Basketball: Breakers tip off new season

When the Breakers tip off their season today Brant Bailey will be looking for peace as much as he will be looking for the hoop.

The Breakers import had been in New Zealand only a few days before his life was thrown into turmoil after learning his sister had died in a car accident in the United States on August 18.

Bailey flew back to his hometown of Wisconsin Dells the following day and rejoined his team-mates last week. Laina Bailey was a 25-year-old former NCAA Division I volleyballer.

Bailey is using sport as a means of cartharsis and escape. It's what enabled him to leave the family and return to his day job.

"We're a really religious family so I know my sister is in heaven looking down," Bailey said.

"She was a Division I athlete and I know she would have done the same thing. She would have wanted to keep on playing and I know she would have wanted for me to have kept on playing. That made it easier for me to come back and keep on playing, do what I do."

Bailey, a 28-year-old, 2.02m swingman, could not sleep when he went home. There was too much emotion, too much jet lag and too much anger to allow him rest.

His former high school, where he'd starred in the '90s, gave him the key to the gym.

The solitude and shooting hoops finally gave him peace of mind.

"Yeah, I mean it's really kind of a stress reliever. A mind occupier. It's kept my mind going and been an anger release for me. It's one of those ways I get my anger out."

Still, Sunday's game against the competition favourite Brisbane Bullets will be an emotional time for him, if not for the fact he's been living on a regular diet of nervous energy for the past fortnight.

"I'm a little jet-lagged, a little tired, a little worn out but that's all fine. Everyone has been real understanding and I'll get back on clock sooner or later."

Bailey is a key piece in Breakers' coach Andrej Lemanis' big gamble.

As far as gambles go, this is right up there with putting the house and mortgage on black and spinning the wheel.

Just three years and three coaches into the Breakers' existence, the club are pinning their hopes on two unproven imports who have come out of Division III college basketball, while at the same time dismantling the core of Kiwi basketballers that were the names the franchise was built upon.

If it all goes belly-up the mood in basketball circles will quickly turn from disillusionment to apathy.

The likes of Phill Jones, gone after one year, Pero Cameron, Dillon Boucher and Mike Chappell flattered to deceive and led the Breakers to last place in the NBL last year, so their departures were understandable.

Changing the coach was logical, too. Frank Arsego might have been a fine technician but never looked like he had a handle on the personalities.

So the dismantling was easy; rebuilding is much harder.

Lemanis is pinning a lot of faith on Bailey and Rich Melzer, two hard-working forwards out of the Wisconsin college basketball scene.

Although they both played Division III when several other NBL imports played Divison I ball, Bailey said not a lot should be read into that.

"It's the best Division III in the whole of the United States. It's a very high level," he said.

Bailey has several individual records at WSP, including most points in a season (723) and most field goals in a season (252).

Bailey was a freshman at Wisconsin Stevens Point when Melzer was at Wisconsin River Falls.

"Last year we played against each other in the CBA, so we came in contact a couple of times."

Bailey's signing is an indication Lemanis means what he says in that he wants the Breakers to play at a much higher tempo and speed than last year, when Arsego was routinely criticised for not running a motion offence.

"My style is open court, up and down, just like our style is going to be this year - fast break, strong taking it to the hole and putting a lot of points on the board."

Bailey, who has played for pay in Poland, Holland, Belgium, England and Venezuela, refuses to make any bold predictions for the Breakers, which is understandable.

He has learned never to look too far ahead.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY