL's Greatest Imports - Darryl McDonald, Ricky Grace, Derek Rucker, Leon Trimmingham, Scott Fisher, Lanard Copeland, Mike Mitchell, Darnell Mee, Isaac Burton, Shawn Redhage, Willie Farley, Al Green, Corey "Homicide" Williams, Andre Moore, Steve Woodberry, Mike Mitchell, Dusty Rychart

And the men who run things - Larry Kestelman, Paul Maley, Vince Crivelli, Jeremy Loeliger, Chuck Harmison, Jeff Van Groningen, Bob Turner

All that and much more. Follow @AussieHoopla on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and email at [email protected]