| 2016 New Zealand NBL season | |
| League: | New Zealand NBL |
| Sport: | Basketball |
| Duration: | 10 March – 4 June |
| No Of Games: | 18 |
| No Of Teams: | 7 |
| Season: | Regular season |
| Minor Premiers: | Canterbury Rams |
| Mvp: | McKenzie Moore (Canterbury Rams) |
| Mvp Link: | New Zealand NBL Most Valuable Player Award |
| Top Scorer: | Eric Devendorf (Super City Rangers) |
| Top Scorer Link: | New Zealand NBL Scoring Champion |
| Finals: | Final Four |
| Finals Champ: | Wellington Saints |
| Finals Runner-Up: | Super City Rangers |
| Finals Mvp: | Tai Wesley |
| Finals Mvp Link: | New Zealand NBL Finals Most Valuable Player Award |
| Seasonslistnames: | New Zealand NBL |
| Prevseason Link: | 2015 New Zealand NBL season |
| Prevseason Year: | 2015 |
| Nextseason Link: | 2017 New Zealand NBL season |
| Nextseason Year: | 2017 |
The 2016 NBL season was the 35th season of the National Basketball League. The league's team total dropped to an all-time low for the 2016 season, with the departure of the Manawatu Jets leaving the competition with seven teams.[1] [2] [3]
The 2016 pre-season tournament was held at the Te Rauparaha Arena in Porirua from Friday 26 February through Sunday 28 February.[4] The four-team event featured the Canterbury Rams (2–1), Nelson Giants (3–0), Wellington Saints (0–3) and a Porirua invitational team (1–2).[5] [6] [7] The regular season commenced on Thursday 10 March in Wellington with the Wellington Saints hosting the Super City Rangers at TSB Bank Arena. The season contained 12 weeks of regular season games and a Final Four series on Queens' Birthday weekend in June.[8] As the only team based north of Hawke's Bay, the Rangers utilised two new 'home' venues around the Upper North Island, Te Awamutu and Whangarei, providing increased exposure for elite basketball in that area of the country.
The regular season concluded with the Rams earning a playoff berth for the first time since 2002 and their first minor premiership since 1993,[9] [10] while the Hawks recorded their first winless season in franchise history and joined the 1998 Northland Suns, 2009 Taranaki Mountainairs, 2010 Otago Nuggets and 2015 Taranaki Mountainairs as the only sides in NBL history to go an entire season without a win.[11]
For the first time in the competition's history, Invercargill hosted the Final Four weekend, with the semifinals on Friday 3 June, followed by the championship game on Saturday 4 June.[12] [13]
| Team | City | Arena | Colours | Head Coach | Import | Import |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canterbury Rams | Christchurch | Cowles Stadium |  Mark Dickel |  Justin Graham | McKenzie Moore | |
| Hawke's Bay Hawks | Napier | Pettigrew Green Arena | Kirstin Daly-Taylor | Kareem Johnson | Chris Porter | |
| Nelson Giants | Nelson | Trafalgar Centre | Tim Fanning | Raymond Cowels | Ben Strong | |
| Southland Sharks | Invercargill | Stadium Southland | Judd Flavell |  Nick Kay | Mitch Norton | |
| Super City Rangers | Auckland | AUT North Shore | Jeff Green | Eric Devendorf | Terrence Roberts | |
| Taranaki Mountainairs | New Plymouth | TSB Stadium | Ross McMains | Marcus Johnson | Daniel Miller | |
| Wellington Saints | Wellington | TSB Bank Arena | Kevin Braswell | Torrey Craig | Bryan Davis | |
| Team | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 13 | 5 | |
| 2 | 13 | 5 | |
| 3 | 11 | 7 | |
| 4 | 9 | 9 | |
| 5 | 9 | 9 | |
| 6 | 8 | 10 | |
| 7 | 0 | 18 | |
| Round | Player | Team | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [14] | ||
| 2 | [15] | ||
| 3 | [16] | ||
| 4 | [17] | ||
| 5 | [18] | ||
| 6 | [19] | ||
| 7 | [20] | ||
| 8 | [21] | ||
| 9 | [22] | ||
| 10 | [23] [24] | ||
| 11 | [25] | ||
| 12 | [26] | ||
Stats as of the end of the regular season[27]
| Category | Player | Team | Stat | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points per game | 25.8 | |||
| Rebounds per game | 11.4 | |||
| Assists per game | 8.2 | |||
| Steals per game | 3.4 | |||
| Blocks per game | 1.9 |