oz leagues has a rule where only those players who turned up to at least half the regular season games could qualify in the playoff finals...ie if there are 8 regular season games, to be eligible for the playoffs, players must have played at least 4 regular season games. actually, turning up is not enough, the player must be seen as active in the score sheet...meaning he must at least score or foul in each of those min no of games.
i think that is the blanket rule for all of oz as set out by Basketball Aus (the BBL equivalent) to prevent "contract" players turning up just in big games. dunno if that can be applied in the leagues here. although maybe the minimum no of games can be cut from half to a third or quarter of games.
now, regarding the MVP. back in oz the two referees at the end of each game nominates who they think are the three best players. top player gets 3pts, next best 2pts and 3rd best 1pt. this is tabulated at the end of the regular season...player with the highest accumulated total of points at the end of the regular season gets MVP. this doesnt have to be done by referees...can be done by officials on the scorer's bench. straight and simple process.
and please note, this is not just MVP. it's best and fairest! so those with unsportsmanlike foul and fighting record to their name (just for that particular season) is out of the MVP race.
the MVP voting by the panel or referees could end up being a bit more balanced as players are judged every game rather than just one or two. prob give those good players in the bottom-half-of-the-table teams some recognition.
PSUK have set a rule that only registered players for the start of the season can play games, thus stopping the addition of players toward the playsoffs/finals.
I think the MPV idea is good but perhaps the officals could also partake in scoring players as they have a better view of the game and also have the stat sheets which can also help.
I would suggest that there should also be a rule where any players that foul out 3 times will miss a game.
Also making sure that not the same refs. are used for every game with the same teams as this should avoid other obvious problems
