Basketball: Breakers need Kevin Dillard to provide offensive boost

Kevin Dillard of the Dayton Flyers brings the ball upcourt against the Murray State Racers. Photo/Getty Images

It's a small sample but this week alone illustrates the monumental task facing the last-placed Breakers against Adelaide tomorrow.

Last night, the Kiwi club managed only 63 points against Cairns, falling to a seventh loss in nine games and falling further adrift on the Australian NBL ladder.

Twenty-four hours earlier, Adelaide poured in 67 points by halftime against Illawarra, eventually romping to a ninth win in their last 10 games and increasing their advantage at the top of the competition.

Dig a little deeper and it's easy to see why there was such an offensive disparity in the respective sides' previous outings.

The league's leading scorers will tomorrow boast Jerome Randle in their back-court, an import who had 25 against the Hawks and sits second in the ANBL with 22.6 points per game.

The Breakers, on the other hand, will have young Kiwi Shea Ili and new American Kevin Dillard running the point, introducing yet another new import to their ever-changing roster.

With the injured Ben Woodside and the under-performing David Stockton both heading back to the United States, coach Paul Henare will be hoping Dillard can resurrect his side's season, the first time in club history the Breakers have called on five different imports in one campaign.

Dillard comes to New Zealand after stints in Italy, Latvia, France, Greece, Belgium and, most recently, Turkey, having grown up in Chicago and come up against Randle during summer scrimmages in the United States.

His mission is simple, in a way: provide an instant boost to a Breakers team who have suffered key offensive losses in Corey Webster and Tom Abercrombie and who currently have only only healthy player with a double-digit scoring average this season - Kirk Penney with 16.8.

With nine games remaining in the campaign and having barely met the rest of the squad, it may be unrealistic for Dillard to immediately learn the offence and play to his teammates' strengths tomorrow on the North Shore.

Whether he can get his own shot in another question. At his last club, the 27-year-old averaged 10 points, shooting 42 per cent from the floor and 46 per cent from range, while his previous season was more productive as he recorded 16.8 points across three teams.

How the Breakers must cast envious glances across the Tasman at Melbourne United, who earlier in the season jettisoned a certain Cedric Jackson and replaced him with Casper Ware, proceeding to ride the American's league-leading 23 points per game to seven wins from nine games.

It remains to be seen whether Dillard can come close to providing a similar impact but, given they ended the recent loss to Sydney with new forward Paul Carter playing point guard, right now the Breakers would probably settle for another warm body in their ranks.

Asked what he would bring to the club, Dillard replied: "A winning attitude, a winning spirit. I play with a lot of enthusiasm and just lose myself to the team. Whatever we've got to do to win, I'm willing to do that.

"I thrive off responsibility and pressure moments, so that makes this situation here pretty fun. We've got nine games left and it's a pretty tight field, so making the playoffs is realistic. That's what I came here to do."