Basketball: Founding player hanging up Breaker boots

Paul Henare is moving on to coaching. Photo / APN

It's easy to see why Paul Henare is considered the heart and soul of the New Zealand Breakers.

The 31-year-old is the only foundation member left, has played 218 of the club's 225 games in their seven-year history - including 130 in succession - and is a player team-mate Dillon Boucher says you'd want if you went to war.

Henare and Boucher aren't likely to don army fatigues and pick up a rifle any time soon but their time as Breakers team-mates is coming to an end.

Henare has announced this will be his last season with the Breakers. He has been appointed Hawke's Bay coach for the next NBL season and, while he could continue playing, wants to commit to the next chapter in his basketball narrative.

It will be a bit like Hudson without Halls, Smith without Nonu or Caroline without Georgina.

Henare has not been without his critics throughout his career. It nearly drove him to pack in the game. But he has found a home at the Breakers and New Zealand's only professional side have been more than happy.

"It doesn't feel like this is the last season," he says. "Not yet. Every now and then I get little reminders but in terms of my mentality, I feel great physically and the team is going well.

"I'm just caught up in the moment. I know it's there. I'm just going about my business as I usually do."

That means hurtling his body around the court, standing up to any confrontational situation, telling his team-mates what he really thinks and picking one up from the floor. They are the intangibles in basketball, things you don't find on the stats sheet, and the principal reasons why Henare has lasted in the game as long as he has.

Boucher: "He has been knocked but all the other strengths he brings far outweigh those and that's why he has been with this team for so long.

"Basketball is not just about scoring. Obviously the Breakers have recognised that because you don't just get given a contract for the sake of it."

Henare has averaged 5.7 points, 2.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists a game throughout his professional career. They are not startling numbers and it has led many to question Henare's worth. If he could score 88 points in a New Zealand NBL game in 2007, why couldn't he do it for the Breakers?

He plays the back-up point guard position - for much of his career he was the starting point guard - which means the ball is often in his hands. In contrast, CJ Bruton, who starts on the point, averages 16.7 points, 3.4 boards and 4.2 assists per game.

At one time Henare would have worried about what others thought. About three years into the Breakers' history, with the club in turmoil on and off the court, Henare took things personally and told Nenad Vucinic.

"I had had enough," he remembers. "We weren't successful, I had my doubters and I found it really tough to take. I just thought, '**** this'. 'Why do I have to put up with this?

"I talked to Nenad about it. I told him I didn't want to play any more. He told me not to do it. He told me you're a long time retired. Gee, I'm glad I didn't. From then on, I didn't care what people thought.

"The things that mattered are things like being voted players' player [of the year] and having respect of your teammates and being re-signed by the coach. These guys are happy with what I can do. **** everyone else. I love it."

It helps the Breakers are now one of the league's best teams in their set-up and results. There's a sense of anticipation this season could deliver a first title - a massive leap from the days when they were propping up the bottom of the table.

There's a sense of calm around Henare. He's achieved three New Zealand NBL titles, a 10-year career with the Tall Blacks highlighted by a fourth placing at the 2002 world championships and stints as a professional in Yugoslavia (now Serbia) and Turkey.

That's what makes it easier to step away now.

It doesn't mean he doesn't desperately want to win with the Breakers this season and he wasn't afraid to tell his team-mates.

"Too right I said it," he says. "I said to the guys that this is my last chance [to win a title] and I'm going to be doing everything I can to win it and I implore you to do the same.

"Not just for me but there's only a certain amount of times you can do things first. We have an opportunity to be a part of something new."