Basketball: Teams look to fill import spots

By Peter Jessup

The Auckland, North Harbour and Waikato basketball sides are all into pre-season training despite having yet to settle their playing rosters and fill import spots.

Power forward Scott Benson will rejoin the Rebel Sport side in mid-May, two weeks into the competition, after coaching at Utah Valley State University.

Coach Tab Baldwin is yet to determine whether to fill their second restricted spot and much may depend on the form of Kenny Stone and Simon Mesritz as they return from injury.

Across the bridge, Harbour are seeking to re-sign Chris Ensminger as one import but have a vacancy for a guard. Forward Kerry Boagni has dropped to the second division, signing for North Otago.

Coach Tony Bennett, still on the restricted list, was looking to step back from the court this year but will play if the Kings can't find a suitable replacement. He is in the United States checking National College competition. The rest of the 1998 Kings line-up has been re-signed.

Waikato were unable to reach contractual agreement with forward Kenny Roberts and he appears likely to head to Otago, joining Tall Black and Nelson's 1998 star shooter Phill Jones in what will be a significant improvement to the Nuggets roster.

The big movements off-season have been Tall Blacks shuffling between teams. Auckland's Andrew Parke is the Kings' big buy, his 1998 team-mate Riki Strother moving to Waikato. Judd Flavell meanwhile goes from the Kings to Nelson.

Baldwin takes his side to conditioning camp at Cooks Beach this week with a plan prepared with the help of sports scientists and psychologists care of their new association with Unitec.

The polytech's director of sport, Craig Lewis, has assisted Baldwin in planning the season, setting goals that will have the players peak when they need to.

"It's motivational material, programming their minds so they focus on individual and team goals," he said. "We don't want any of the complacency that plagued us last year."

Signed so far are point guard Paul Henare, offensive guards Dylan Chase, Prem Krishna and Dillon Boucher, small forwards Kenny Stone and Hayden Smythe, power forwards Benson and Darryl Cartwright, centres Pero Cameron (captain) and Rangi Kowhai.

Mesritz is training but is still recovering from a serious back injury while Stone appears to be close to 100 per cent after off-season knee reconstruction. Veteran Tony Webster, 37, has finally called it quits.

The Rebels begin their season at their new home in the Unitec gym against the visiting Japanese B side on March 23.

"We don't know much about them but they're coming off the end of their season, they're a national B team, so we expect them to be dangerous even if they don't have too much size," Baldwin said.

Waikato coach Jeff Green is still looking for a centre or power forward to replace Roberts, who averaged 23 points, 9.85 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.6 blocks per game in 1998.

Signed so far are Strother, Darryl Johnson, Bevan Sutton, Jeff Niwa, David Hopoi, Joseph and Leon Tuala. Guard Kalem Nordstrom appears set to return after two years' missionary duty for the Mormon church and the Warriors are also talking to Cartwright's younger brother Jon from the defunct Northland Suns.