Basketball New Zealand

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NZ Breakers at practice (Photosport)

Harvey Norman NZ Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis says the teamís five-game pre-season tour of Australia is vital for honing the new combinations within his squad.

The Breakers tackle the South Dragons on consecutive nights before one-off contests against the Kings in Sydney, the Blaze on the Gold Coast and the Brisbane Bullets.

Six of the 10-strong touring party (Tall Black Kirk Penney is the only non-starter because of a calf injury) are newcomers – returning Tall Blacks Paora Winitana and Phill Jones, imports Wayne Turner and Rick Rickert, legendary Boomer Tony Ronaldson and rookie guard Ryan Kersten.

They join incumbent Breakers Paul Henare, Mika Vukona, Brent Charleton and Tim Behrendorff in striving to gel before the teamís Philips Championship NBL opener against pre-season favourites Cairns at the North Shore Events Centre on September 20.

ìKirk notwithstanding, itís good to get the whole group together,î Lemanis said. ìIím really impressed with the attitude and spark in training and now itís a case of seeing how the final pieces of the puzzle fit together.

ìThe focus is on everyone understanding their roles while the coaching staff appreciates how to utilize the roster in the best possible way.î

Lemanis heads into his third season in charge, and the clubís sixth NBL season in total, certain the pre-season build-up is the best heís experienced.

ìThereís no better way to prepare than going up against teams youíll be competing against,î he said.

ìYou can practice all you want amongst yourself, but you can be working in splendid isolation and have a false sense of where youíre at.

ìDuring this tour weaknesses will be exposed, strengths will be highlighted and weíll get a good gauge of where weíre at and the areas we need to focus on.î

Continued improvement will be more important than results with Lemanis looking to develop on-court systems to match the spirit that has developed within the camp.

ìThe most positive aspect of our pre-season so far has been the ownership the players have taken and the development of team chemistry and camaraderie,î Lemanis said.

ìIíll be happy if that translates to good team performances and Iím eager to see plenty of desire on defence and constant improvement in the understanding and execution of our systems on offence.î

The itinerary is:

Wednesday, September 5 v South Dragons, Geelong, 7.30pm

Thursday, September 6 v South Dragons, Kilsyth, 7pm

Saturday, September 8 v Sydney Kings, Sutherland, 7.30pm

Monday, September 10 v Gold Coast, Southport, 7.30pm

Tuesday, September 11 v Brisbane, Brisbane, 7.30pm