It is hard to imagine one without the other.
After a decade of struggling in the NBL the Otago Nuggets reached a new low both on and off the court this year.
The brutal reality is the Nuggets' record of 2-16 was a fair reflection of their talent, and their fourth consecutive wooden spoon just reward for a pitiful season.
But there was some cause for optimism before the competition tipped off.
The Nuggets had a busy off-season recruiting, signing Harbour Heat pair Nat Connell and Brent Charleton and American forward Jamal Livingston.
With former Junior Tall Blacks Cowan Finch and Darryl Jones, Jamie Blake and Shaun Tilby returning, and back-up centre Jason Greig back from a 12-month break, the Nuggets, arguably, boasted its strongest line-up in some time.
That hope proved short-lived.
The season began unravelling immediately, with Finch pulling out and Livingston pursuing more lucrative opportunities.
Fellow American Rahsaan Smith replaced Livingston.
The legit seven-footer (2.1m) talked a great game and even told the Otago Daily Times he was 30 years old, when he was actually 34.
But Smith was soon exposed in the league and jettisoned after just two matches.
That triggered a reshuffling of the roster.
American guard Lemar Gayle joined the team to help solve the Nuggets' scoring problems, and fellow import Jay Anderson had to shift from the fringe of the circle to banging bodies in the paint.
The pleasant but weedy 26-year-old from Minnesota was out of his element on the inside and, while he performed admirably for the franchise, no longer fitted the mix.
His replacement, Antoine Tisby, gave the Nuggets a much-needed presence on the inside.
In his first game against the Hawkes Bay Hawks, "Tis" scored 23 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and quickly established himself as one of the competition's leading players.
He took the rebounding title and was also one of the league's leading scorers.
Gayle, too, had an excellent beginning, scoring 50 points in his first two outings and he also grabbed his share of boards.
It is hard to fault his on-court production, with a return of 377 points and 109 rebounds from 14 matches.
But off the court, the Californian criticised coach Don Sims and his team-mates in a public outburst and had trouble fitting in.
He quit with just two matches remaining, after the franchise fined him $500 for inappropriate behaviour.
Midway through the season Connell and Steve Robinson returned positive tests for cannabis and were suspended for six weeks.
With Connell gone the Nuggets lost their captain, starting point guard and one of their most experienced players.
Former NBL rookie of the year Tilby shouldered the point duties but promising youngster James Ross emerged as a better option late in the season.
Aside from Tisby's consummate performances, the development of the Nuggets' younger players was one of the few entries on the positive side of the ledger.
Tom Allan, Tom Rowe, Josh O'Connell and Ross all gained valuable experience but are still two or three years away from making an impact in the league.
Their efforts gave Sims cause for optimism.
The American would like to return to lead the Nuggets in 2009, but only on his terms.
He has asked Basketball Otago for a two or four-year extension so he can build a programme capable of reaching the play-offs and even win a title.
But if you judge a coach by whether he got the best out of his players, then he has room to improve.
Blake, Jones and Tilby were the only survivors from 2007 and under Sims the trio went backwards.
However, some of the players who Sims could rightly expect more from delivered very little.
Charleton was perhaps the biggest disappointment.
He arrived in Dunedin with big raps and was expected to be one of the Nuggets go-to players.
But he struggled to find his range and shied away from putting up more shots as his confidence waned.
Jones' fourth year with the Nuggets yielded modest returns and Blake and Tilby often found themselves watching from the bench.
