Basketball: Marks' exit opens up spot for Boucher

Sean Marks was a late withdrawal from the Tall Blacks side for the Goodwill Games yesterday, opening the international pathway for Auckland captain Dillon Boucher.

Marks had intended to join the team for their warm-up for the Games in Brisbane.

The squad leaves for Melbourne today for three build-up games, including one against the powerful United States team.

But interest from two NBA franchises, Seattle - where he has been on the bench for too long - and now the Miami Heat, meant he'd be tossing away a chance at a career.

Tall Blacks coach Tab Baldwin said the decision would not affect the Aucklander's chances of future selection "provided he's available for the team work that comes before - he can't expect to just turn up and play".

The Tall Blacks play the Australian league Melbourne Tigers on Wednesday and the Victorian Titans on Thursday in what will be an introduction to size - Marks was their tallest player but he would have been short against the Aussie teams.

They then meet the US, made up of 11 NBA players aged under 23 and the top college player, now also signed to the big league, in a closed-to-the-public session next Saturday.

They fly straight to Brisbane after the game and play their first Goodwill Games match against Canada the following Monday.

Boucher, aged 25, an energetic guard/forward, is the first to admit he started the season slowly, but feels the selection is justified by his late-season form. He went to the US with the Tall Black tourists in 1999, playing college teams, but will earn his first test cap in Brisbane.

"To represent your country is what you aim for. It's not daunting - we're huge underdogs so we go with nothing to lose and everything to win. And it'll be nice to have Pero Cameron on the same side instead of playing against him," Boucher said of the knockout semi Auckland lost to Cameron's team in the national league.

Tall Black and Titan Mark Dickel has a calf injury but is being treated by the club medics and is expected to be fit in time. That is the only injury concern after the last weekend of the national league.

Tall Blacks captain Cameron was the only player involved in the Wellington-Waikato final on Saturday.

The squad is a good mix of youth and experience, but without former frontliners Peter Pokai, Robert Hickey, Brad Riley, Nenad Vucinic, Ralph Lattimore.

Tall Blacks: Pero Cameron (c), Willie Burton, Glen Newbold, Tony Rampton, Damon Rampton, Kirk Penney, Phill Jones, Judd Flavell, Paul Henare, Mark Dickel, Brendon Cathie-Pongia, Dillon Boucher.