Basketball: Cameron signature a coup

By PETER JESSUP

Pero Cameron will captain the new Kiwi basketball team in their first two seasons in the Australian national league.

Cameron's signature is the coup team backers had wanted and needed. It seems sure now that other class players will join the fledgling side and sponsors will be keen to associate with a clearly competitive outfit.

Cameron's sway in New Zealand basketball is as huge off-court as it is on it. The Tall Black centre/forward and captain was the only non-NBA player named in the world championships All Star side after the tournament in Indianapolis last year.

Proteam hopes to announce the signing of two more Tall Blacks next week. Guards Paul Henare and Phill Jones are the likely names, but chief executive Michael Redman was not giving anything away yesterday.

Cameron said it was a dream to be part of a New Zealand team in one of the world's top professional leagues.

The influence on the game in this country would be huge, he said, increasing player numbers, providing opportunities for professional careers, putting pressure on elite players and improving the performances at the top level.

"I thought I was going to miss the boat," the 28-year-old said in London. "Now I just want to be part of it all."

The team's backers aim to sign four seasoned Australian players, probably forwards considering New Zealand's lack of talented players with height in that position, but they cannot talk to ANBL players until the finals series finishes in a fortnight.

Players from the New Zealand national league will be contracted once it is known how much of the A$975,000 ($1,053,000) salary cap has been spent on stars such as Cameron.

He will not have come cheap. It's believed he earns about $150,000 with his English side the Chester Jets, with the opportunity for bonuses for title wins.

The Jets have won three separate titles under Cameron's leadership. Last week they beat London Towers to win the National Trophy - one of English basketball's knockout competitions - and are third in the league, just behind Brighton and Sheffield, and well clear of fourth-placed London with a month to run in the championship.

Cameron's two boys Tobias, four, and Flynn, two, fly home from England today with his mother Mata - who was last month awarded the Zena B. Gay Award for services to the game after years working as a local and national age-group coach.

Cameron and his partner return in early May once his Jets commitments are over. He will then renew ties with the Waikato Titans as they seek a third consecutive national league title under Jeff Green, also coach of the Proteam ANBL side.

Lifestyle was clearly a factor in Cameron's choice to sign with Proteam. He has played nine winters on the trot here and in England, and his sons are about to start school.

Proteam have decided on a team name, which has been sent for registration with the ANBL but won't be revealed until trademark and copyright legalities are finalised. Playing strip, sponsorship and broadcasting deal announcements will follow.

The tip-off is in the first week of October, with Proteam promising live TV coverage of home games.