KEY POINTS:
At first, Tim Behrendorff doesn't appear that big. Mind you, he is sitting down.
It's not until he stands up and drags his 2.11m frame (just under seven-foot in old money) across the court and out the door of the North Shore Events Centre that his physical dimensions are truly revealed.
Walking beside him is a curious experience, as if you yourself have somehow shrunk.
A half-hour chat with the 25-year-old fifth-generation Australian of German descent doesn't reveal anything nearly as startling as that moment when he gets up to leave.
Verbally prodding him, like some curious Lilliputian dancing around with a stick, fails to turn up the dream angle.
Born and raised on the Gold Coast, Behrendorff wasn't exactly plucked out of the ghetto after being spotted playing street ball. Nor did he turn to basketball at a late age after shooting up a foot and half in his final year at school.
Truth is, he's always been tall - "looking back, I'm always the tallest in my class photos" - healthy enough and, although maybe not a natural, has always played basketball.
He has a maths degree and, if he wasn't a professional sportsman, would probably be a teacher.
That's not to say he's not interesting. Certainly he's a straight enough shooter, both on and off the court.
Having signed a contract extension that will keep him at the Breakers for two more years and having established himself as a vital cog at the table-topping Harbour Heat, Behrendorff is now living in New Zealand year-round.
Does he like it?
"It's okay, the weather sucks," he says, sounding a touch underwhelmed.
Sure, no one raised on the Gold Coast could be expected to rave about Auckland's weather, but you sense there is more to it than that.
Unlike a host of basketball pros who have ended up calling New Zealand home, Behrendorff gives the impression he is just passing through. He hasn't, for example, bought a pair of trousers since he's been in New Zealand, preferring to shop at places that he knows cater for tall people when the Breakers visit Australia.
He's here to learn his trade and build his career but, ultimately, his goal is to play for Australia and then live in the United States with his American wife Rebecca.
That said, coming to New Zealand at the instigation of Harbour coach John Dorge was "definitely the right move" for a player who is still several years away from reaching his peak.
The Dorge thread runs strongly through the recent years of Behrendorff's career. In his debut ANBL season with Cairns Taipans in 2004, Dorge was the assistant coach. And it was Dorge, again in a role as an assistant at the Breakers the following season, who convinced Andrej Lemanis to bring Behrendorff to New Zealand.
Although still improving, Behrendorff has been a "major piece of the puzzle" in Harbour's season, says Dorge.
"Tim is a very intelligent basketball player. If he is getting double-teamed he is going to make someone around him look very good. He is very unselfish and very smart."
Dorge has his protege pegged as a future Boomer.
"He's just got to keep developing like he has in the last few years. The more minutes he gets in the NZNBL and the ANBL will only make him a better player.
"He's a couple of years off reaching his potential but I see him in the green and gold one day, absolutely."
Behrendorff too sees his career as very much a work in progress. Although a dominant figure at NZNBL level, where he ranks third in field goal percentage and second in blocking, he didn't start a single game for the Breakers last season.
But he did come off the bench in all 33 games, notching 125 points and 100 rebounds.
"Over the last three years I've been able to develop my game enough so that I can get on and get a few minutes a game. Hopefully I'll continue developing my game so that one day I can be starter."
The youngest of three brothers and not the most gifted player as a youth, Behrendorff is well used to having to work his way up the totem pole.
"I never really dominated as a kid. I didn't really get good until I was probably 18 or 19, that's when I started to grow into my body a bit."
Although he is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Breakers and Heat teammate Oscar Foreman, who forced his way into the Australian team for its current tour of China, he's happy for now to be concentrating on Harbour's playoff campaign.
With Foreman and Brent Charleton also to make the switch from the Heat to the Breakers when the ANBL tips off in September, Behrendorff is confident the New Zealand franchise can post its first winning record in what will be its fifth season in the Australian league.
"I guess come the end of July we'll have a better idea of what's going on and who's in our squad, and then we'll work with what we've got to see how good we can be.
"But I think we'll definitely be playoff contenders this year. We've just got to go in with that attitude that we do deserve to be there. We've got to develop that killer instinct and win some games."
Dorge, who recently parted company with the Breakers, wouldn't be surprised if Behrendorff turns out to be a key figure at the club.
"He is a big threat inside, he can defend the bigs, he can score: he is the sort of guy you can build a team around - that's what we have done this year."
