Breakers coach laments the team that never was
As much as he’d love to, the realist in Mody Maor accepts he won’t go close to bringing his 2023-24 New Zealand Breakers back for another crack at what fate denied them.
Maor’s undermanned Breakers had their NBL post-season hopes dashed in Wollongong on Monday night when they exited with an 88-85 defeat that underlined the weaknesses of a roster that hung tough until the bitter end.
Maor’s Breakers were weak on the boards, sloppy with the ball, careless with their fouling and lacked legitimate scoring options behind star guard Parker JacksonCartwright. The Hawks exposed them in all those facets, and still only got home when PJC’s buzzer-beating triple at the death rimmed agonisingly out.
It was a disappointing result against a limited Hawks side who had the big calls very much go their way.
Of course, the Breakers did it the hard way, with influential Aussie guard Will McDowell-White, already carrying a shoulder injury, unable to play more than 14 minutes after rolling his ankle late in the second term. On top of Anthony Lamb’s absence with his Achilles rupture it was, as Maor noted, “one player too much”.
Still, as he reflected afterwards, it was a case of “what might have been” for a roster that might be “the best team that never was”.
He was referring, naturally, to the injuries that beset this side from go to whoa, with import Zylan Cheatham, McDowell-White, Finn Delany, Mantas Rubštavičius and Lamb all sitting out significant periods.
“In the middle of the season we had this slogan: we’re either the best team thatneverwasorthebestteamthatever was,” said Maor after the Hawks defeat. “And if we’d have made the semifinals, for me we’d have been the best team that ever was, because of all the things we overcame in order to get there.
“Sometimes the ball doesn’t break your way, and results don’t fall the way you want them to. That ball (on JacksonCartwright’s late shot) rimmed, spun around and went out. So it’s not always the end result that you need to judge
Mody Maor, Breakers coach
yourself by.”
And Maor vigorously defended a roster that he also admitted he was no shot at bringing back in anything resembling the ’23-24 iteration (skipper Tom Abercrombie, of course, has already announced his retirement).
“I think this roster was incredible, and we never had a chance to see it in full,” added the coach. “This team played its full roster for eight minutes the whole season. We had a combined 82 games missed from our top eight players.
“If I’d be as lucky as to keep everybody, we’d be awesome [next season]. In reality, most of our guys played really, really well and will probably go on to make a lot of money somewhere else.
“I’ll be happy for them and I’ll enjoy coaching new guys next year.”
That’s a reality Maor acknowledged previously when he admitted it had been impossible to bring back last season’s star import trio of Jarrell Brantly, Barry Brown Jr and Dererk Pardon.
And nothing will have changed with Jackson-Cartwright, Cheatham and Anthony Lamb – the low-spending Kiwi club is going to find it awfully difficult to lure them back.
“For now, I’ll just be sad I have to say goodbye to most of these guys and enjoy my last day or two or three with them, and after that I’ll get to work,” Maor said.
That work will concentrate firmly on the shape of next season’s roster. With all three imports, centre Mangok Mathiang, Izayah Le’afa, Dan Fotu and Cam Gliddon all off contract, and Next Star Rubštavičius likely heading to bigger and better things, there is a lot to ponder.
One thing he knows for sure: the best team that never was will not be seen again.
“For now, I’ll just be sad I have to say goodbye to most of these guys and enjoy my last day or two or three with them, and after that I’ll get to work.”