Hoops

NZ Fan Reaction to Organisational Changes?

Apart from all the titles and strong club culture another offshoot of the Blackwell's successful legacy at the Breakers is making Lemanis look so good that they've possibly and inadvertently sabotaged the Boomers!

They need to work with FIBA and the league to ensure their window aligns with ours.

Pledger has something to offer, but we were paying him and Vukona starter money. Neither would've been our bottom five salaries. Hence the tough decision.

Knowing that the Breakers sought after Will Weaver but couldn't get him, I think the Braswell signing was a collective shrug in hindsight. Why offer him the three year deal if he was a lame-duck? That's a question to be asked.

But Zico Coronel is an underrated assistant coach signing - very talented offensive mind who could be the future Head Coach in no time. Veeeeery glad the Breakers got him onboard, says something about the current group.

Umm, its not a conflict of interest when you have only ONE team, and that is a defacto national team (ie the NZ in "NZ Breakers") in an o/s competition.

Henare also coaches in the NZBL, that's more likely to be a conflict.

I didn't realise there was a problem with the FIBA window. That's a fucker for sure. They need to work with FIBA and the league to ensure their window aligns with ours.
LK is a very pragmatic guy, he wants the Breakers to be competitive.

Pledgersorus made the GF last season with MU, and they are highly rated again, so clearly he still has something to offer. He would be part of the capped 5, so not earning massive bucks. Majok has been playing in Lebanon and China, so would have been on good coin.

It's concerning when you say that they couldn't maximise attendance, even during their 3-peat years. I'd be very interested to understand the reasons for that, because if true, that's fucked.
I would have thought that Kiwis would love to get behind a team kissing arse in the Australian League?

It's possible they're overpaid as a legacy from past success and now being over their peak?

The hard part is that the Blackwells did not do anything wrong in establishing a basketball culture. They ran the Breakers like they did their supermarkets - it well and truly was a family and former Breakers returned (Boucher, Vukona et al) because years of toil to create a development culture did its work. Their 'no dickheads' policy was known. There was consistency and in the former NBL that couldn't turn profits or commercial sensibility, that culture got us championships.

But I don't see that model working in the current NBL. The Blackwells couldn't keep up with the profit-making, talent-spending ambition of the NBL. Even at the height of success, being the hottest ticket in Auckland for sporting success, in a central spot, they couldn't consistently sell out Vector (now Spark) Arena. Even with rings, they weren't making money. They weren't eager to spend over the salary cap, and as Sydney and Melbourne became flush with talent, at some point that talent would win out.

And there's a bit of a Kiwi talent gap. After Abercrombie, there are very few Kiwis who would take NBL salaries that could step-up into major TB roles. The development pathway that brought Vukona, Pledger, Webster and Abercrombie currently has brought Raukawa, Vodanovich, Rusbatch and others in the last two seasons, not quite the same level of player to make their journey into NBL roleplayer/starter.

All things considered, I'm very intrigued about this season. RJ Hampton will be super fun to watch (a top 5 HS recruit playing here!?!), Finn Delany has stepped up, will Corey Webster get out of his season-long funk. But the current ownership have their work cut out for them.

"The diehards of course miss the days of it being a national squad with two imports, but I think they understand that approach no longer wins you the NBL."

Interesting Comment.

I have no idea of the current TB strength. But as a general rule, if you could keep that loyal Kiwi core, guys who enjoy playing for a defacto National team (in what must rank as one of the world's greatest sporting rivalries) that will generally give you a very solid team.
Plus upto 3 imports gives you the ability to top up when the NZ contingent is weaker.

There's a lot of deckchair shuffling that goes on in the NBL. Bench players moving almost annually for a promise of greener grass, and maybe a few extra bucks.
Better for NZ to build that Kiwi culture and try to hold onto their guys, instead of becoming just another participant in the shuffle.

Losing guys like Vukona and Pledger, allegedly because you insulted them with low-ball offers, is just plain stupid.
They're clearly still good enough to play significant roles. So why let them go, then struggle to replace them with Sudanese-Aussies, who presumably want just as much money.

Not sure about Wesley, he seems a bit more mercenary, but if they could have kept hold of him and got him nationalised, he would have been a great asset.

And I don't understand why they keep changing coaches like underpants?

Henare is their National Coach, very successful, and clearly highly regarded. The allround synergies of having him were advantageous.

There has already been a push back from that NZ content you speak of as Illi for example asked to be released from his contract because it has gotten so bad. He wont be the last to jump ship either.

So I've resigned myself not being able to watch live streams...constantly freezing every game so far to the point of unwatchable. So now I'm watching replays and they always start midway through the 2nd quarter! Anyone else have this? Ummm why? I'm so over this!