Basketball and everything in between

And then I saw her face
Now I’m a believer
Not a trace
Of doubt in my mind
I’m in love
I’m a believer
I couldn’t leave her
If I tried

I think that it is finally safe to say that the NZ Breakers are certainly the real deal.  One of the major hurdles that basketball people wanted to see them overcome is if they could win in Australia.  They are currently sitting 2nd on the ladder with a 10-3 win/loss ratio.  Out of the 9 players of the week that the NBL has awarded, they have won 3 (two for Kirk Penney and one for Rick Rickert) and they seem to be playing a very team orientated style of basketball.

So why are they being successful?  Last season, they started off fantastic and were going great guns.  We were all happy to finally see Kirk Penney in the league after so many years of hype.  They lost Wayne Turner early to injury (which was a big loss) but the bigger loss was when Rick Rickert went down with his back injury.  Orien Green came in to a lot of hype and was pretty good and Derek Alston  was a servicable mid season acquisation.  But come playoff time, the wheels seemed to fall off a little bit and they just couldn’t get over the line.

The biggest adjustment they made this season was the return of Rick Rickert and the recruitement of CJ Bruton.  We are all aware of how CJ got a release from the old Bullets, said he was going to Europe and then ends up with the Breakers.  From the Breakers point of view they attained one of (if not) the premier PG in the competition who has been around for ages and knows how to win.  Due to the points system, they are only running with one import and it seems to be going great guns for them.  After looking at various boxscores from their games, the minutes and points production seems to be shared around.  Yes Kirk Penney is leading the league in scoring but after that CJ, Ronaldson, Rickert, Forman and Jones are all scoring. 

Head coach Andrej Lemanis seems to be a pretty level headed guy and not a lot seems to phase him.  In this interview after the Crocs game he is pretty philosphocial about things and this seems to be helping his team.  The group that he has is a veteran group who all know how to play the game.  Another thing that I enjoy is the fact that their official website is always kept up to date (which some franchises do not!) and it is easy to read.  The NBL site has a great interview with CJ Bruton and it gets his thoughts on his teams progress. 

So can the Breakers continue to challenge and make a solid playoff run this year?  I think that if they stay healthy, they should!  Are we believers?  Well this guy certainly is and whilst he isn’t the most attractive man on the planet, I guess I will join him and say that I am as well!  But I am not in love with them and I could leave them if I tried!