KEY POINTS:
When Kirk Penney joined the Breakers he pledged to use his contacts to help the club recruit quality players.
The fruit of that pledge is Rick Rickert, an NBA draftee who never quite made the cut at Minnesota Timberwolves and Detroit Pistons.
Rickert and Penney played for competing universities in the prestigious Big Ten Conference in the United States and then alongside each other in the NBA development league.
After stints in Slovenia, Greece and Spain, it didn't take much more than a tap on the shoulder from Penney for Rickert to make up his mind to give New Zealand a shot.
"I liked the opportunity that was presented here," Rickert said.
"Kirk was a big draw for me because we played together in the Big Ten. He said nothing but great things about the place."
Another glowing reference was provided by Rickert's fellow Minneapolis native Rich Melzer, who played for the Breakers in 2005/06 before briefly cracking the NBA with San Antonio Spurs.
Rickert is certainly a different beast than last year's star import Carlos Powell, whose scoring deeds litter the Breakers' record charts.
Powell's contribution is viewed with mixed feelings at the Breakers.
The showman scored a record 50 points against Melbourne Tigers last December - but the Breakers lost the game 119-117.
The biggest knock on Powell was that he was more concerned with his individual numbers than the team's results.
A 2.11m centre, Rickert will perform a different role for the team than the more athletic Powell.
"I'm a post presence, I can step outside and shoot the three, I am going to be a rebounder, a scorer and all around help the team become better," he says.
He'll also bring a vastly different attitude.
"If I go in there and get 10 points and four rebounds and we win, hey, I'm happy.
"We have a lot of people on this team who can score so it is not like I have to score all the time. I am not even worried about that. We have people who can get it done. I just want to contribute in any way I can.
"It is about winning now, it is not about individual people."
That sort of talk will be music to coach Andrej Lemanis's ears.
And if Rickert is as good at doing the right things as he is at saying them, the Breakers will have signed a real gem.
"The professionalism of this team and this club is just great," is Rickert's early impression of his new home.
Of the team's struggles over the last three years, he says: "It is all about this year, what is in the past is in the past. We can't do anything about it whether it's good or bad. All you can do is look forward and we are looking forward to this season."
He's even happy to talk up the ANBL: "I've played anywhere from the NBA to the Euroleague and [the ANBL] is as good as any other professional league. I don't see why it's not given its due."
While those sentiments might be straight out of the media relations handbook - he has a degree in communications - it doesn't make them untrue.
Rickert genuinely appears relaxed, easygoing and optimistic - not words used overly frequently when describing the Breakers.
Then again, he probably doesn't have that much to be upset about, having travelled here with his model/actress wife, who spent this week showing off Rachel Hunter's swimsuit line at New Zealand Fashion Week.
"It's a great opportunity for her and a great opportunity for me and we are really happy to be here."
