Basketball: It's time to hang tough(er)

Paul Henare says the Breakers' experienced line-up has raised expectations this year. Picture /Paul Estcourt

The Breakers have been urged to leap into the opposition trenches with bayonets fixed or risk paying the ultimate price during their fourth campaign in the Aussie NBL.

The 2006-07 championship got off to a spectacular start on Wednesday when expansion team Singapore scored a maiden win in their first outing, beating the Adelaide 36ers in front of 4000 home fans.

Not included in the first-round draw, the Breakers start their season on Tuesday night at North Shore Events Centre, against the other debut team, Melbourne's South Dragons.

Coach Andrej Lemanis has pronounced himself reasonably satisfied with the Breakers' pre-season, during which they needed to integrate four new players - Brian Wethers, Carlos Powell, Oscar Forman and Adam Darragh.

But he has made no bones about the need for the Auckland-based team to take another step up when the season proper begins - particularly when it comes to the business of converting a useful advantage.

He said one of the more frustrating aspects of the side's pre-season form was their tendency to squander leads; to let besieged opponents back into the game rather than finishing them off.

The problem had more to do with mental application than any fitness shortcomings.

"Relinquishing leads after establishing the ascendancy was fundamentally our fault and a valuable learning experience," said Lemanis. "We need to put the foot on the throat and put teams away when we're in that position. We just seemed to get a bit loose, trying to make the miracle pass or gunning for a turnover that wasn't on, and this league doesn't have a team that won't take advantage and make you pay.

"From a coaching perspective we've had a good look at their fitness and they're fine. After the Blitz tournament we put them through a fairly rigorous fitness challenge after training and they ate it up."

Lemanis said although everyone was demanding improvements before the start of Tuesday night's game, he was prepared to cut the players some slack as the integration of the newbies continued.

Wethers, Powell, Forman and Darragh were all starting to gel into the set-up, but he expected the team would get better as the season progressed, simply because of the familiarity factor.

"You need plenty of court time together to truly appreciate each other's capabilities. Some of our guys were a bit surprised by some of the passes Carlos was able to deliver in traffic and they need to be aware that Carlos and Brian both have the ability to draw defenders and offload.

"I'm looking forward to seeing our understanding of each other develop because when we play to our full potential we're going to be tough to beat."

The Breakers' pre-season was nothing to write home about: a loss against Townsville, a joint bottom-placing in the Blitz tournament, an upset win against the Kings, and then a one-point loss to the Razorbacks.

But Lemanis was far from downcast about the experience, saying the team were evolving quickly and had demonstrated enough over the past fortnight to suggest there was every reason to feel optimistic.

"There have been some good signs," Lemanis said. "We definitely have some talent and versatility. As always, there are things to work on, but we have the tools to make any adjustments and have a good year."

Skipper Paul Henare was similarly upbeat this week, declaring the 2006-07 Breakers the best model yet, and predicting an exciting time ahead for the players, officials, sponsors and fans.

Having appeared in all 97 Breakers games since the club's inception, an effort equalled only by teammate Aaron Olson, Henare is well qualified to assess the respective strength of each year's team.

"The first year we had the same expectations but were going in blind and didn't know what to expect," he said. "This year, because we have players experienced in the league, making the play-offs for the first time is a realistic goal.

"The first three years we went through the necessary steps to see where we needed to be and, most importantly, how to get there.

"I feel as a club, and as a team, it's time to put the key lessons into place. We've had our teething troubles, we're wiser now. It's time to get results"


National Basketball League 2006-2007: The full lineup

Adelaide 36ers
Coach: Phil Smyth
Best finish: Champions 1998, 1999 and 2002
Last season: Quarter-finalists
Colours: Blue, red, yellow

Brisbane Bullets
Coach: Joey Wright
Best finish: Champions, 1985
Last season: Semifinalists
Colours: Navy and gold

Cairns Taipans
Coach: Alan Black
Best finish: Quarter-finals, 2002-03
Last season: 10th
Colours: Navy

Melbourne Tigers
Coach: Alan Westover
Best finish: Champions 1993 and 1997
Last season: Quarter-finalists
Colours: Red and yellow

NZ Breakers
Coach: Andrej Lemanis
Best finish: 10th 2003-04
Last season: 11th
Colours: Black, blue and gold

Perth Wildcats
Coach: Scott Fisher
Best finish: Champions 1990, 1991, 1995 and 1999-00
Last season: Quarter-finalists
Colours: Black and white

Singapore Slingers
Coach: Gordie McLeod
Best finish: Debut season
Last season: DNP
Colours: Red, white and gold

South Dragons
Coach: Mark Price
Best finish: Debut season
Last season: DNP
Colours: Black and red

Sydney Kings
Coach: Brian Goorjian
Best finish: Champions 2002-03, 2003-04, 2004-05
Last season: Champions
Colours: Purple and gold

Townsville Crocodiles
Coach: Trevor Gleeson
Best finish: Semifinalists 1999-00, 2002-03 and 2004-05
Last season: Semifinalists
Colours: Blue and white

W. Sydney Razorbacks
Coach: Mark Watkins
Best finish: 2nd, 2001-02, 2003-04
Last season: 9th
Colours: Dark blue and sky blue

Wollongong Hawks
Coach: Brendan Joyce
Best finish: Champions 2000-01
Last season: Runners-up
Colours: Black and white