Another Breakers season in the bag then. Another campaign seen through to the bitter end. The next one is bound to be a little different as the new ownership bring the club in a more, shall we say, commercial direction. It’s the natural next step, already we’re seeing the team’s social media presence stepping it up a notch. Tweeting out praise of Kevin Durant the other day was some shaky territory considering the crossover of Breakers/Thunder fans - Steven Adams is the only totem, friends – but it looks like they learned that lesson swifter than a Draymond Green kick to the nads.

It was a shame to see things come to an end in the semis against Melbourne but what can you say? Melly Utd were too good. The Breakers did enough to beat at least five, probably six other teams over two games there yet against Melbourne they were swept 0-2. Great couple games, great series, great rivalry brewing there… all goods. We’ll be back next time for another swing at it, positive vibes only.

But let’s reflect on the season that was by going player by player through the roster, ignoring the development dudes who didn’t really play, and seeing how each chap went, how they excelled and how they struggled, and what to look forward to from them in the future. Beginning with the guards (and Tom Abercrombie to even it out). Man the torpedoes. Fire away.

Edgar Sosa

Stat Line: 15.8 PTS | 2.2 REB | 3.8 AST | 0.9 STL | 2.1 TOV | 2.3 PF

Shooting: 41.4 FG% | 38.5 3PT% | 83.7 FT%

Top scorer, TNC season MVP and generally the best player, Eddie Sosa was a shooter from the first moment but he did take a few games to settle into his rhythms. Then he drilled a game-winner from the corner against Sydney and pretty soon he was on his way. Eight separate games with 20+ points and he finished things off with a 38.5% success rate from deep which doesn’t quite tell the full story since this was a bloke who saved his best for when it was most needed – he shot 41% in December and 42% in January from 3pt range, this while the team was struggling to regather its earlier form that had seen them win nine games in a row at one point.

Sosa isn’t really the dish it around type of point guard but he still led the team in assists and was also far and away the team’s premier free throw shooter, as you’d expect. Sosa was able to score in multiple ways and could create his own shot when things broke down, not to mention bringing a rapid tempo that left opposition defences ragged.

The problem was that he got dominated in the playoffs by Casper Ware and that Melbourne United defence. Across those two games he scored 22 points combined shooting 8/24 from the field and 4/14 from deep, only getting to the line for two attempts. The previous two times he’d played Melbourne (also two defeats) he’s scored 47 combined shooting 17/29 FG & 7/14 3PT. He got shut down when it mattered most and that was one of the main reasons for the Breakers’ early playoffs exit. Still, they wouldn’t have even got there without him so it’d be harsh to leave things at his doorstep. This dude was the team’s MVP and he proved it with recognition in the All-NBL second five selection. It’d be bloody marvellous if they can get him back.

Season Grade: Chur bro

Kirk Penney

Stat Line: 10.1 PTS | 2.7 REB | 1.0 AST | 0.5 STL | 0.7 TOV | 1.9 PF

Shooting: 43.2 FG% | 38.8 3PT% | 74.0 FT%

The king has retired, long live the king. You couldn’t blame him for hanging up the sneakers either, this was a rough season for Kirk Penney. Starting with the sad passing of his father and followed by a troubling injury that meant Kirk never really got into the flow of things this final NBL season. A 25pt effort against Sydney near the start turned out to be the peak for the former scoring champ and he was kept to single figures in 12 of his 22 games played. Every now and then he’d show what he was still capable of but in a dozen games across December and January he shot an unfathomable 12/52 from deep (23.1%). This guy hit ‘em at 41.3% last season and 44.7% with Illawarra the year before. When his retirement announcement came it was no surprise at all.

And then, coming back to fitness for the semis, he turned the clock right back. 26 points all up shooting 5/8 from deep, he was sinking them off balance and everything. It made you realise how much they needed his spot-up shooting off the bench for the balance of the side, something they simply couldn’t rely on after the early winning streak ended. To be fair, you also saw Penney getting picked on defensively with his mobility not what it used to be. When he was on, though, he was sure on. Penney averaged 12.7pts shooting 50.9% 3pt in wins and 7.5pts shooting 25.0% 3pt in losses even as all his other stats stayed consistent the whole way. Shows how having that reliable bench shooter can be the difference between winning and losing, think of how many games came down to that one bad stretch in the fourth quarter.

At least we got to see the real Kirk Penney return for one last hurrah in the semis. He’s the second name on Aotearoa’s all-time starting five (after Steven Adams, naturally), one of the greats of the NBL as well. Having a local guy who can drill them like that was such a luxury. Probably gotta think the Breaks use an import spot on a similar bench scorer next season.

Season Grade: GOAT

Tom Abercrombie

Stat Line: 9.9 PTS | 4.8 REB | 1.0 AST | 1.4 BLK | 0.9 TOV | 2.1 PF

Shooting: 37.4 FG% | 32.1 3PT% | 68.8 FT%

Hard to find fault with Abercrombie’s defence. He’s a block machine (43 blocks this season playing largely as a small forward!) who rebounds like he’s got springs in his feet. He shoots like that too and there are few things more satisfying in the NBL than Tommy Abs going straight up and unleashing a triple right at the top of his jumping arc. So… why doesn’t he do that more?

Too often this season Abercrombie was hesitant to shoot. He’d get the ball in the kind of spot where a guy like Kirk Penney wouldn’t even think twice before pulling the trigger but then he’d put it on the deck again or look for a pass. Then the shot would come but without that silky rhythm that emanates from the best of TA. This wasn’t a problem at the start of things. Other than a couple duds against Sydney he was fantastic early on, scoring 21+ in three of the first seven games. He’d only reach that total again once in his remaining 23 games.

Somewhere along the way he lost his way. Having shot at 40% from deep on the 2017 side of this season, after New Years he crumbled to shoot… steady yourself for this one, it’s a shocker… 10/52 from deep at 19.2%. His entire offensive game suffered and he scored total 5 points on 2/16 shooting in the playoffs. Abysmal would be a harsh but appropriate word.

It’s weird because this guy is a former Finals MVP. However he’s made steady declines the last three seasons and that’s despite largely fixing his horrific free throw shooting slump of a couple years ago. At times it felt like all his shooting woes stemmed from his free throw issues yet other than a 1/8 game from the line against Melbourne in February he was mostly fine there. But peek at this…

2015-16: 14.0 PTS | 6.3 REB | 44.7 FG% | 38.0 3PT% | 58.5 FT%
2016-17: 11.9 PTS | 5.1 REB | 41.1 FG% | 42.7 3PT% | 74.3 FT%
2017-18: 9.9 PTS | 4.8 REB | 37.4 FG% | 32.1 3PT% | 68.8 FT%

His minutes have dropped by a couple each time but that’s a chicken-egg situation, he’s probably playing less because he’s playing worse. Possibly there are injuries involved, at least that would give him an excuse. Abercrombie is one of the three best shooters in this team however only Shea Ili had a worse true-shooting percentage this season.

Season Grade: WTF

DJ Newbill

Stat Line: 13.9 PTS | 4.3 REB | 3.2 AST | 1.3 STL | 2.1 TOV | 2.6 PF

Shooting: 43.5 FG% | 35.1 3PT% | 68.1 FT%

DJ was the glue player for the 17-18 Breakers. He didn’t miss a game, leading the team in minutes played, and brought some quality defence to the perimeter – which was a big problem last time that Newbill helped address. Opponents shot 36.0% from deep against the Breakers which is far from superb (Adelaide were best at 34.5%) but it’s a far sight better than the league-worst 37.9% of last season. So props to Newbill for coming in and steadying things. Props to him for always being there playing hard and competing, right to the end as he logged 19p/3r/3a/3s and 21p/7r/4a in the two semis. Took a lot of shots to get there but he got there.

Newbill scored in double figures for the first 13 games of the season, super consistent from him. But he slumped in the middle there and had troubles against Adelaide in particular. Those shooting percentages needed to be better, Newbill showed some circus finishing at the rim but also clanked a few as well while his three-point success came and went. Mostly good from the charity stripe but his percentage got hijacked by a couple rubbish FT games. His true shooting percentage was 52.8% which is basically the same as Mika Vukona… better than Tom Abercrombie though. Safe to say that any offence Newbill left on the table was exacerbated by Abercrombie and Vukona’s own problems. Tell you what else DJ did do is he had multiple steals in 11 separate games. Not a shining star of an import but the kind of player every decent squad needs all the same.

Season Grade: Two Thumbs Up

Shea Ili

Stat Line: 9.2 PTS | 2.9 REB | 3.1 AST | 0.7 STL | 1.6 TOV | 2.1 PF

Shooting: 38.7 FG% | 36.5 3PT% | 71.0 FT%

The NBL’s Most Improved Player and deservedly so. Ili was poised for a huge leap after his efforts for the Tall Blacks and Wellington Saints in the Aussie offseason and he lived up to those expectations and then some. He more than doubled his scoring and assisting while adding an extra rebound per game and that’s in only two and a half more minutes on average. The dude went from being a handy bench defender, if kinda undersized, to being a genuine offensive option as his speed to the basket and close-range finishing burst through the ceiling. 15 points against Sydney in game two was good but 23 against Brisbane nine days later was even better. 14 games with 10+ points and 12 games with 4+ assists. We knew he could be a solid player but we never knew he could do this.

Which is not to say that he was perfect, far from it. As the season went on his shooting percentages plummeted from 47.5% in October to 32.7% in January and February. Easy to see why that happened: his best weapon was getting to the rim so defences played him deeper to take away his driving lanes. His jump shot has potential but he’s not confident enough to let it fly on the regular yet. Ili shot 47% from deep for the Saints last time so it should get better (he upped it from 32.4% to 36.5% in the NBL).

Also had an issue with turnovers, particularly later in games, but having said that he had a 2.0 assist to turnover ratio which was the best on the roster. The first semi-final was his best game of the season with 16p & 5a but then he was kept scoreless back in Aotearoa. All in all enormous improvements from Ili though, the most improvements even.

Season Grade: Hang Loose Emoji

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