Just how good are the Western Bay Suns?
To get an answer, hitting up the coach is usually a reasonable place to start, although Alex Stojkovic admitted just days out from his first Conference League game of the season, even he's struggling to know for sure.
"I'd say, given how we've gone pre-season, that we'd be safely in the top 3-4 (second tier) teams in New Zealand, but we've had some pretty one-sided results so we won't know until we start," said Stojkovic, who is also general manager of the Foot Mechanics-sponsored Suns.
The Suns, who last season put together a 15:2 winning record in Stojkovic's first year in charge, which lead them to a share of the Conference League (central region) title, rounded off their pre-season last weekend with wins over Taupo 94-54 and the Waikato Pistons 80-60.
They open their season in a 13-team Northern Conference this weekend, with a home doubleheader against Jeff Green's Waikato Titans (Saturday, 3.30pm) and Auckland University of Technology (Sunday, 2.30pm). Both games are at the QEII youth centre.
Saturday's clash is mouth-watering, particularly after the egoistic Green was suspended following a clash with referee Lloyd Dunstan, now the Suns' manager, in Tauranga.
"There's some respect for Jeff because he's won as a coach at every level," Stojkovic said, "but his behaviour is often so over the top and contrived, and totally unnecessary."
Stojkovic has a talented squad, but said it was hard to decipher how they would stack up.
"Every team we've played pre-season has been so weak, so we're either going to be really good or we're in for a huge crash-landing."
The Suns' offence would match anything in the league, but the defensive patterns were taking longer to bed down, Stojkovic said, who last year took the Suns to the CBL national final.
Suns' import, 2.03m-tall Canadian Mike King, will carry a heavy workload, as will swingman Sasha Tasevski.
Captain John Dishroon and Whare Bidois add outside scoring presence, with US-based Charlie Piho returning next month after his college commitments.
Suns not sure if they will rise high
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