Familiar Faces Jet Back
Tagged in: NBL
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Head coach Tim McTamney is not the only familiar face returning to the Manawatu Jets hangar for the 2008 Dominion Finance NBL.
Along with McTamney – who coached the Jets in 2000 and 2001 – the Jets will welcome back former players Kaine Hokianga, Daryl June and Miles Pearce in an effort to improve on last season’s 4-10 record, the Palmerston North franchise’s worst finish since 1999.
McTamney has also recruited a familiar face to him in American guard Kantrail Horton, who he coached at Waikato, in one of the import spots, where he will form the import tandem with fellow American Keith Davis.
Captain Stacey Lambert is the major Kiwi re-signing from a squad that has been stung by the losses of Aaron Nowell to Taranaki, Reece Cassidy to Auckland, Matt Te Huna to Wellington and veteran Rob Tuilave.
James Paringatai, Riki Dalzell, Paul Bristol and Daniel Simon also return, while the Jets have picked up the services of former Auckland Star and Nelson Giant Ben Valentine after a stint at Pikeville College in Kentucky, US.
Pearce, who did not pick up a contract in the Australian NBL this summer and will give the J-E-T-S some much-needed inside presence, played for the Jets from 2002-05 and has a career 52.5% shooting percentage, most recently with the Otago Nuggets.
June has spent seven seasons in Palmerston North from 1999-2005 in his 15-year 224-game career but sat out last season, while Hokianga returns to Manawatu after playing 2007 with the Taranaki Mountain Airs prior to four seasons with the Jets.
“So far I’m very pleased,” said McTamney, who lead the Jets to dual fifth-place finishes and a 17-15 overall record in his previous two seasons in Palmerston North.
“I’ve been associated with a number of teams so I’ve had a few pre-seasons and this has been as good as any. I’ve got a group of guys that are very coachable.
“We’re trying to develop a different culture within the Jets organisation and the Franchise Management Services (which operate the Jets and Youngheart Manawatu) are doing a good job of that with the administration side.”
McTamney will be assisted by another former Jet Simon Mori and part-way through the season by Gerald Cox, an American from Coastal Georgia Community College, where McTamney spent some time. McTamney won an NBL winners medal as Kenny Stone’s assistant with the Auckland Stars in 2004, coached Waikato to the semifinals in 2005 and has a .457 winning percentage.
The Jets ease their way into the season, with three of their first four games at home, before four of five on the road in April and four of six back at Arena Manawatu in May.
Pearce will arrive next week, Davis the last week in February and Horton, who will join Lambert, June and Hokianga in the leadership group, is not expected until early March.
The late arrivals were not a major for McTamney as Manawatu have the bye in rounds one and two – not playing their season-opener until March 14 – and he has had the bulk of the squad together training for weeks.
“We’re making no secret in that we’re asking our guys to be exceptionally smart basketball players. We want it to be our point of difference.
“We don’t have the budget that other teams have but we’re happy with the people we’ve signed.
“We feel like we’ve got the right talent for the systems and the right systems for the talent. We’ve looked as much at people with character as people with talent.
“It would be foolish of us to start thinking about wins and losses at the moment. We’ve got a lot to do yet but I’m pretty confident we can be a much improved team from last season.”
Manawatu Jets
2007: ninth (4-14) in regular season
Coach: Tim McTamney
Assistant coach: Simon Mori
Imports: Kantrail Horton (USA), Keith Davis (USA)
Returning: Stacey Lambert, Daniel Simon, James Paringatai, Paul Bristol, Riki Dalzell
Additions: Horton, Davis, Miles Pearce, Kaine Hokianga, Daryl June, Ben Valentine, Ryan Twist, Dan Peck
Losses: Aaron Nowell, Rob Tuilave, Brandon Payton, Josh Goodwin, Matt Te Huna, Reece Cassidy
