The ANBL arms race has seen the plush clubs pick up three high quality imports to start the season, potentially giving them an advantage at the start of the season.
The Breakers have contracted just two imports - point guard Edgar Sosa, and swingman DJ Newbill. However, Boucher is comfortable with his calculated risk.
"We feel we have the local talent here to perform to the level that we need, we also learnt a valuable lesson last year by only having two imports - we had the luxury when Tom Abercrombie got injured that we could bring in an import. It will be a real testing time to see if we've made the right decision.
"Right now we think the balance we've got is right, but time will tell to see whether we should take the gamble and get that third import spot. The problem is if you do sign that third import and have an import go down - there are no locals at that level available to replace that player.
"If we did, we wouldn't have a huge budget to spend, but if you lose a high calibre player you can probably bring in a higher-level import than what you would have if you started with three imports at the start of the season."
While their roster may not have the same punch as some of their rivals to start the season, the Breakers are banking on a healthier year. Last year's reel of import changes and injuries to the likes of Corey Webster and Tom Abercrombie left the Breakers without a truly settled lineup, and it often showed in some lacklustre performances down the stretch.
Ask Henare about injuries and a rueful grin emerges as he pines for a less stressful campaign.
"That would be great," he jokes. "But sport is sport; I'd be very surprised if we went through this season without one or two guys missing games."
"A big emphasis of ours in the offseason is our health program - what we're doing with the guys in the gym can help mitigate some of the injuries that we had."
"The last year has taught us - Dillon and I got thrown some things we had to deal with, and at least we know that if that does happen again, we've now got some things in place that we can lean on."
Helpfully, the Breakers' core of Kiwi players will be coming in fresh. Abercrombie, Kirk Penney, Rob Loe and Mika Vukona have all had the winter off, with no New Zealand NBL or Tall Blacks commitments, while Alex Pledger also sat out the Tall Blacks campaign.
Henare hopes that will have them ready to go today, and keep them in good shape throughout the season.
"We've got a bunch of our guys who have been well rested but what I like is that they've balanced that with work - work that you can't necessarily put in when you're with the national team - you can't spend time in the gym and working on your body and your health when you're touring and playing."
Boucher pulls out a popular pre-season cliché, stating the Breakers are in the best shape they've been.
"We've got some guys with good rest this season which traditionally we've never had so we're expecting them to be chomping at the bit to get out there and show what the offseason has done for them."
Few outside of the North Shore club are predicting a fifth title for the Breakers this season, and many are picking them for the wooden spoon, but Henare is not lowering his high expectations for his squad.
"No-one's expectations exceed our own. Last year, while we fell short of what we wanted to do, it definitely wasn't a disappointment - with everything that we dealt with, we finished three games away from first place; one away from second place.
"We were close - which still doesn't sit well with us and the competitors that we have, but every year we open our doors, we have high expectations."
The quest to meet those expectations begins today.
