There is one tangible reason, in particular, for renewed hope, and his name is Cedric Jackson. The former league MVP returns to the North Shore not just with his own abundant talents but the ability to enhance the game in every teammate around him.
General manager Richard Clarke reports the player the club have recruited is comparable to the one who guided the team to two titles in two seasons, but insists no individual will be under pressure to single-handedly right the ship.
"I don't think he has to live up to any expectations other than his own," Clarke said. "He's got high expectations of himself.
"He does all those things that make the team better. He's been very vocal since he's been back; he sets very high standards, pulling guys up on things that might have slipped last year.
"That's a real plus and something that we really wanted from him - that leadership."
Around Jackson, the Breakers have ameliorated the areas in which they were weak, particularly the big men positions. With Alex Pledger battling injuries and Mika Vukona struggling with foul trouble, the two starters left a large void for a bench that failed to handle the load.
This season, with Ekene Ibekwe and Tai Wesley, the club is more robust in the 4- and 5-spots. The pair give the Breakers size and strength down low, helping to seal what was a porous defence.
In addition to solidifying the defence, the Breakers' new recruits - guard Rhys Carter among them - were targeted with an eye on increased speed, toughness and athleticism. They are qualities for which the Breakers were well-known during Andrej Lemanis' tenure, but also attributes his successor wished to emphasise.
"With the review with Dean [Vickerman] at the end of last year, we were able to identify what we thought hadn't worked," Clarke said.
"We thought we hadn't really given Dean the opportunity to say, 'this is what my team looks like', and then recruit to that."
The roster adjustments also mean the Breakers will be able to throw different looks at opponents, according to Tom Abercrombie.
"We're much more athletic than we were last year so hopefully we should be able to play a faster style and maintain that for a lot longer. It's exciting - there's definitely some changes in personnel and playing style, and I think we needed that."
The Breakers are hardly the only side in the competition with a new and improved complexion. The league as a whole has been boosted by its import stocks, a flood of quality that Clarke credits to the Breakers' biggest rivals. With Perth last season proving a happy home for James Ennis, allowing the NBA draftee to work on his game before returning to the Miami Heat roster, others have followed his lead.
"There's some exciting players in here and everyone's got better." Clarke said. "We've got two or three guys coming straight out of the draft and into the NBL; we've got guys like Josh Childress who see it as an opportunity to play and keep themselves in the NBA frame.
"You don't really know until it starts, but from the way rosters are developing you'd expect that anyone can win on any given night, and that makes for an exciting season. It could be one of the closest ones we've seen, scrapping for those playoff spots."
The Breakers possess plenty of motivation to emerge triumphant. Seventeen losses stung a group of players so accustomed to success, and that pain should be sufficient to ensure last season is looked on as an aberration rather than the new normal.
"No one's happy with how we finished last year and that still leaves a bit of a bad taste in your mouth," Abercrombie said. "That's certainly motivation going into this year - to get back to playing how we know we can play and establish that toughness and that Breakers style we're known for."
