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It's basketball's version of throwing them in the deep end and seeing if they can swim. Tonight the Tall Blacks' rebuilding project begins on the North Shore against the Beijing-bound Boomers.
The Australians might be without 213cm (7ft) stars Andrew Bogurt and David Anderson, who are yet to link with the team after completing respective NBA and Euroleague commitments, but they won't exactly be small - or weak.
The Boomers' squad for the two-match Ramsay Shield series still boasts two 213cm giants in Melbourne Tigers centre Chris Anstey and Italy-based Wade Helliwell.
Led by new Breakers point guard CJ Bruton and points machine Mark Worthington, they are also coming off a 3-0 sweep of fellow Olympic qualifiers Iran.
By contrast, the Tall Blacks are without their lone world-class performer, shooting guard Kirk Penney, who will join the team in Europe as they attempt to qualify for Beijing in a last chance repechage tournament.
Coach Nenad Vucinic is under no illusions as to the size of the task facing a side that has been decimated by the retirement of most of its experienced players.
"On paper, we haven't got a hell of a lot of chance," was Vucinic's matter-of-fact assessment of his team's hopes of getting to Beijing. He could just as easily have been talking about tonight's game.
The former Nelson Giants head coach, however, isn't about to wave the white flag.
"We know that the Tall Blacks have always played well when they are underdogs, when they are up against the odds, and that is going to be no different," he said. "We are going to preserve that culture."
They might be an unknown quantity but Vucinic was confident the Tall Blacks could still hold their own on the international stage.
"With the new team we really don't know how we are going to play but I am confident that we will get some results and put in some very good performances."
Combined with the retirement of Phill Jones - the team's biggest scoring threat over the last decade - Penney's absence leaves the team short of proven outside shooters.
Vucinic hoped that would be offset by the long-range capabilities of point guards Lindsay Tait, Michael Fitchett and Jeremy Kench. Fitchett and Kench are proven only in the NZBL, while Tait has experience in Europe and in the Australian league.
It says plenty about the status of the match that Vucinic said he was more concerned about having to reintegrate Penney in Europe than being without him against the Boomers. Both sides have bigger games on the horizon, so there is likely to be a fair degree of experimentation tonight.
"In some ways it is good to give some of the younger guys extra responsibility [now]," Vucinic said. "But any time New Zealand plays Australia it is going to be a dog fight for every possession and I don't expect it to be any different tonight."
Having had his original one-year contract extended through to the end of the 2010 world championships, Vucinic confirmed he was taking the long view to rebuilding the national side.
"In a lot of ways, with all the retirements, it is the start of a new era. We have some very young players in the squad so we have to look not only three or four years down the track, but probably five to 10 years.
"We had such a great group that got New Zealand basketball to great heights but those guys are getting into their 30s now so it is time for others to step up."
