Basketball: Please come forward

Tall Blacks coach Tab Baldwin has put the onus on young centre Craig Bradshaw to step into the large void left by Sean Marks.

The NBA Championship-winning San Antonio Spurs forward announced his retirement from international basketball so he could concentrate on maximising the remaining few years of his career.

That leaves a seven-foot hole in the middle of Baldwin's plans leading up to next year's Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

The Tall Blacks leave this week for a four-nation tournament in China involving Lithuania, Australia and the hosts.

"He has to," was Baldwin's succinct assessment of Bradshaw's ability to take over from Marks.

On the face of it the challenge looks daunting. Marks might not have been one of the leading lights in the NBA, he was not on the final roster for the playoffs but he at least got to spend some time on the dancefloor. Bradshaw, the 2.08m 21-year-old Wellingtonian, plays for unfancied Winthrop Eagles in the NCAA and is ranked by Sportsline as the 602nd best forward and 1666th best player overall.

"He's a similar type of player. He gives us some of the same plays Sean gave us but he's so young," the Tall Blacks coach said.

"It would be good if he could step into the role and play some good ball, which I thought he did in the build-up to the Olympics last year."

Not only is the challenge daunting for Bradshaw but it is for the Tall Blacks as well.

While they might not be facing a full-strength Lithuania team, that country has more depth of talent than perhaps any other outside the USA.

They were unlucky not to win at the Athens Olympics with what Baldwin considered the finest team he had ever seen assembled, including the NBA.

"I have no qualms about saying that," Baldwin said.

"From what I've read they're not sending a full-strength side but they're so deep over there that they'll send a very good team.

"I've just read that [Sarunas] Jasikevicius, who is just a great, great point guard who was probably the best player at the Olympics, probably won't play. Neither will their shooting guard, the guy whose name I can't even say [Arvydas Macijauskas], but they will still be very good."

It is unclear whether China will field Houston Rockets centre Yao Ming. His country are obviously keen for him to suit up, though the Rockets are less keen for him to spend his off-season banging bodies.

"When they set this thing up it was designed to be a full-strength Chinese team."

The Tall Blacks are using the tour with a longer-term view to a series against Australia and the Commonwealth Games next year.

"Primarily it's a build-up for our Oceania Series against Australia."

The Tall Blacks will be without point guard Mark Dickel, which will give NBL player of the year Lindsay Tait more court time to establish his international credentials, and NBA prospect Kirk Penney.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY