Mody Maor says he has had dreams about how his rotations might look with a full roster to play with.
It’s taken more than half of the NBL season, but the New Zealand Breakers’ coach might soon see those dream rotations become something he has to figure out inreality.
Zylan Cheatham and Will McDowell-White will be available to return from injury - albeit on significant minutes restrictions - for Friday night’s game against the Sydney Kings at Spark Arena, making it the first time this season the Breakers have had a full roster to work with.
Both players have been working their way back from fractures; Cheatham (foot) has been sidelined since October 26 and McDowell-White (fibula) since November 16.
“Their injuries are behind them, but they’ve been hurt for a long time so there’s a process of getting back into basketball shape and being in rhythm to play in a basketball game, so don’t expect a lot from them early,” Maor said.
Cheatham and McDowell-White are huge pieces for the Breakers to be getting back as their season hangs in the balance. At 5-9 with 13 games remaining, the Breakers need to start stringing some wins together in their bid to make the top six and play post-season basketball for the second season in a row.
Will McDowell-White has been sidelined with a fractured fibula. Photo / Photosport
They aren’t that far behind the pack, though. The Cairns Taipans currently sit in sixth spot with a 7-9 record, and the Breakers showed very positive signs in a big road win over Cairns last week.
In that game, Anthony Lamb, Parker Jackson-Cartwright and Mantas Rubstavicius all scored 20 points or more and the team’s rebounding numbers saw a significant lift.
“To maintain this and finally win two games in a row, there’s a level of consistency that we need to hit, there’s a level of consistency in the rhythm and flow of the offence that we need to maintain and keep going, and there’s a level of consistency on the level of effort and competitiveness and scheme execution on defence,” Maor said.
“If we can keep being steady with this, we don’t need to be amazing, just consistent with the things that we do, then we’ll win more games.”
Cheatham was a focal point of the Breakers offence early in the season, averaging 19 points per game in four appearances and shooting 60 per cent from three-point range, while McDowell-White is averaging five assists per game in his eight appearances.
Incorporating them back into the fray will lead to some tweaking in the way the Breakers currently operate.
“Every time you remove people from a rotation or add significant pieces to a rotation, it affects everything. It affects people’s roles, their minutes, their touches, their shots,” Maor said.
“Guys like Will and Zylan are significant players with significant characteristics, and it also affects what we do. We run different sets, we have different covers, so there’s definitely a lot of change that comes when you incorporate guys in like this.
“Hopefully we’ve had enough reps this season of players coming in and out of a line-up and we’ve learned from it and we’ll be able to be stable in what we do even though there are changes in personnel.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.
