Many others are lured to basketball from a boyhood fantasy via the boardroom.

That might have played a small part in Hickey fulfilling a vacancy in the Tasmanian basketball market.

The principle Huskies owner walked off the floor and into the world of digital marketing and advertising.

Juggling a handful of online companies has left Hickey with deep pockets to bankroll Tasmania into the New Zealand NBL this year.

But long before the new Southern-turns-Tasmanian Huskies were even an afterthought, a 15-year-old Hickey once lined up for SEABL club Hobart Hornets.

"I think I was the youngest player ever in the league," he says, "but I also had a year off in year 12 because I had to concentrate on study."

The Hornets originally had been Hobart's 1981 basketball incarnation before the Hobart Tassie Devils arrived on the NBL scene two years later.

Hickey joined the defunct club that later evolved into the Hobart Chargers amid a final stint from 1990 to 1996.

The handy forward made it onto the Devils' roster.

But the club was forced to disband - at the same time as the Hornets - when the NBL revoked three licences including that of Geelong and the Gold Coast.

"I do remember when they got kicked out," Hickey says. "I even remember our midweek meeting when [coach] Billy Tomlinson came in and said, 'it's all over, this will be our last couple of weeks'."

Hickey's tall frame led to back problems and his time on the court dissipated.

It didn't hold back the longtime sea-lover who grew up within earshot of the Sydney-to-Hobart finish line to take up professional sailing for the next decade.

But the call to guide the rise of Tasmanian basketball was too strong to ignore.

Now Hickey wants to do it entirely different to the Hornets, Chargers and Devils - or really, most other Australian clubs.

Sustainability is a phrase co-owner Mike Sutton and he continually talk about.

"What it actually stemmed from was the fact that a lot of teams come and go over the years in that Tasmanian market," Hickey says.

"If you want a national team and you want it to be around for a long time past when you and I are dead and buried, you need to have a sustainable business model that can be passed on.

"My opinion is that there is not $5 million in the market in Tassie to run an NBL side unless you own your own stadium, you can control your own food and beverage, and your own your ticketing system - and that's the reason I sort of got involved to do that.

"I don't think unless that happens, it's sustainable."

That plan has sort of hit a snag since Larry Kestelman strode into town to negotiate with Glenorchy City Council to buy out the Derwent Entertainment Centre.

The NBL boss had put the stops on the admission of the Huskies this season, instead favouring a second Melbourne team out of its south-eastern suburbs.

But Hickey is not put off by the hiccup, knowing that it is only a matter of time before the state gets the nod.

"This whole thing with Larry coming down, wanting government money for the DEC and all that sort of stuff, that's still great," he says.

"But the whole reason behind doing all this was entry into the NBL, but by doing it in a sustainable way. That really hasn't changed."

That had left Hickey to strike a deal with the New Zealand NBL.

One year into a five-year commitment, the move into a winter competition has been given a big thumbs up.

The Huskies had finished mid-table - fifth in the nine-team competition - failing to beat anyone above them, but conquering all below.

"We sort of wanted to crawl before we could walk before we could run - and that's what the NZNBL does offer for us," Hickey says.

"You only have to look at the players that are coming...like at Wellington and Southland, they are full of Australian NBL talent and even international talent.

"This year there has been more talent that has hit the Tasmanian shores than there has in more than 20 years."

The Huskies did arrive with little fanfare. Dwindling home crowds pointed to the fact - not helped at Launceston's Silverdome by a Mother's Day debut followed by next game on federal election night. But, eventually, numbers grew.

"I have made plenty of mistakes this year," Hickey says, "but you don't learn from wins - you learn from losses and mistakes in life."

Hickey won't apologise for the new club's bullish ways.

The ongoing vision will have a Tasmanian heart and soul that resonates with fans.

"Moving into next season, I'd expect it'll be a lot more streamline," Hickey says.

"I think we're going to put on a better product for lesser money because we know what to do and who best to deal with and that sort of stuff, so away we go.

"If you want to have a team in the Australian NBL, it has to be a Tasmanian team owned by a proud Tasmanian - or a group of us.

"That's just my thoughts, otherwise it's just another North Melbourne-Hawthorn [football] arrangement."