Basketball: Henare expects Stockton to hit the ground running

David Stockton in action for the Sacramento Kings. Photo / Getty Images

The Breakers are expecting new point guard David Stockton to quickly take control of the side's offense after sitting out this weekend's double-header.

Stockton, son of legendary NBA star John Stockton, agreed to a short-term deal this morning with the Auckland club as they looked to find a temporary replacement for injured guard Ben Woodside.

Breakers coach Paul Henare told Radio Sport they wanted a straight swap with Woodside in terms of skill set.

"It was a last minute pick-up with Woody going down last weekend," Henare said. "Every player is going to have their own strengths and weaknesses but what we wanted to try and do was bring in someone who could come in and run a similar, if not the same, role and skill set that Woody has because I just feel we are just starting to click.

"It is already going to be an adjustment and bringing someone in that was totally different doesn't seem to work."

Stockton was well-known to Henare and the Breakers coaching staff having caught their eye during the pre-season.

"He was a guy we knew about," Henare explained. "Ross McMains, my assistant with the Tall Blacks, had spent some time with him in the D-League as his assistant coach.

"He has had two years out of college and those years were spent in the D-League. He has some short stints - a couple of games here or there in the NBA - but most of his professional career has been in the D-League.

"He put up really good numbers in the D-League as a high assists guys, he can score the ball as well and gets after it defensively. He is a pretty complete player.

"We have got him in here to be our point guard and that is what we expect of him. As of this weekend we will plug away with what we have but once we get back we will give him some time in the team."

Henare says Stockton definitely won't play against the Cairns Taipans tomorrow and is unlikely to travel with the team to Perth on Saturday for a Sunday game.

"He won't get here until tomorrow and that is not ideal considering we play tomorrow and he is coming from Croatia. It is very unlikely that he will play this weekend."

Henare says the Breakers never considered former star Cedric Jackson, who was last night released by Melbourne United, as they had already made their mind up about Stockton before the Jackson news broke.

"No his name never came up. We had already made up our mind."