Basketball: Wise head for Breakers

By DAVID LEGGAT


Analyse what the key players at the New Zealand Breakers bring to the table and most are easy to figure out.

Big Ben Pepper brings size under the boards; American import Mike Chappell is the points provider; Paul Henare is the organiser at point guard; and Pero Cameron is the glue in the middle.

Ask seasoned Australian Ben Thompson to define his role in the side and he'll likely give a shrug, which might mean he'd rather leave that to others to assess.

"I've been around a bit, played the league for a while," the 26-year-old Brisbane guard says. "I like to think I'm a pretty good defensive player who works hard. That's what I pride myself on."

When the Breakers had their back-to-back wins over the West Sydney Razorbacks - last season's beaten National Basketball League finalists - Thompson stepped forward to make his first significant contribution of the season.

Eight points and a game-high six steals contributed to the 90-83 win on the Friday night, 19 points - second only to Chappell's 23 - played a big part in the 106-97 win 24 hours later. That lifted the Breakers to fifth in the league.

Thompson's influence is likely to grow on the Breakers as the campaign progresses. He has been playing in this league since 1997, and the Breakers are his fourth club. He has valuable insight to impart as part of a franchise in its second year of existence.

"It's one of the reasons Frank [Arsego] got me over here. I've been helping Frank and [assistant coach] Wayne Brown out with individual players because I've played against most of them over the last six or seven years.

"I've played in the playoffs most years, so when we do get down to that end you could say I know what it takes."

Thompson arrived in the NBL within a year of leaving high school in Brisbane, via a stint at the Australian Institute of Sport.

Basketball has been his life, an all-consuming year-round grind which he admitted often left him worn out before the end of the Australian season.

That changed this year, however, as he took a break in the off-season and looked to his future. He is working his way through papers to get a degree in personal fitness training in Brisbane.

Thompson admits his outlook has changed with the wisdom that comes from maturity.

"When I was 18 or 19 and first got into the league I thought, 'This is great'. You don't think about what happens if you get sacked or get injured. My perspective has changed big-time.

"It's quite amazing how the mind works. Before I did the course I always worried about what would happen if I got the sack.

"This has helped me 100 per cent and now that I've got something to fall back on I'm really having fun with my basketball."

The promotional material lists Thompson as hailing from Dubbo. It's probably the name, but it always seems to attract attention. Yet it's misleading, he says.

"I was only there about two weeks," Thompson laughs. "It's quite funny when they introduce me as the boy from Dubbo. I grew up in Brisbane. People ask me about Dubbo, I say, 'Sorry, I can't help'."

Thompson reckons the Breakers must adopt a philosophy of winning all their home games, the bulk of which are in the first half of the schedule, and pick up wins where they can on the road.

The Breakers have a nightmare schedule, which involves playing eight of their last nine games across the Tasman. The last four are in three cities over nine days.

"It's ridiculous, but there's not much you can do about it," is Thompson's assessment. Other franchises have difficult programmes.


For now, the defending champions, the Sydney Kings, loom large in the Breakers' sights, at Trusts Stadium in Waitakere tomorrow night.

The Breakers have already beaten them once this season, 96-94 in their second game.

The Kings impressed in whipping the pace-setting Adelaide 36ers 122-106 on Wednesday, but Thompson, with a practised eye, isn't getting worked up by that. Indeed, he didn't watch the game.

"Yes, it was a big win, but you can't read anything into that. It doesn't mean they're going to come out and beat us by 20."


Thompson is content with his form. That off-season break helped.

"It took me a while to get my legs back into it, get my shot back. Frank gave me little extra court time last weekend and it paid dividends."

Arsego, too, likes what he's seeing. "He brings a hardness about him," he says.

"Once you've been in the competition you can handle the wear and tear. The key thing is he brings that to our training environment and players are swept along by that."


Ben Thompson


Born: January 5, 1978, Dubbo

Height: 1.93m

School: Runcorn State High School, Brisbane

Married: To Simone

NBL clubs: Brisbane Bullets 1997-98, West Sydney Razorbacks 1999-2000, Perth Wildcats 2001-2004, Breakers 2004-

Position: Guard

NBL games: 225, including 19 playoff games

Runnerup Most Improved Player in 2002