Basketball: Boucher goes from BMX to big wheel

By PETER JESSUP

It's a given that elite sports people need more drive than the average to succeed at the highest levels. But it's often in unusual areas where that determination first shows, and so it was with basketballer Dillon Boucher.

He was North Island BMX champion three times as a young boy and remembers beating one Carlos Spencer when both were around age 10. "He was this huge hulking guy and I was short and skinny at that stage," said Boucher, now the 1.96m, 98kg small forward for the Auckland Stars side in Sunday's NBL final.

Should the Stars win it will make Boucher one of the most-decorated players in the league's history with seven titles, five already snared with Auckland, one with Waikato in 2002 before he shifted back north again.

He freely admits he moved south to stick with mate Pero Cameron and a winning side and he returned to the Stars because of the Breakers influence.

"I always want to play for a team that's capable of winning the title," he says.

The past 18 months have been a slog, from the Tall Black campaign of last year straight to the Breakers and the Australian NBL season from October to February. He concedes it was all a bit much.

"I hit a lull in the middle of the Breakers season. The body felt like it was ready to die. It's more a mental thing but when you feel like that you get a sort of over-use, you get niggly injuries and the mental strain increases."

That followed the change of coach from Jeff Green to Frank Arsego, and new demands on players.

"When Mike Chappell arrived it all settled down and everyone felt much better. It was a shame we didn't have Pero and Ben Melmeth on the court to start the season because of injuries and it took us a while to recover."

This year, he's fit, mentally refreshed and looking forward to pushing on from Sunday's final to hold his place in the Tall Blacks for the Olympics.

He's looking forward to playing in Nelson, where the Stars were beaten 94-89 in their last roundplay game two weekends ago.

"The Nelson crowd are educated and enthusiastic - I'd be very surprised if we didn't hear any booing down there. But that's what makes it good when you win there - you enjoy it a bit more beating a good team on their home patch. That crowd is worth a few points to them - I don't know how many - but it's winning in those environments that builds character."

Defence and rebounding will decide the game, Boucher feels. It may not be a pretty final.

"Darnell McCulloch and Mika Vukona are big on the boards. I'm sure there'll be lots of physicality in the game."

It was something the Aussie commentators noticed in Boucher's games for the Breakers as that season wore on and he has brought a new intensity to his New Zealand NBL game since.

"When someone mentions you're good at something, then you strive to prove that, to be the best at it. I like to walk out and see my opponent looking at me as if they know they're in for a tough game."

His defence never in question, Boucher has been working on weaknesses in his attacking game, mainly the outside shot, for his Tall Black ambitions.

"Internationally, you have to offer everything or you're going to be left out. Tab [Baldwin] hasn't come to me and said work on your three-shot or anything but I know that when I'm open I have to nail those shots because otherwise someone else will get the spot on the floor."

He has used video and biomechanics to improve his long-range shooting.

The Stars took a while to hit their straps, losing four of their first six games before coming right at the back end of the season, despite a tough run in meeting all the playoff teams on the way to the finals series.

The Breakers players' late arrival meant they had no chemistry early, Boucher says, but when they came, it helped having those hard games as finals preparation. He's confident about Sunday.

The Olympic goal burns bright in him. He wants to make a big impression in the three-test home series against Australia next month, as he did when New Zealand won the 2001 series 2-1 to earn the right to the Oceania spot for the 2002 world championships at Indianapolis.

That 2001 series is major motivation for both sides, he says. "It was the first time New Zealand won and everyone in Australia rides them about it, they were laughed at. For us, we want that feeling again."

Boucher drove hard for a spot at the Sydney Olympics but missed out. That experience of emptiness motivates him too.

"I don't want to feel like that again, either. It drives me. You put in so much work and then you miss out - I'd do everything possible not to get that feeling again."

He was originally called into the Tall Blacks as first reserve: he had gone to the 2001 Goodwill Games as team video operator but Sean Marks pulled out of the squad at the last minute with NBA commitments.

Now, he has cemented a place in the squad. He's more confident in his game, he feels, and he senses that in those around him. It's due in no small part to the Breakers' influence of full-time professionalism.

"If we play the type of basketball we're capable of [at Athens] we're going to beat teams. That was the case at Indianapolis - it's who turns up to play."

There's one thing any basketball fan knows about Boucher: He always turns up to play. He's known as "Dill" but that is no reflection on his output or reaction time. If his nickname were to reflect his performance, it would be "Mr 110 per cent".

Dillon Boucher

Born: December 27, 1975, New Plymouth.

Married to Nikki. Son Jayden, 3, and daughter Mackenzie, 9 months.

1.96m 98kg small forward.

Six NBL titles, five with Auckland 1995/96/97/99 and 2000 and one with Waikato, 2002.

NZ under-20 representative, toured the US with a NZ selection in 1999.

Tall Black debut: 2001 at the Goodwill Games.

Breakers: 2003/04