Basketball: Auckland win battle to re-sign Cameron

By PETER JESSUP

Auckland and Tall Blacks captain Pero Cameron is the hottest property in New Zealand basketball outside NBA guard Sean Marks, the bun fight for his services ending yesterday with a renewed pro contract for the champions.

Cameron was chased hard by Wellington and Waikato among others, with figures of $125,000 talked about. That was outlandish given that team budgets for players run to around $200,000 maximum. He'd say only that the one-year deal he has at Auckland paid less than others had offered but he wanted to stay with his team-mates and the coaching of Tab Baldwin and to continue a partnership that has created an Auckland dynasty of four national titles.

"It's great news for me [staying in the city]. It's the first time I'd really gone out in the market - I wanted to stay but you have to think of family, opportunity." And being part of the project to push an Auckland-based national side into the Australian league was a big factor, Cameron said.

Baldwin yesterday said Cameron would have been signed for that side anyway. Cameron's return was a huge boost and a big vote of confidence for the side, Baldwin said.

The deal will see Cameron work at Unitec, the Rebels home court base, exploiting the degrees in sports science and sport coaching and management he is about to complete there. It also allows him to return to England in the off-season, his London side Chester Jets moving rapidly up the England league ladder after five consecutive wins. Their season finishes with finals in May, with Cameron allowed a late start to the April-opening Kiwi season should they make it.

He's been frequently labelled Most Valuable Player there as he is here, and of the chances of re-signing at Chester or moving to another England side said: "I haven't exactly gone unnoticed here." The England league allows up to five imports - two unrestricted and three others with parental links and Cameron has those via a Scottish father - so the standard is high given the number of United States and European players.

"It's cold mate, the weather's always bad and there's a problem with the meat. It's not the same as home and it never will be," he said of England.

But at 25, with 80 games for the national side, experience in the Malaysian league with Perak Eagles and now the English league he's hot property. A solid performance on the world stage as he leads the Tall Blacks at next September's Olympics will push his stakes to slam-dunk level.

Record: Rookie of the Year 1992; NZ league MVP 1993/94/95/97/99; Most outstanding forward 1998, most outstanding NZ forward 1994/95/96/98/99; National League All Star Five 1994-1999 consecutively.