Delany withdraws from Tall Blacks
In-form Breakers forward Finn Delany is the latest defection from the Tall Blacks squad to take on a severely depleted Australian Boomers and Guam in Fiba Asia Cup qualifying play this week.
New Tall Blacks head coach Pero Cameron assembled his squad of 12 in Brisbane to prepare for tomorrow’s first game against the Australians at Nissan Arena (9.40pm tip, NZT), with Delany and Auckland schoolboy Taine Murray the defections from his initial squad of 14.
Delany will sit out the two-game international window at the end of his standout NBL season with the Breakers which finished at the weekend when the club missed out on a playoff spot on countback, after finishing 15-13 and winning 11 of their last 14 games.
The Nelson forward averaged 12.4 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists as starting power forward for the Breakers while shooting 47 per cent from the floor and an eye-catching 40 from beyond the arc.
He recently signed a two-year contract extension with the Breakers and has shifted to the Saints for the New Zealand NBL in 2020.
Both New Zealand and Australia will be well below anything resembling full strength for tomorrow night’s matchup, with neither side including any of its NBA or Europe-based players.
The Boomers have also bypassed all players from the Perth Wildcats, Sydney Kings, Cairns Taipans and Melbourne United who will tip off the NBL’s playoff series next week.
Cameron has simply not had that luxury and includes Melbourne pair Shea Ili and Tohi Smith-Milner in his lineup, as well as veteran point guard Jarrod Kenny who will play a valuable bench role for the Taipans in their series against the Wildcats.
There is also a return for experienced Tall Blacks Mika Vukona and Reuben Te Rangi from the Brisbane Bullets after they missed last year’s World Cup campaign through injury.
Centre Rob Loe is the only one of the Breakers’ starting trio of Tall Blacks who will suit up for the window, which concludes with a clash at Tai Wesley’s Guam on Sunday (8pm tip, NZT).
Tom Abercrombie – fresh off a standout season with the Breakers in which he joined the special 50/40/90 club (above 50 per cent for field goal percentage, 40pc for three-pointers and 90pc for free throws) – had previously made himself unavailable.
Cameron can still call on a core of international performers, with Loe, Ili, Kenny, Ethan Rusbatch, Jordan Ngatai and Smith-Milner all having played at last year’s World Cup in China.