Basketball New Zealand

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Wellington Saints import Nick Horvath (Photosport)

Century City Wellington Saints import Nick Horvath is a surprise entry to the NZ Tall Black trials, beginning Monday in Auckland.

New Tall Black coach Nenad Vucinic has ordered the three regional trials to assess the talent available before selecting his roster for the FIBA Oceania showdown with Australia in August for a spot at next year’s Beijing Olympics.

Horvath won’t be in action in Auckland – he has registered for the Palmerston North trial on April 15 – but has applied for NZ citizenship and wants to be considered for national team selection.

As a naturalised player, the American centre would have to compete with incumbent Casey Frank for the one spot available under FIBA regulations.

A total of 57 players have enlisted for the trials, but they do not include many of those who attended the FIBA World Championships in Japan last year.

This is Vucinic’s first official act as head coach after serving as Baldwin’s assistant since 2001.

“We want to see who are putting their hands up for the Tall Blacks and the NZ Universities team, as well as introduce initial aspects of the system to the players,” he says.

“It is a different system that uses parts of what Tab and I created over the past five years. It still requires the same amount of intelligence, execution and toughness from players.

“As a coach, I have to stamp my own style on the team, but the good thing is I have been part of the programme for some time and although this is a new system, players would be used to many things within it.”

None of last year’s world championship roster have signaled their unavailability and Vucinic is hopeful of attracting NBA veteran Sean Marks back into the team.

With Horvath poised to challenge for inclusion and several youngsters pushing their claims through the Dominion Finance NBL, competition will be hot for places in the squad.

“I hope it will be the most difficult team Tall Black team ever to be picked,” says Vucinic. “It is obvious that some very, very good players will miss out on the team.

“That’s tough, but a great situation to be in.”

Players attending the trials in Auckland (April 9), Palmerston North (April 15) and Nelson (May 12) are …

Auckland
Hayden Allen, BJ Anthony, Dillon Boucher, Riley Carter, Daryl Cartwright, Brent Charleton, Wai Cheung, Josh Clark, David Clarke, Rory Fannon, Casey Frank, Ben Hill, Mike Homik, Jarrod Kenny, Dale-Jay Koia, Charlie Piho, Warrick Siddall, Dale Sutton, Lindsay Tait, Tony Wallbutton, Corey Webster, Paora Winitana

Palmerston North
Everard Bartlett, Callum Baynes, David Beck, Steven Bjerring, Paul Bristol, Reece Cassidy, Aidan Daly, Mike Fitchett, Tom Giles, Leon Henry, Nick Horvath, Ben Jeffrey, Milutan Kovacevic, Stacey Lambert, Aaron Nowell, James Paringatai, Dion Prewster, Daniel Simon, Matt Te Huna, Arthur Trousdell, James Turol, Alex Wastney, Guy Williams

Nelson
Jamie Barnett, Chris Daniel, Cowan Finch, Phill Jones, Jeremy Kench, Tait Lawson, Mark Morrison, Miles Pearce, Sam Toíomata, Mike Townsend, Mika Vukona