Basketball: Breakers reach up with new signing

The Breakers will add potentially the tallest man in professional New Zealand sport to their roster in Tall Blacks centre Alex Pledger.

The 22-year-old stands at a few millimetres over 2.13m (7 foot, 1in) and will return to New Zealand next month after a three-year scholarship with Bellmont Abbey College in North Carolina. He will sign with the Breakers as a development player.

Pledger, who has played five games for the Tall Blacks, will also suit up for the defending champion Waikato Pistons for the rest of this year's NBL.

Genuine seven-footers who can also play are few and far between in New Zealand basketball. Tony Rampton is the same height, but the 32-year-old Nelson Giants centre retired from the Tall Blacks last year to extend his club career. He started last season's ANBL with the Sydney Spirit before they withdrew from the league for financial reasons.

"He's a long seven-footer and quite athletic," Breakers assistant and Waikato coach Dean Vickerman said of Pledger. "He's a very good defensive rebounder and also has a good touch.

"Along with Thomas Abercrombie and Corey Webster, Alex is a young guy who we believe can do some good things for both the Breakers and Tall Blacks over the next 10 years."

Each team is required to fit development players into their squad and the Breakers intend having two - Pledger and Webster.

There is uncertainty over the makeup of the rest of their squad because of the overhaul of the ANBL.

Each team has had to re-apply for a spot in the league and meet certain criteria based largely on facilities and financial stability. A $1 million bank guarantee was a pre-requisite in the hope of avoiding more teams falling over as the Sydney Kings, Brisbane Bullets, Sydney Spirit, Victoria Giants and Canberra Cannons have over the past six years.

The Breakers assume they will be included in what is expected to be a nine-team league, which could be announced this week, but it has stalled their recruitment and retention.

CJ Bruton, Kirk Penney, Dillon Boucher, Oscar Forman and Abercrombie will return for next season, expected to start in October.

But until the club's position is confirmed and they know the points allocation for each player - players are rated from one to 10 and squads last season couldn't exceed 68 points - they can't sign with any certainty.

"We are in a bit of a holding pattern," said Breakers general manager Richard Clarke.

"Hopefully by the end of next week we will know what's going on. We are keen to keep the majority of the team together but if the points remain at 68 it could be a bit difficult."

The futures of veteran forward Tony Ronaldson, shooting guard Phill Jones and import Rick Rickert are the most uncertain.

Ronaldson, 36, is the most experienced player in the ANBL with more than 600 games, while Jones was named the league's best sixth man for 2008/09.

Clarke said he expected the points rating for both to increase next season, meaning it could be hard to fit them in, while Rickert didn't have the impact the Breakers hoped to get from their sole import.

"Big is a place that we thought we could get better," Clarke said. "We haven't decided whether we will have one or two imports so we will sign the local players first and then look to fill the gaps. We are in a pretty good place and [coach] Andrej Lemanis has just got back from [a coaching and scouting mission in] the US so has an idea of what's available."

Pledger will join the Pistons in early May after his college exams.

"He's a young guy with immense potential," said Waikato chief executive John Davey. "He was identified early on as a potential Tall Black. . He hasn't yet been exposed to the NBL and is a little bit raw and will need to find his feet. But he certainly gives us an advantage with that height and he has got quite a nice shooting touch, too."