Basketball: Aussie league pair boost Taranaki

Tall Black Tony Rampton is coming home.

And he's bringing Australian Brad Davidson with him to play for the Taranaki Mountain Airs in this year's National Basketball League.

"To have Tony back is great," Mountain Airs coach Warren Osborne said. "But to also sign Brad is huge."

Osborne said getting both players took some work.

"I spoke with Tony on Saturday and he's happy with the contract and so is Brad. Brad is a talented player and the deal was if we got Brad we got Tony."

Osborne said Rampton had always said he wanted to return to New Plymouth to play.

"But trying to get his signature has been difficult, especially when two or three other teams have been chasing him."

Rampton's profile as a Tall Black would be a huge boost for the sport in Taranaki and his height (2.13m) would be a big advantage for the Mountain Airs.

Davidson was a good distributor of the ball and a tenacious defender.

- NZPA