Slam dunk: Taranaki calls Rampton home

Former Tall Blacks and Nelson Giants basketballer Damon Rampton is high on Warren Osborne's Christmas shopping list.

The Taranaki Mountain Airs coach is hopeful of signing the two-metre forward for next year's NBL.

"Damon wants to come back and it would be a super signing if we could get him," Osborne said yesterday.

"I've been chasing him for some time. We put a generous offer to him last year, but the timing wasn't right."

Osborne said he had heard Rampton wasn't staying with the Giants and a phone call confirmed that.

"He said he had been talking to a couple of teams and asked if we could get a package together that would suit him."

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The Breakers will see in the New Year in Townsville.

They head back across the Tasman to play the Perth Wildcats on Saturday night, then tackle the Sydney Kings at North Shore Events Centre on December 27 before squaring off against the Townsville Crocs in Townsville on New Year's Eve.

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Otago's Tall Black Mark Dickel has left his Belgian club and is now looking for a job.

Dickel was released by Telindus Oostende this week following a mutual agreement between the player and the team.

Dickel had averaged 10.8 points, four assists and 3.7 rebounds per game in the Belgian league. In European competition, he averaged 6.6 points, 3.1 assists and 2.6 rebounds.

Dickel, who turns 27 on Sunday, effectively now goes on the market and will hope to be picked up by another club in Europe.

It is also possible that he could return to the Australian league, although joining the Breakers, whose salary cap is nearly full, would appear to be an unlikely option.

Oostende replaced Dickel with talented American guard Jason Gardner, a four-year starter at the University of Arizona.

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The NBA team you wouldn't want to be travelling with right now? It has to be the Cleveland Cavaliers.

A 95-85 loss to the Indiana Pacers was their 34th in succession on the road, tying the second longest road futility streak in NBA history.

The 1989-90 and 1990-91 New Jersey Nets were also beaten in 34 games in a row on their travels. The all-time record for consecutive road losses is 43, held by the 1990-91 and 1991-92 San Antonio Spurs.

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Vince Carter and Kobe Bryant lead the Eastern and Western Conferences in votes received after the first returns in next year's All-Star balloting programme.

NBA fans worldwide are responsible for voting in the starters for the 53rd All Star Game, to be played at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles on February 16.

Toronto Raptor Carter leads all players with 696,652 votes, followed by Detroit Pistons centre Ben Wallace on 597,959 in the Eastern Conference.

Lakers ace Bryant is third overall, and top of the Western Conference with 577,505 votes.

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Further on the NBA, Philadelphia 76ers star Allen Iverson is the top scorer and top points per game performer in the regular season.

The tattooed point guard is averaging 28.9 points a game and has bagged 606 altogether, eight more than Paul Pierce of the Boston Celtics.