Basketball: Behrendorff expected to join Breakers squad

The Breakers have filled out their roster of 10, with announcements to be made as soon as the Australian NBL completes registration of the three latest buys, a centre, forward and guard.

Under ANBL rules the team cannot identify players offered contracts until those contracts are ratified, but it is believed the forward is a second American import to join Mike Chappell, the centre is Tim Behrendorff from the Cairns Taipans, and the guard is from the local league.

The 2.11m Behrendorff comes looking for more game-time than he was getting at Cairns and will back up Ben Pepper.

The Breakers begin training on Monday, but their time together will be severely limited because of the domestic finals series being played out until July 8, followed by the Tall Blacks' Oceania series and tournament commitments against Australia, China and Lithuania.

New coach Andrej Lemanis has the 10 together for just eight days next month and 10 in August before the season tip-off.

"It limits our preparation. It will take time to get a new coach, new players and a new offensive and defensive system to gel, and I expect the team to take some time to get confident," Lemanis said.

"It could take us a while to critically assess the players. It would be different if they had been playing together for two or three years under the same coach.

"I expect us to get better and better as the season progresses, and it is that consistent improvement that is important."

Bogut shows respect

The No 1 NBA draft pick, Andrew Bogut, is expected to play the Tall Blacks in August, his new contract with the Milwaukee Bucks stipulating that he is available for the Boomers.

Bogut, 20, stands to earn US$14.5 million ($20.7 million) a year.

"I'm not going to be like these American kids who buy five or six Hummers and a huge house and have 5000 earrings - that's not me. I have just sold my old car for a grand and a half," he told Australian TV.

"My family has never been surrounded with a lot of money. My dad worked hard in his own business in Melbourne. I've learned to respect money a lot."

Bogut is the seventh Australian to make the NBA draft, after averaging 20 points and 12 rebounds at the University of Utah. Another Aussie centre, Luke Schenscher, who has been at Georgia Tech, was also in the draft and is expected to play the Oceania series.

He is the second non-American to be picked at one, after Yao Ming, who is also set to play the four-way tournaments in China and Australia in August.

Bogut, who as a teenager was dropped from state teams, said he wanted to dominate for the Bucks, not be a fill-in as Aussie player Luc Longley had been with Chicago.

Knockout playoff Auckland and Nelson will field their top teams in the knockout playoff at Trusts Stadium tomorrow.

Whereas it was the Stars whose preparation was disrupted last week before they were beaten by Hawkes Bay, this week it is the Giants who have that problem with their big import, Jacob Holmes, away with the Boomers in training camp.

Holmes flies to Auckland tomorrow after five days with the Boomers on the Gold Coast. The other Giants also travel tomorrow.

That may be enough to tip the advantage the home team's way. Stars coach Kenny Stone conceded yesterday that the Tall Blacks' training camp might have taken the edge off his team. "It did have an impact - their energy levels were down mentally and physically. They're recovered now and it's not an issue."

Giants coach and Tall Blacks assistant Nenad Vucinic said the players, teams and coaches knew one another's strengths and weaknesses so well that the result would come down to who executed better.

"There are no unknowns in this league," he said.

"The pressure is on Auckland. We've beaten them away this year. They are ahead of us on the ladder and playing in front of their crowd.

"The crowd hasn't affected us in the past."

Crucial for the Stars could be containing Ed Book's drives to the basket. The Giants captain is hitting his best form as he recovers from a prolonged ankle injury and pushes for Tall Black honours.