Basketball: Breakers on brink of Pepper re-signing

The Breakers are expected to announce the re-signing of big man Ben Pepper any time.

Pepper's deal will open the door for others because new coach Andrej Lemanis will then begin building his squad around the 213cm West Australian centre/forward, one of the biggest men in the league.

Lemanis and Breakers chairman Keith Ward were giving little away yesterday about the shape of the roster for the 2005-06 season. But two players who will have trials with the club on its lightning trip to China at the end of this month will be Americans who are prospects to fill the second import spot beside Mike Chappell.

Chappell's agent, Bernie Lee, recommended point guard Robbie Reid and small forward Kitwana Rhymer who both come out of US colleges and via the NBDL, the development league for the NBA.

Lemanis would also like to take all the 2004-05 Breakers who are in limbo, to see them compete for a place, but in most cases their domestic NBL sides are reluctant to let them go.

"They are invariably some of the better players on their [NZ] NBL rosters. They're in teams trying to win games. I know where they're coming from," Lemanis said.

He's negotiating to free up some to travel. "But I won't be able to take everyone I want to."

Two players other than Pepper have been made offers to join the Breakers but they are not members of last season's squad.

Four of the starting five might be Pepper, Chappell, Aaron Olson and Paul Henare.

Ward said there was some urgency in settling the roster so last season's players knew where their future lay. Included are Tall Blacks captain Pero Cameron, who is testing the market, Dillon Boucher, and Lindsay Tait, a big improver last season.

Ward conceded they might have to wait as late as July to sign their second import. Lots of players wanted to try their chances at NBA summer camps and, should they not make NBA teams, would be more realistic about their value, Ward said.

Other key players yet to be re-signed by their clubs include Kings captain Jason Smith and C. J. Bruton, Darnell Mee at the Hawks, Mark Bradtke, Andrew Gaze and Rashad Tucker at Melbourne, league MVP Brian Wethers and former Breaker Ben Melmeth at the Pirates. Other New Zealand domestic league players yet to be re-signed by their clubs include Tony Rampton (Cairns), Adrian Majstrovich (Perth), David Cooper (36ers) and Miles Pearce (Brisbane).

Heat's Krishna in doubt

Harbour Heat's Prem Krishna is a 50:50 prospect of playing the return game against Waikato Titans in Te Awamutu tomorrow night after re-tearing a hamstring when in collision with Kantrail Horton as the Heat lost at the North Shore Events Centre last weekend.

Harbour expect to have Mark Bracewell back after a turned ankle but Valance McCarthy remains a week or two away.

Their coach, Steve Done, was apparently not overly concerned with the loss, but rather with the slow start. They put up plenty of shots - 25 more than the Titans - but execution was poor at 30 per cent.

Auckland go to Taranaki on Saturday with a full squad including Olson who arrived back in the country yesterday and was expected at his first training with the Stars tonight.

"We've missed him. Our three-point shooting hasn't been as good as it should be," said coach Kenny Stone. Olson's return allows Tait to go back to his favoured point guard spot and in turn Glen Joe will go to the bench.

Stone is also demanding more accuracy from the free-throw line after the Stars shot just seven of 16 during their loss to Wellington.

Rams overcome upset

So far, the Canterbury Rams' winning ways in the league have been prefaced with the word "upset", but maybe that should now end.

Three of their victims this season were in the 2004 semifinals and they have a chance to complete the sweep when they host the Nelson Giants in Christchurch on Saturday.

Canterbury, by design, had their squad together throughout the unbeaten pre-season campaign, so they haven't had the same chemistry problems many more favoured teams are encountering.

Wellington Saints are missing forward Brendon Polyblank, Aussie Ben Knight has only just arrived back from his Aussie NBL heroics with the Sydney Kings and now they must introduce another import to their system.

Bay Hawks have an all-star lineup, but are clearly not gelling with reigning MVP Adrian Majstrovich relegated to virtual role player status.

Rams forward Ryan Prillman picked up his second consecutive player of the week award over the weekend with his 20.0 points (16/31 FG, 8/8 FT), 15.5 rebounds and 3.0 blocks against the Hawks and Manawatu Jets. Fellow American Michael Gardener was the hero of their 86-85 win over the Jets - his 33 points was the highest individual tally so far this season.

Saints import another

Wellington Saints will have a new import - American Ronald Thompson - on board when they take on the Hawks tomorrow.

Former Harlem Globetrotter Festus Hawkins was given his marching orders this week after averaging just 9.0 points and 5.8 rebounds over four games. Saints were not necessarily looking for him to be a heavy scorer and, defensively, his 2.5 blocks a game were among the league leaders.

But his fate was sealed when he could manage only one rebound against the Stars last week. By the end of that game - an 83-81 Saints victory decided only the last 20 seconds - Hawkins was watching from the bench.

Thompson (2.08m) becomes the Saints' ninth import in three years.

Lewis brings up 5000

Saints captain Terrence Lewis brought up his 5000 NBL points early in his team's victory over the Auckland Stars and then poetically provided the assist on David Hopoi's winning basket.

The next milestone on the league's agenda should arrive this week with Auckland forward Dillon Boucher needing just two more rebounds to bring up 1000.

Tall Black/Waikato Titans forward Pero Cameron needs one more block for his 100th, and Canterbury guard Nat Connell requires three more points for his 1000.

Vukona most powerful

After Nelson's loss to Auckland last Friday, Aussie Jacob Holmes tumbled off the top of the Player Power Rankings but fellow Giant Mika Vukona now occupies that spot.

The Fijian-born forward is the only non-import in the rankings' top 10. The power rankings are a formula-based measure of individual performance over the course of the season.

The present top 10 are Vukona, Horton, Prillman, Greg Lewis (Waikato Titans), Holmes, David Cooper (Manawatu Jets), Casey Frank (Auckland Stars), Derek Moore (Bay Hawks), Russell Hinder (Otago Nuggets) and Matt Lottich (Harbour Heat).

Polyblank still absent

As well as their import problems, Wellington Saints are now facing another month without the services of Tall Black forward Brendon Polyblank, playing professionally in Switzerland.

Polyblank's Herens club were not expected to make the Swiss league playoffs, but scraped in as the final qualifier and achieved a huge upset in their first game against regular season champions Monthey.

Herens prevailed by 18 points on the road and now hold home advantage in a best-of-five quarterfinal series that will end on April 20 if it goes the distance. If Herens complete the upset, semis will follow, and possibly finals.