PRESSURE ON IMPORTS

No-coach hitch for Boomers

The coaches and general managers of NBL teams are being very friendly to the Americans this season with barely any sent packing due to poor performances.

It just seems like in seasons past, there have been way more imports replaced for lack of production at this point in a campaign.

With the race for the top four getting heated, will that force a few clubs’ hands to improve their import production?

THEY’VE got the venue, now the Boomers just need a coach for their Asia Cup qualifier against New Zealand in Brisbane on February 20.

The Boomers’ trans-Tasman clash with the Tall Blacks will be held at Nissan Arena.

Just who’ll be coaching the team remains a mystery, however. Recently appointed head coach Brett Brown will be unavailable due to his commitments with the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA.

Brown’s assistants to help guide Australia’s Tokyo 2020 campaign are yet to be announced, but the governing body insists they’ll be in place for the match against New Zealand and a following qualifier in Hong Kong.

“Brett Brown’s working on the coaching staff. We’ll make an announcement on that fairly soon,” BA high performance manager Jan Stirling said.

“Brett’s obviously committed to that beast called the NBA, so he certainly won’t be coming out.

“We’ll have a coaching cohort here that will take the Boomers – it’ll be a game here and a game in Hong Kong.”

Boomers legend Luc Longley stepped down from his position as an assistant in the wake of former coach Andrej Lemanis’s resignation in November and it remains unclear who’ll be on Brown’s staff.