New season a puzzle for Breakers

BY MARC HINTON

Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis admits he's feeling more than a little anxious as the Thursday night tipoff of the new Australian NBL season draws closer.

And, no it's got nothing to do with the fact that half of Australia seems to be tipping the Breakers to make the, er, breakthrough in the 2009-10 season and become the first Kiwi club to win an Australian league.

Lemanis has been around long enough not to read anything into predictions, especially ones coming out of Australia concerning Kiwi ascendancy in their own competitions.

But what does give him a few butterflies ahead of the tipoff night against Phill Jones and the Cairns Taipans at the NSEC is the lack of game time his much-talked-about lineup has had leading into this season.

Sure, there were those three games against the Athletes in Action squad from the States, and then the Darwin pre-season tournament where his squad won two out of three matches. But new import Awvee Storey, starting point man CJ Bruton, starting forward Oscar Forman, starting centre Rick Rickert, backup forward Jeremiah Trueman and backup centre Alex Pledger were missing from all or some of those matches.

"You're always excited heading into a new season," said Leamanis today at the Breakers training facility. "You get sick of practice. You want to go out and see where you're at. I guess I'm excited and a little anxious because we haven't played a pre-season game with all our guys available so there's a little bit of an unknown where we sit right now amongst the other teams."

Australian hoops pundits may not be so foggy on the Breakers' place in the scheme of things, with Boomers and NBL legend Andrew Gaze rating them the title favourites, but Lemanis said some new pieces in this year's puzzle mean his side is a work still in progress.

"When you talk about some of the anxiery as a coach, that's one of the things. Because we haven't played games with everybody there, I haven't found our rhythm yet and I guess my coaching rhythm with those guys. What are our best combinations? When do you sub? And who do you finish games with? That's still going to be played out as the season goes."

The one significant alteration the Breakers will make is to insert new import Awvee Storey into the starting lineup and reassign veteran forward Tony Ronaldson, in his 21st season in the league, to the "sixth man" role.

Ronaldson essentially takes over Jones' old role as the savvy veteran coming off the bench to add his poise and precision when required. It worked a treat for Jones last year, though it remains to be seen how well the NBL's longest-serving player handles the change.

Then there's the decision on just how Leamnis will use his deep bench. His two "development" players, sitting at 11 and 12, are both Tall Blacks. He has options aplenty and eight less minutes overall of game-time to share around this season as the ANBL goes back to 40-minute games (with a  five-foul maximum).

Lemanis admits that's an aspect of this season he and his men are going to have to come to terms with.

"It  needs to be managed," said the fifth-year Breakers coach. "I'm really confident we have a group of guys that understand the team is more important than the individual. That's been one of our strengths but it's going to be tested more this year than any other just because of our depth.

"It's one of those things if you're winning games it tends to take care of itself, but if you lose a couple what happens in those situations? I'm confident we've got a good group of guys who will be able to deal with it, but the proof will be in the pudding."

Lemanis is not worried at all about expectations or favourite' tags weighing his side down. He says they're not things they take any notice of.

"We don't worry too much about what's going on externally, and certainly one of the reasons we've become a better ball club is we just stay internally focused on the day to day.

"Every coach right now will tell you they want to win a championship. It's how you go about doing that. For us it's about coming in and getting better every day, working on those things that get found out as weaknesses through a season, and also riding the emotional highs and lows."

Lemanis certainly seems to have his bases covered with the squad he has this year. Kirk Penney says it's the best the club has had. The coach doesn't like to compare but admits "I like what we have".

Bruton and Paul Henare will cover the point, Penney, and Corey Webster two guard, Oscar Forman and Thomas Abercrombie small forward, Awveey Storey, Ronaldson and Jeremiah Trueman power forward and Rick Rickert and Alex Pledge centre. That leaves Dillon Boucher to slot in wherever he's needed.

Everyone was healthy as of today, though Bruton, coming off ankle and elbow surgeries, is still only around "80 per cent" of his best. That still puts him better than most one guards in the league.

The Taipans meanwhile suffered a major setback before making the trip across the Tasman, with experienced guard Aaron Grabau ruled out of the match because of a broken finger.

Still, with new imports Skip Mills and former Breaker Rich Melzer, naturalised American Dusty Rychart and old hands like Jones, fellow Kiwi Tony Rampton, Gary Boodnikoff and Ian Crosswhite the Taipans still bring a lineup worthy of the Kiwi side's respect.

"They're very good in transition, they share the ball well and they've got guys who can put the ball in the basket," said Lemanis. "They're pretty potent offensively. And losing Darnell Mee and Dave Thomas from last year makes them a different group, and they're still finding their way defensively.

"Maybe Thursday night the group that can find their defensive rhythm first is the one that's going to come out on top."

Lemanis will be hoping that's his side. It will certainly help settle his anxiety.

NZ Breakers: Thomas Abercrombie, Dillon Boucher, CJ Bruton, Oscar Forman, Paul Henare, Kirk Penney, Alex Pledger, Rick Rickert, Tony Ronaldson, Awvee Storey, Jeremiah Trueman, Corey Webster.

Cairns Taipans: Kerry Williams, Dwayne Vale, Ian Crosswhite, Tony Rampton, Phill Jones, Gary Boodnikoff, Skip Mills, Rich Melzer, Dusty Rychart.

 

 

 

- © Fairfax NZ News