Basketball: McLean’s Breakers tour hopes blocked

Wellington Saints basketball guard Troy McLean has had his chances of touring China with the New Zealand Breakers slam dunked, but no one wants to claim the assist.

The 2004 Tall Black yesterday confirmed he would be staying in New Zealand to help Wellington steady their shaky start to the national league.

"I'm gutted, but at the same time I understand where Saints are coming from," McLean said.

"If we were five and 0 it would be different, but we're not, we're two and three, and we need every game we can get."

But Wellington chief executive Michael Bennington said the club had done everything it could to accommodate McLean's best interests.

"We tried to negotiate a compromise with the Breakers for him to travel for part of the tour. He would have played the opening three games, then come back for our double-header against Auckland and North Harbour."

The Breakers had been open to the concept, but Chinese officials poured cold water on the idea, Bennington said.

"It's still up in the air. We want to help him, but at the same time it's an important two weeks they want to take him for. Most of the other teams have said no ... it's a tough call."

Basketball New Zealand said it "sympathised" with the clubs, but was powerless to intervene because they did not hold the players' contracts.

"It would be our preference for players not to be taken out of our league," NBL manager Andrew Alleway said.

"But in saying that, the clubs hold the contracts, so we can't enforce what they want to do."

BBNZ will meet Breakers management this week and it is an issue that will be revisited with a view to preventing the Breakers from taking players out during the NBL from next year.

Auckland have allowed guards Lindsay Tait and Aaron Olson to tour and Canterbury have released Clifton Bush, but other clubs have said no.

McLean's exclusion drew a terse response from former Wellington chief executive Nick Mills.

"It's a travesty. We've got T-Lew [Terrence Lewis], we've got the players to cover. The club are doing him a disservice by not letting him go. They should be driving him to the airport.

"This was his chance to put himself on a bigger stage."

The Breakers head to China at the end of this month to play six matches.

- NZPA