KEY POINTS:
Boomers star CJ Bruton and former Tall Black Dillon Boucher should finally become Breakers within the next couple of days.
The Breakers were fined $6000 by the ANBL over an illegal approach to the Brisbane Bullets pair but chief executive Richard Clarke confirmed both would still be joining the New Zealand club.
Neither player has yet been granted an official release by the Bullets but Clarke expected that to happen "sometime in the next week or so".
Clarke said Boucher's agent was still working on his release while star recruit Bruton believed he had already been released and would be pursuing the matter once he returned from a coaching clinic for indigenous children in the Australian outback.
However, "they are not free agents yet and they can't be contracted to us until they become free agents", Clarke said.
Brisbane could yet fight to keep the pair but that is extremely unlikely following the club's sale by former owner Eddy Groves. The owner of troubled childcare chain ABC, Groves bankrolled the Bullets for nine years but sold them once ABC struck financial difficulties.
The new owners, led by businessman David Kemp, don't possess the same financial clout and Bruton is among a host of marquee stars set to leave after failing to agree terms.
New Bullets chief executive Brian Kerle has already begun the job of retooling the club's roster without Bruton, Ebi Ere and Sam Mackinnon.
Kerle last week conceded Ere, the league's leading points scorer last season, was out of the club's price-range, but said the Bullets still hoped to retain Tall Black Craig Bradshaw.
Clarke confirmed the Breakers were continuing their off-season recruitment under the assumption both Bruton and Boucher would be with the club for the coming season. Bruton's capture, though, meant the club had salary cap room for just one import.
The ANBL operates a joint dollars and points salary cap. Clubs are limited to a payroll of A$840,000 ($1 million) and 68 points, with players awarded a ranking from one to 10 points. With Bruton and Kirk Penney both 10-point players and imports automatically given a 10-point rating, the Breakers only have enough points left for one import.
"If we only have one it is not a bad thing for us, it means the local guys are filling the key positions," Clarke said.
With point-guard Bruton taking over the playmaking duties, American centre Rick Rickert is the leading contender for an import slot that has been earmarked for a big man.
Rickert made a strong impression before a bulging disk in his back curtailed his campaign last season and has previously said he would like to return to the club. Clarke said Rickert was "in the frame. It is just a matter of where he is at with his injury".
