KEY POINTS:
Incumbent Nenad Vucinic has been reappointed to coach the New Zealand men's basketball team through to the end of the 2010 world championship in Turkey.
Vucinic served as national team assistant coach to Tab Baldwin from 2001-06 and succeeded to the top job this year, guiding them to a 6-win 11-loss record that included wins over Venezuela, Slovenia, Croatia and Australia.
The Tall Blacks lost their FIBA Oceania Championship series against the Boomers 1-2 across the Tasman and now face a repechage tournament in July to claim one of the final three berths available at the Beijing Olympics.
Vucinic admitted the task of balancing the team's Olympic aspirations with the need to rebuild towards the next world championships presented a daunting prospect.
"I am honoured to continue my involvement with the Tall Blacks and look forward the challenges ahead," he said.
"Our aim for 2008 is to start a rebuilding process that will develop the Tall Blacks culture among the generation of players, while still relying on some experience to help us qualify for Beijing."
Vucinic, who was born in Serbia, has won more games than any other coach in National Basketball League history (164) and five Coach of the Year awards, masterminding the Nelson Giants' 2007 title.
As a player, he logged 227 NBL appearances and spent a decade in the Tall Blacks, last representing them at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
- NZPA
