KEY POINTS:
The Breakers head into their sixth NBL season looking very much a team on the rise.
Australia bookmaker Centrebet has them as fourth-equal favourites for the title in a league that has shrunk from 13 teams last season to 10 this time around.
Gone are last year's regular season table-toppers and defeated grand-finalists Sydney Kings and 2005-06 champions Brisbane Bullets, who finished third last year and knocked out the Breakers at the semifinal stage.
Both heavyweights succumbed to financial pressures, with the players from their talent-stacked rosters now distributed among the remaining 10 teams.
The other team to fall by the wayside were the Singapore Slingers, who pulled out after deciding the financial burden of paying for their opponents' travelling costs had become too much to bear.
Of the teams remaining, the champion Melbourne Tigers are almost unbackable favourites to defend their title.
Having picked up veteran Boomer Sam Mackinnon (Brisbane) and star imports Ebi Ere (Brisbane) and Rod Grizzard (Singapore) from the defunct clubs to join Chris Anstey and David Barlow, the Tigers will field what many are calling the best starting five the league has ever seen.
Their main competition appears likely to come from cross-town rivals Souths Dragons, whose new recruits include former Breaker Mika Vukona and recently naturalised New Zealander Nick Horvath.
The Dragons' biggest capture, however, was supercoach Brian Goorjian, the most-successful coach in the league's history with five championships to his name and a winning percentage of close to 70 from more than 700 games. The other teams expected to contend are Perth Wildcats and Cairns Taipans, who were both in the playoff mix last season.
Having recruited star point guard CJ Bruton, the Breakers are expected to push on from last season's debut playoff appearance. But the capture of Bruton has come at the expense of a second import, leaving centre Rick Rickert as the lone import on the team's roster.
Placing their faith in top-quality local talent is a bold strategy from the Breakers. If it is to pay off they will need to start well and take full advantage of the five straight home games with which they begin their campaign.
