Tagged with: NZ Breakers
A few days ago, Breakers owner/CEO Matt Walsh teased that there was a “global” announcement coming up from the club. Not just national, not just continental… but global. This at a time where Breakers trust amongst fans is at a pretty low ebb following a disappointing season, a lack of connection with new ownership, and some weird free agency vibes.
The Breakers made their first major signing for the upcoming NBL season early this week and it wasn’t a massively crazy one. Rob Loe is returning after playing a year for Cairns, the big fella already rumoured to want to return to Aotearoa for family reasons so it only made sense that he’d end up back with the Breakers sooner or later.
It’s been a strange old season for the Breakers, at times they’ve looked magical and at others they’ve looked atrocious and at all times they’ve looked inconsistent. A bit like the NBL as a whole, really.
The commanding dunks are just the icing on the cake. He’s got a bit of range to his shooting as well, making three triples against Perth last game. There’s the rebounding which is utterly essential from him in this team, which has prioritised speed over size and therefore needs a proper old bully going up to get those loose ones like Shawn Long can do.
In their defence, the Breakers did play some defence on Sunday. For the first time all season they kept a team under 80 points, giving the Sydney Kings some real hiccups as everybody not named Andrew Bogut shot 18 of 52 for 34.6% from the field.
Something else seems to be going on too though, something that drastically affects how well a team can play defence (and offence too for that matter). Something which has gotten Kevin Braswell in a little trouble and which has lightened the weight of his wallet.
It’s weird how quickly things can change in sport. A week ago I wrote a thing about what was a very confusing Breakers team, trying to come up with some kind of clearer picture as to what we’re dealing with here.
The Breakers host Cairns Taipans on Friday looking to get their season heading back in the right direction after so far failing to win consecutive games. They’re only 2-3, which is almost funny to realise because it feels like they’ve been so inconsistent and yet they’re one game away from an even record.
Losing to Brisbane was a bugger of a way to start but it wouldn’t matter if the Breakers could bounce back against Melbourne a few days later… and boy did they.
Mate, the Breakers nearly beat the Phoenix Suns. It was only preseason against a Suns team that was missing their best scorer in Devin Booker, not to mention a Phoenix Suns team that only won 21 games last season for the worst record in the NBA…
Ordinarily preseason is just preseason and nobody cares. It’s important for the players to get back into the groove of things but results are irrelevant and performances are all compromised by the fact that nobody wants to get hurt. This preseason is a little different…
The Breakers are a family club, we’re always hearing that from them. They look after their players off the court as well as on it and they maintain a shared value system that ensures everyone is comfortable and thriving.
And there you go, an even eleven players. All locked and loaded for the upcoming NBL season.
Following on from the Corey Webster deal a few weeks back – Corey who is dropping 40+ in China these days – Kevin Braswell’s team has added their first two imports. Armani Moore is the first and Patrick Richard the second.
Corey Webster is back. It’s the biggest move the Breakers have made yet in this rather dramatic offseason, bringing back a bloke who has won three championships with the franchise, a player who was the MVP of the NZ NBL for the undefeated Wellington Saints in 2017.
Whatever happens between now and next season, the Breakers are going to look extremely different. Since our last scribblings on the team there’s been one thing made very clear and that’s that Paul Henare’s focus on New Zealanders is over.
Okay do you want the good news first or the bad news? Let’s go good: The Breakers have unveiled their new head coach and it isn’t an overpaid and under-motivated American college coach with a shady personal history… it’s Kevin Braswell.
Is anyone else feeling uncomfortable about the direction the Breakers are heading in? Because right now it feels like a lot of things are happening under the Breakers banner that have nothing to do with the community-minded, family-values club that we’re accustomed to.
At least we had some inkling that new owners were on the way when that thing happened. Paul Henare kinda suddenly just declining to extend his Breakers head coaching contract on the other hand…
We went through the backcourt blokes last time (plus Tom Abercrombie to balance the numbers) so now it must be the turn of the frontcourt. The big fellas. Forwards and centres. So in appropriate fashion, let’s just box this sucker out and get on with it.