Pero May Blaze Trail To Coast
Tagged in: In The News, NZ Breakers, Tall Blacks
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Gary Birkett, Sunday Star Times
Tall Blacks skipper Pero Cameron is being chased by new Australian league franchise the Gold Coast Blaze.
Cameron has been made an offer by the Blaze after two years playing in Turkey and Iran since being cut by the New Zealand Breakers.
The 32-year-old forward is currently playing in the NZ NBL for the Waikato Pistons after returning from Iran.
A Pistons spokesman told the Sunday Star-Times that Cameron had firm offers from Australian and European clubs, but had not signed anything yet.
Gold Coast coach Brendan Joyce declined to comment on the speculation over Cameron.
“We’ve put an agreement in place and we’re negotiating with players. But we haven’t officially signed anyone,” Joyce told the Gold Coast Bulletin.
“You have to wait until the NBL approves the structure of the contract. If we were to announce anyone, we would be fined.”
The addition of the Gold Coast franchise has ramped up the pressure on teams recruiting for the 2007-08 season.
Top Kiwi players like Cameron are now being targeted to play for Australia-based teams and the money available through sponsorship and part-time work outside the salary cap across the Tasman is making life tricky for the New Zealand Breakers.
General manager Richard Clarke said their players do undertake work outside the salary cap, but it wasn’t as well paid as in Australia.
He welcomed the current review of how the $700,000 cap and player points’ rankings work in tandem with earnings outside the cap.
There have been mutterings over the past two seasons about the strength of squads like current champions the Brisbane Bullets, with fears that the clubs with the best work opportunities outside the salary cap will suck in all the best players and create an elite band in the ANBL.
The Breakers signed young Australian guard Ryan Kersten on Thursday.
An Australian Institute of Sport graduate, the 20-year-old has American college experience with two years at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, but is yet to play in the ANBL.
“We’ve had nothing but positive feedback about Ryan’s ability and commitment and we’re certain he’ll push for plenty of court time as a back-up point guard or in the shooting guard spot,” Clarke said.
Clarke said coach Andrej Lemanis would probably run an extended squad of 11.
Kersten, who will play for the North Adelaide Rockets this winter, joins Paul Henare, Brent Charleton, Aaron Olson, Oscar Forman, Mika Vukona, Tony Ronaldson and Tim Behrendorff as confirmed Breakers’ signings.
Lemanis is currently in the United States chasing a US point guard and forward. He is attending NBA talent camps and will study defensive systems at the San Antonio Spurs this week.
The biggest movers in the player market have been the South Melbourne Dragons, who have signed Cortez Groves (Wollongong), Luke Martin (Cairns) and Brad Hill (Adelaide).
The NZ Breakers will “definitely” be on Sky television next season, according to general manager Richard Clarke, who shot down reports that the pay tv network was going to ditch them because of poor viewership figures.
He said they are working with Sky at the moment on how the TV package will be presented, but would make no further comment until the broadcast plan is finalised next month.
