There's been a lot of buzz since the consortium behind the Southern Huskies released marketing material for their proposed NBL team which featured team branding, uniforms and plans for the expansion and update of the Derwent Entertainment Center.

The team still has a number of things it needs to tick off before officially gaining an NBL licence so we reached out to the two men behind the Southern Huskies, David Bartlett, the 43rd premier of Tasmania and current president of the Hobart Chargers basketball club and Justin Hickey, Entrepreneur and former Hobart Devil himself.

We go in-depth with the proposed financial plan for the team and find out what do they have to do next to get approval from the NBL to become the league's tenth team.

Topics discussed on the podcast include;

• What does the team behind the Southern Huskies think about feedback towards their NBL proposal (2:00)
• The growth of basketball in Tasmania (8:00)
• What work is left in order to get the team into the NBL (10:00)
• What improvements are planned for the Derwent Centre prior to launching the team (13:00)
• Any plans to bring a WNBL team to Tasmania or a netball down the track? (16:00)
• Why Southern, Why Huskies and more importantly why not the "Hobart Devils" (17:00)
• They say Tasmania can't have a professional sports team because it will never be financially viable, why is this going to work? (24:00)
• Will the team get local TV stations to broadcast NBL games? (28:00)
• What players and coaches are they hoping to sign for the 2019-20 season? (30:00)
• The NBL divide and why the Huskies business plan could save Australian Basketball (31:00)
• What are the reasons why Larry Kestelman and the NBL would say no to bringing in the Southern Huskies (38:00)

All of this and a whole lot more...

Listen to the full interview below or download on iTunes.

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, Andrew Vlahov, CJ Bruton, Chris Anstey, Brett Maher, John Rillie, Tony Ronaldson, Brad Newley

Current NBL Stars - Kevin Lisch, Rotnei Clark, AJ Ogilvy, Damian Martin, Daniel Kickert, Thomas Abercrombie, Jason Cadee, Stephen Holt, 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

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

Aussie Basketballers Abroad - Ryan Broekhoff, Brock Motum, Jack White, Ben Madgen, Clint Stiendl, Ater Majok, Rhys Carter, Clint Stiendl

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

And the men who run things - Larry Kestelman, 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]