New Zealand Tall Black and former Breakers basketball player Kirk Penney. Photo / Greg Bowker
New Zealand Tall Black and former Breakers basketball player Kirk Penney. Photo / Greg Bowker
One of the best basketballers New Zealand has produced will tomorrow play on these shores as a visitor, when the Illawarra Hawks meet the Breakers at Vector Arena. Kirk Penney speaks with Kris Shannon about that “strange” feeling of playing against his former team and why he ended up across the Ditch in the first place
For a man who has made a living unleashing his sweet shot from beyond the arc, Kirk Penney's reintroduction to the New Zealand Breakers began in atypical fashion.
Taking on the team where he spent four seasons, where he was named Most Valuable Player and won the Australian NBL title, any emotion Penney felt in the opening moments was swept aside by the most unemotional of basketball acts: shooting free throws.
Penney made five foul shots in one second of game time when his Illawarra Hawks met the Breakers in October, sparking what appeared, to borrow a line from the movies, a roaring rampage of revenge. By the time the carnage was over, Penney had poured in 36 points and dealt his former side a heavy defeat.
But, given the Tall Black had no reason to feel aggrieved, the scoring outburst assumed a different hue. This was no spurned athlete punishing a club he once loved -- the two parties parted amicably and, at various points, happily discussed a reunion.
No, this was something else. This was a vivid reminder of Penney's talents, a graphic example that the 35-year-old has plenty of life left in those legs. This, in short, was a warning, to the Breakers and the rest of the league, that Penney is again among the most dangerous players in the competition.
"I don't know," Penney laughs when asked what fuelled the offensive explosion. "I didn't really go into the game with any kind of crazy attitude."
In other words, it was just another game and just another scoring burst in an 18-year career brimming with them. Except, as Penney readily acknowledges, it was far from an everyday fixture. And the same will be true at Vector Arena tomorrow, when for the first time he'll take the court in New Zealand as a visiting player.
Kirk Penney has settled in well at the Illawarra Hawks and is relishing the chance to play against the Breakers tomorrow. Photo / Getty Images
"It'll be different," Penney says. "Obviously I can't say it's going to be like another game. Playing in front of a lot of friends and family, it's hard to say it's just another game when you're doing that, because it's always a good time.
"And then, just playing against the Breakers. That was a little different and a little weird. Being a club that's meant so much to me over the years, it's a bit strange."
As much as the Breakers have meant to Penney, the reverse is equally true. He helped the team reach their first playoffs in his maiden season, he led the league in scoring while being crowned MVP in his second, he recorded a career-high 49 points against Adelaide in his third and, in his fourth and final season, he guided the Kiwi club to their first championship.
The Breakers, of course, have enjoyed a spree of success after that initial breakthrough, but Penney's time away has also proven profitable. Playing for four clubs across Spain and Turkey, Penney scored wherever he went. He finished in the top five in scoring during his first season in Spain and his second in Turkey, while the shooting guard still found time to complete his degree at the University of Wisconsin, start a young family and turn out for the Tall Blacks at the 2014 Basketball World Cup.
There, Penney was able to assess the progress of a pair of young Kiwis he left behind at the Breakers, with Tom Abercrombie and Corey Webster continuing to impress the veteran since his return Downunder.
"Tom has been playing at a really good level," Penney says. "He's been quite efficient in his scoring and it's been great to see from a New Zealand perspective. And then Corey's been scoring really well. His efficiency's dropped off a little bit but, knowing Corey and what a capable and talented scorer he is, that can change pretty quickly.
"It's great to see younger New Zealanders out there playing good basketball, so I have that hat on at the same time.
"But it is strange to go against them, because you kind of root for them."
That unusual arrangement will be the chief sub-plot for tomorrow's clash, especially considering neither Webster nor Mika Vukona, two longtime teammates from the national side, took the floor during the Penney-orchestrated massacre in round two.
But it could have been so different. Penney and the Breakers batted their eyelashes at each other throughout recent off-seasons, with discussions waylaid by a matter of timing.
When the club were ready for their prodigal son to return, Penney prioritised his education. And this year, when Penney was eyeing the Australian league for family reasons, the Breakers had no room in their salary cap.
"Naturally, the Breakers would have been a great option," Penney says. "But I think there just wasn't really an opportunity there this year. And so, looking at the other Australian teams, I was just excited about being part of the Hawks team and playing for [Rob Beveridge], someone I had a great deal of respect for during his time at Perth."
Going into battle against the Breakers, while receiving instruction from Beveridge -- public enemy No1 while with the Wildcats -- may be all too much for some fans to handle. Favourite son or not, Penney is now the enemy, and enough time has elapsed for him to be treated as such.
Penney, for one, is eagerly anticipating the experience, revealing that, during some of the Breakers' earlier years, he and his teammates dreamed of making the move to Vector Arena, of being a hot enough ticket to command the downtown venue.
That dream has become a reality in Penney's absence and it's almost cruel for such an integral piece of the club's history to fulfil that once-held wish as a visiting player.
So, will he be booed? "I'm a Kiwi so I'm sure there will be a lot of support there," he says. "But I'm on an opposing team now, so Breakers fans can feel free to give me a hard time."
