Less is more as Breakers look ahead
The New Zealand Breakers will again roll the dice on using just two of their three allowable imports for the start of the next Australian NBL season – even as the chances of luring Tai Webster back home diminish significantly.
The Breakers this week announced their first import signing for the 2017-18 season in the form of the wellcredentialed Edgar Sosa whom they hope can be the scoring point guard they need to match the other heavyhitters in the league.
The 29-year-old Sosa has put up strong numbers at most of his pro stops since finishing his college career with Louisville in 2010, including just under 20 points and six assists a game for Juvecaserta in the strong Italian league.
Coach Paul Henare is confident he has the right style one guard to lead his team this season.
But general manager Dillon Boucher confirmed to Stuff that with two spots still to fill on their 11-man roster, just one of them will be an import, even though teams are now permitted to include three ‘‘restricted’’ players on their books.
The Breakers are looking to add another guard, preferably a knockdown shooter, to complete their import signings, and will likely use their last spot on a New Zealand or Australian capable of covering the small forward position.
Boucher echoed Henare’s view on the younger Webster brother with the coach admitting they would ‘‘love to have him’’ and had made their pitch, but that it all depended on his motivations now as he continued to chase opportunities in the NBA, or possibly in Europe as an alternative.
In terms of their second and final import spot, Boucher said: ‘‘I don’t think time is an essence. If the right player comes on our radar we’ll look to sign them straight away. It’s more about finding that right player.
‘‘We’ve had a look at the Tai Webster scenario and had a good crack at that, now we look at what options are out there in the import spot. It’s great to have our point guard locked away, now we want a player to complement Edgar in the two spot and be able to play the combo role if he’s not on the floor.’’
Given Webster is predominantly a point guard, though with the size to play off the ball in the ANBL, you have to figure the Breakers have come to terms with the fact their attempts to recruit the star Tall Blacks playmaker are likely to come up short while he still holds NBA aspirations.
The new addition of two extra ‘‘twoway’’ contracts per team on the NBA landscape was also predicted to have a major impact on leagues such as the ANBL looking to mop up top American talent who miss out on their shots at the big league.
Boucher admitted there was some risk in going with just two imports initially, but he liked the flexibility it allowed during the season should injuries strike.
‘‘We’re probably one of the few teams that keeps that import up our sleeves, should we have an injury to a local, particularly in our bigs,’’ he said.
‘‘If we had a big go down we would have the luxury of bringing in an import, whereas other teams don’t have that luxury and there are just not New Zealand or Australian highcalibre players floating around without contracts.’’