Basketball: Coach ready to take on the world

By PETER JESSUP

Tall Black coach Tab Baldwin goes to Wellington this week to discuss his plan for the world championships, his needs and desires with the powers-that-be in Basketball New Zealand.

They will be asking him to outline his philosophy and the approach and strategy he intends to take with the team to Indianapolis this time next year.

Should the Tall Blacks' preparation include games against other sides going to the world champs? Or should we prepare against alternative teams so as to take the other 15 at Indianapolis by surprise?

What Baldwin will tell them is that he will play anyone, anywhere, anytime.

It's the sort of attitude that's been missing in New Zealand sport for some time. After Sunday's win at the North Shore Events Centre which secured the world championship spot, children rushed on to the court for autographs and long-term basketball supporters and players' families to give the players a hug. Overseas, those people would not have got near their heroes.

Tall Black guard Paul Henare, badgered by a throng, was happy to stand there well after the game signing posters, flags and T-shirts. "We're gonna keep it going, eh guys?"' he asked them.

"You bet!" they all chirruped.

Basketball is in the top 10 popular sports in New Zealand as measured by player registration, the Hillary Commission says. It is the sixth most popular sport for kids.

But count the half-courts around. Council park development plans now always include a hoop, if not two. Listen to the rhythm of bouncing balls at those parks.

Basketball is the second-most popular sport in the world behind soccer. Kiwis can play it well, especially with the input of Maori and Pacific Island blood. All we lack is height.

Baldwin's attitude is the one the squad to Indianapolis need and the one all those kids need to take on board.

At game-time, he's the intent tactician. He will call time-outs with seconds to play in a quarter or a game. He never gives up hope while there's time on the clock.

Lining up for the world champs, he's reluctant to enter talk about New Zealand's chances. He will concede that the Kiwi players are at a disadvantage in terms of international exposure.

Teams in the African, American, Asian and European zones can catch quick train or plane flights to get top-level competition. And that New Zealand skill levels suffer as a result.

"But it's not only about skill," Baldwin says."There's heart, there's intelligence, there's toughness. I reckon we have a smart bunch of players. Our skill level is not up to world class, but we can make up a lot of ground in 10 months."

Mark Dickel was the subject of praise from everyone in the team, as well as Baldwin, after Sunday's game, initially for the enthusiasm and energy he had brought to the week-long build-up camp, then for the commitment he got from others and the way he lifted them, then for his game-day performance.

It was Dickel, playing in the Australian league, who had told the rest of the Tall Blacks all week that "we can take these guys, anytime." By Sunday he had made the Boomers - at the start of this series 34-1 winners over New Zealand, regulars at the Olympics and world champs, tickets already booked to Indianapolis - human.

He had told the rest of the Tall Blacks to believe the coach when Baldwin told the team they could win.

Baldwin's synopsis on the Tall Blacks' positioning ahead of September 2002 is completely positive: "Do we need some competition between now and then? Absolutely. What else do we need to do? Other than growing a couple of seven-footers between now and September next year ... "

The rest stays hanging, but says a lot.