Furnace Heat-ing Up
Tagged in: NBL
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Heading into the playoffs last June, the Appliance Shed Harbour Heat were thinking of the franchise’s first National Basketball League title and as regular season champions with a 14-4 record and home advantage, rightfully so.
Then an 85-76 semifinal loss to the Easy LPG Bay Hawks busted up those championship day-dreams.
Maintaining their core – including Australian imports Oscar Forman and Tim Behrendorff and point guard Hayden Allen – the Heat re-tooled in the off-season and added a new coach in former Junior Tall Blacks coach Tony Webster for a shot at the 2008 Dominion Finance NBL trophy.
Swingman Brent Charleton and guard Nat Connell migrated South for the winter, joining the Cartridge World Otago Nuggets, while head coach John Dorge was their only other major roster loss.
The signing of Harvey Norman NZ Breakers forward Mika Vukona from the CPS Nelson Giants and addition of BJ Anthony and Sefo Leusogi-Ape, from the Youthtown Auckland Stars, to join Heat returnees Daryl Cartwright, Jarrod Kenny, Dan Ryan, Mike Dawson, Allen, Forman and Behrendorff, has seen Harbour again form a squad capable of making a run at the title.
“We’re excited about the season,” said Harbour Basketball CEO John Hunt.
“The guys feel like there’s a little bit of unfinished business. We won the regular season but lost in the semifinals. We got beaten by a better team but in the changing rooms after the game they were thinking ‘we beat them home and away, how did this happen?’.
“We’re thrilled with the squad. We feel it’s a stronger team than last year. We’ve lost Brent and Nat to Otago but getting Mika and BJ will make us better.
“We’re thrilled that Tony Webster’s the coach. He was assistant with John Dorge last year and he’s coached in the league before, plus he’s always wanted to coach Harbour.
“We’ve had scrimmages against Auckland and Waikato and the guys have dealt with them, albeit bench on bench. But we feel we’ve got a very strong bench.”
The Heat made a couple of late additions to their squad in Australians Blake Truslove and Jonathan Shepherd.
Truslove, who has dual-citizenship, will play in the Heat orange-and-black for the first month of the season, giving them needed height as he prepares for a season in the ABA in Adelaide.
Shepherd, who works on the North Shore and trialed for the Breakers two seasons ago, was signed as an import as insurance if Forman and Behrendorff were not available in the early rounds. He will stay on the roster but will only play if Forman or Behrendorff go down with an injury.
That has been the case with Allen, who is likely to miss the first two rounds with an injury sustained during the Australian NBL season with the Singapore Slingers, with Kenny taking over the point guard duties.
Harbour has also included three 19-year-old rookies – Anthony, Brandon Brighouse and Ezra Fantl, both Auckland Grammar products – to their balanced roster. Anthony, the son of NBL legend and current Stars assistant coach Ben Anthony and a former Junior Tall Black, stands 1.96m and is an exciting prospect for Webster, whose previous NBL coaching stint with Auckland in 1990-91 yielded a 4-40 record and 9.1 winning percentage.
“Mika, in scrimmages, is definitely going to know he’s got a big body on him. He’s quick and agile, but maybe does need to work on his conditioning,” Hunt said of Anthony.
“The Furnace”, the Heat’s home court at the North Shore Events Centre, will host the NBL season-opener on Thursday night, when the Century City Wellington Saints visit the Northside. The Heat play four of five to start at home – the other game being the Battle of the Bridge against Auckland – before playing five of six on the road in April.
Appliance Shed Harbour Heat
2007: Beaten semifinalists, first (14-4) in regular season
Coach: Tony Webster
Imports: Oscar Forman (AUS), Tim Behrendorff (AUS), Jonathan Shepherd (AUS)
Returning: Forman, Behrendorff, Dan Ryan, Hayden Allen, Daryl Cartwright, Michael Dawson, Jarrod Kenny
Additions: Mika Vukona (Nelson), Shepherd, BJ Anthony, Brandon Brighouse, Ezra Fantl, Sefo Leusogi-Ape (Auckland), Blake Truslove
Losses: Brent Charleton (Otago), Nat Connell (Otago), Rory Fannon, Warrick Siddall, Sasha Tasevski, John Dorge (coach)
