Time To Walk Tall
Tagged in: In The News, NZ Breakers
Marc Hinton, Fairfax Media
Experienced Breakers point guard Paul Henare has called on the tooled up New Zealand franchise to take a swagger into this year’s Australian National Basketball League competition.
The Breakers tip off their 2008-09 campaign with the first of five straight home matches against the Wollongong Hawks at the North Shore Events centre on Thursday night.
After adding highly-credentialed Australian point guard CJ Bruton in the off-season, as well as former Tall Black Dillon Boucher (back for a second stint at the club) and solid Aussie forward Adam Tanner (fresh from college hoops in the US), the Breakers are being tipped as a potential top-four contender in the new pared-down 10-team league.
Throw in a re-energised and healthy American centre Rick Rickert, whose back problems of last season are now behind him, and it’s little wonder that Henare, a foundation Breaker, is calling for his club to walk the walk this season.
“I think we carry over a bit of confidence from last year (when the club made its first ever playoff appearance), and I also think we’ve gotten better,” said Henare who will back up Bruton in the point guard slot this campaign.
“Bringing Rick back and CJ in is going to make any team better. We’ve already talked about this season playing with a bit of… its kind of a fine line, between arrogance and cockiness.
“But winning teams have a swagger about them. It’s something we talked about last year but this year we want to try to improve on. And you don’t just give yourself that label, you have to earn it and get the results to do it.”
Henare also agrees with the supposition that less is best for the league in 08-09.
Despite the absence of the Brisbane Bullets and Sydney Kings who went down with their financial backers and the discontinuation of the Singapore franchise, the common theory is that the NBL actually becomes a stronger league due to the talent from those three teams being dispersed among the 10 survivors.
“I think it will be a tougher league,” said the 29-year-old who is now into his sixth season with the Breakers. “There’s going to be four teams bitterly disappointed when they don’t make the playoffs this year.
“[But] we see ourselves as being a top-four team and hopefully separating ourselves from that bottom bunch. We don’t want it to come down to the end of the season like it did last year, and be fighting out the last few rounds for the last playoff spots.
“We want to play with confidence throughout the year and get ourselves up in a position where we can get home playoff games.”
If Bruton produces anything like his best (last year he averaged 19ppg, nearly five assists and shot just over 46 per cent from three-point land), he should help propel the Breakers to the next level.
With club MVP Kirk Penney, Phill Jones and Oscar Forman rounding out a pretty deadly perimeter attack, and the workaholic Rickert bringing the hustle factor to their inside stuff, the Breakers should be capable of living with any side in the league this year.
Henare picks the two Melbourne sides, the defending champion Tigers and Brian Goorjian-coached South Dragons, as the main title threats this year.
“The Dragons showed in the pre-season what they can do, and with Goorjian as coach, and a lot of young talent, they look ready to go. And the Tigers, the roster they’ve got together is ridiculously talented.”
But, as mentioned, everyone deserves respect this year, and from the Breakers’ perspective that will start with the Hawks who have themselves improved considerably over the off-season with the signing of Aussie international Glen Saville (back “home” after a stint with the Kings) and highly respected American forward Dusty Rychart. The Wollongong lineup will also features Tall Blacks guard Lindsay Tait who is back after having his 07-08 season wrecked by injury.
The Breakers match against the Hawks tips off at 7.30pm on Thursday night at the NSEC.
