Basketball New Zealand

Dillon Boucher is a finalist for the best sixth man and defensive player of the year categories (Photosport)

Four NZ Breakers have been nominated in award categories released by the Australian National Basketball League (ANBL).

Phill Jones (best sixth man), Oscar Forman (most improved), Paul Henare (best defensive player) and Dillon Boucher (best sixth man and best defensive player) all feature in the four categories announced on Wednesday.

The players nominated for the Most Improved Player, Best Sixth Man, Rookie of the Year and Best Defensive Player awards have been announced, with the eventual winners to be named during the course of the 2009 NBL Finals series.

Each of the NBL’s 10 teams was able to nominate a maximum of two players from their own roster for each of the four award categories. In all, nine players were nominated by their clubs for Rookie honours, 16 for Best Sixth Man, 17 for Best Defensive Player and 13 for Most Improved.

Voting for the award winners is currently underway, with the head coach, one assistant coach and one captain from each team having the chance to cast 3-2-1 votes for their preferred choices.

Voters are not allowed to vote for players from their own team in the final balloting process. The player who receives the highest vote total when all ballots are counted will be declared the winner.

Other awards that will be announced during the 2009 NBL Finals series include the Andrew Gaze Trophy for the ANBL’s Most Valuable Player, the All-NBL First, Second and Third Teams, Referee of the Year and the Lindsay Gaze Trophy for Coach of the Year.

The NZ Breakers play at the Melbourne Tigers in game one of the best-of-three semifinal series on Wednesday night, tip-off at 9.30pm NZ Time.

Meanwhile, tickets continue to sell quickly for Friday night’s game at the North Shore Events Centre with 303 GA tickets left at 4pm Wednesday. Tickets can be purchased from www.nzbreakers.co.nz .

2008-09 ANBL Award Nominees

Rookie of the Year

Aaron Bruce (Adelaide)
Zac Carter (Gold Coast)
Chris Goulding (Perth)
Dan Jackson (Wollongong)
Daniel Johnson (Melbourne)
Rhys Martin (Wollongong)
Adrien Sturt (Melbourne)
Stephen Weigh (Perth)
Kerry Williams (Cairns)

Best Sixth Man

Dillon Boucher (NZ)
Daryl Corletto (Melbourne)
Jeff Dowdell (Perth)
Casey Frank (Gold Coast)
Dave Gruber (Sydney)
Nathan Herbert (South)
Brad Hill (Adelaide)
Stephen Hoare (Melbourne)
Phill Jones (NZ)
Daniel Joyce (Gold Coast)
Brett Maher (Adelaide)
Anthony Petrie (Wollongong)
Dwayne Vale (Cairns)
Isiah Victor (Perth)
Kerry Williams (Cairns)
Brad Williamson (Townsville)

Defensive Player of the Year

Chris Anstey (Melbourne)
Dillon Boucher (NZ)
Mat Campbell (Wollongong)
Peter Crawford (Perth)
Ebi Ere (Melbourne)
Adam Gibson (South)
Aaron Grabau (Cairns)
Paul Henare (NZ)
Jacob Holmes (Adelaide)
Daniel Joyce (Gold Coast)
Alex Loughton (Perth)
Scott McGregor (Gold Coast)
Damian Martin (Sydney)
Darnell Mee (Cairns)
Glen Saville (Wollonong)
Jason Smith (Sydney)
Cameron Tovey (Townsville)

Most Improved Player

Michael Cedar (Townsville)
Ian Crosswhite (Cairns)
Oscar Forman (NZ)
Chris Goulding (Perth)
Aaron Grabau (Cairns)
Tommy Greer (Melbourne)
Nathan Herbert (South)
Brad Hill (Adelaide)
Daniel Joyce (Gold Coast)
Matt Knight (Sydney)
Anthony Petrie (Wollongong)
Lindsay Tait (Wollongong)
Luke Whitehead (Gold Coast)