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"Light but effective" will be the workload each member of the Breakers Manawatu Jets lineup is expected to carry on court in Springvale Stadium this afternoon, as Wanganui hosts the first of the Jets' important NBL preseason double header weekend with the Good Home Taranaki Mountain Airs.
The NBL near-neighbour franchises will both begin their season on April 6, making today's game in Wanganui and tomorrow's in Hawera's TSB Hub an important hit out to establish squad cohesion, while giving everyone plenty of opportunity to make some running.
For Jets coach Darron Larsen, returning this season for his second coaching stint with the Palmerston North team, quick rotations will be used to allow his "lower end guys" to play more minutes so they have some key game time, should they be required when the "serious stuff" starts next month.
The Jets had the bulk of their team chosen in October, but since then have been adding "pieces to the puzzle" every week notably 1.95m-tall American small forward Paul Jones, who joined the squad recently after having success with his Western Washington University team in the NCAA division two national championship.
The Jets' other American import in point guard Brandon Jenkins is due to arrive in the coming week, but veteran guard Matt Te Huna is already raring to go after signing up for his sixth Jets season and 11th overall in the NBL.
"This weekend's all about finding out where we sit as a group," said Larsen, who knows after watching his charges pound each other over four training sessions every week, it's time to pit them against some fresh faces.
"They will rotate in and out, and keep everyone light but effective".
This will be similar to the Jets' 96-92 win over the Hawke's Bay Hawks on March 8 in Waipukurau, where the longest time anyone was on court was 21 minutes.
If they want to test themselves against fresh faces, the Mountain Airs will certainly provide plenty of those. The 2014 Taranaki squad contains only three players from last year's NBL campaign captain Aaron Bailey-Nowell, small forward Brad Anderson and young guard Dane Brooks.
Imports Jack Leasure and Kenny Gabriel, along with small forward Ethan Rusbatch, forward Sid Adams and veteran Link Abrams have all departed.
However, Larsen noted while the current crop are light on NBL experience, Taranaki was trying to replenish the ranks by developing local players, which he can respect.
"The NBL, you're either bringing talent in or you're getting them in your backyard, but there's not much of that."
Not blessed with the major youth leagues found in Auckland and Wellington, Manawatu were trying to get their own basketball academy off the ground but were working through a generation gap of 16- to 23-year-old players, he said.
One way is to inspire potential up-and-comers by playing matches in the provincial areas like Wanganui and Hawera, the latter hosting its first NBL-level game in a decade tomorrow. Larsen knows from his years as a player how the likes of Ross Anderson earned national honours while in Wanganui in the 1980s, while veteran and Mountain Airs assistant coach Trent Adams also came from here.
He has also been impressed with the efforts of Paul Berridge to get the moneyed HoopNation tournament off the ground in this city.
"Wanganui is known for producing some talent. It's sort of a link we would like to keep and develop." Tip-off is 3pm this afternoon at Springvale Stadium.