The Queensland Reds are in a bad way.

But at least no matter how awful this Super 14 season becomes – and it does threaten to become truly awful – they are certain to be around next season.

The same cannot be said for the Brisbane Bullets, whose connection with ABC’s Eddy Groves brought a title after a 20-year wait in 2007 but could yet bring about their demise.

Things haven’t been well in the National Basketball League for years, but this year is proving to be the most difficult of all.

NBL CEO Chuck Harmison early last week said that “it’s the victim of a pretty horrendous train crash”.

The Bullets being on the brink of a financial collapse as Groves’ wealth deteriorates is just another bad news story the NBL didn’t need.

The competition has a side in Singapore which has been an experiment which just hasn’t worked but that is almost being forgotten as at least three other of its more established clubs run into money woes.

If you tuned into game one of the NBL grand final series on Wednesday night expecting to see a full house because this was the sport’s showpiece game, you would have been excused for wondering if you’d switched your TV on at the wrong time.

The Sydney Kings and Melbourne Tigers were on court but there were as many empty seats as filled ones, even though there was a giant curtain blocking off one large segment of the Sydney Entertainment Centre.

The crowd was around the 3000 mark – around the same number as you get to some Sunshine Coast schoolboy rugby deciders.

It was an embarrassment and another sign that people in Australia’s biggest city do not give a hoot about the Kings anymore.

They also do not care about the West Sydney Razorbacks, who reportedly are on the move from their Homebush venue to a smaller gym in Penrith next season.

Like the Bullets, the Wollongong Hawks are a founding member of the NBL and their future is under another of the many clouds that hang over basketball in this country.

It’s difficult to argue against the suggestion that the sport is now entrenched as a member of a minority club in Australia.

It’s still popular in places like Townsville, Cairns and Adelaide, but that’s not enough to feel encouraged about its short-term future.

Bullets supporters would claim the game is still popular in Brisbane, but if you compare the crowds turning up at the Convention Centre to what they used to get at Boondall, and to what the Queensland Roar draws for A-League games at Suncorp, you wouldn’t be quickly parting with your cash if you were an investor.

The Bullets need Groves to find a way out of his financial stress as much as the Reds need a win.