By PETER JESSUP
The Auckland team have had a seriously disrupted preparation for this weekend's opening round of the National Basketball League, with their head coach flying out and imports flying in late.
Auckland and new New Zealand coach Tab Baldwin is in Florida after the death of his elderly father.
The reins have been handed to former Auckland and Waikato guard Adrian Boyd, who was a late appointment as assistant coach.
The defending champs yesterday completed a deal to sign centre Ben Pepper from the Victoria Titans for the Aussie off-season. He arrived last night to meet the team-mates he will feed against Waikato on Saturday night.
The NBL opens with Waikato hosting Wellington in Hamilton on Friday night. The home side have been bolstered with a swag of former Auckland players, including star Pero Cameron.
They have ditched ageing Americans to give young locals a chance.
Aucklanders Prem Krishna and Simon Mesritz have gone south to bolster Waikato's Chris Tupu, Earl Smith and David Hopai.
Baldwin has filled most holes with five youngsters brought through by Avondale College coach Mike Tait.
Tait's son, Lindsay, who was a starter last year, is joined by Lawrence Dickie, Reece Cassidy, Peter Josephs and Valence McCarthy from Avondale - who won the schoolboy event in 1999 and was second last year - or Tait's Youthtown second division side.
Auckland's big hole was at centre after Cameron's decision to take the money from Waikato, where he started his NBL career.
Pepper, aged 25, will be tallest man in the league at 2.13m and one of the biggest at 112kg - and is the rock in the middle the Auckland team have been used to via Cameron.
Tall guard Paul Henare has been back at training after suffering from mumps and is expected to play against Waikato at Unitec on Saturday.
The pace of the game, and of the movement to and from the bench, is expected to quicken after a shift from last year's 30-second shot-clock to 24 seconds.
