AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND - MARCH 12: Tom Abercrombie of the Breakers acknowledges the crowd after victory in game four of the NBL Grand Final series between Sydney Kings and New Zealand Breakers at Spark Arena, on March 12, 2023, in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Dave Rowland/Getty Images) Photo: Dave Rowland
There is a nice symmetry to the Warriors' season dovetailing perfectly into the Breakers' one. Both sides have gone through similar worst-to-almost-first transitions, albeit a year apart. The similarities don't end there: they did so after appointing a first-year head coach.
The Breakers made it all the way to the NBL finals series, pushing the Sydney Kings to five games. It was the first time in the new ownership era that they'd made it back to the big dance, due in a large part to the import trio of Barry Brown Jr., Jarell Brantley and Dererk Pardon.
They'll have to do it all again without them this season. Brown Jr. is already on his second European club (including a stint on the same team as overall NBA first draft pick Victor Wembanyama) since the Breakers lost to the Kings, Brantley briefly went back to the Utah Jazz and is now in the same Japanese league as Pardon.
Justinian Jessup, Parker Jackson-Cartwright, Mantas Rubštavičius and Zylan Cheatham Photo: Phil Walter
Justinian Jessup, Parker Jackson-Cartwright and Zylan Cheatham have been added to the roster to replace them, with Jessup coming off two good seasons with the Illawarra Hawks.
Hoping to follow in the pathway of former Breakers RJ Hampton, Ousmane Dieng, Hugo Besson and Rayan Rupert is Mantas Rubštavičius. The 21-year-old Lithuanian is the next on the line of the NBL Next Stars programme, with all of his predecessors at the Breakers going on to be picked up in the NBA draft.
But all eyes will be on a name familiar to New Zealand sports fans when the Breakers get underway on Saturday night against the Cairns Taipans. Tom Abercrombie will play his 400th game for the club, in a career stretching back to 2008. He's already the Breakers' all time lader in games played, and said that "it's a big, big milestone."
I'm really proud of the achievement so it'll be a good, good occasion. For me it's felt like a really long off-season and I haven't played, so just been itching to get going again."
A lot will ride on coach Mody Maor's shoulders. Finn Delany, who is returning to the Breakers after a season in Germany says that fans can "expect a lot of intensity" from the coach this season.
"He's just the high-level coach who cares about his players and things like that. We have you a different group this year…so it's always going to be catered towards the skill and personalities that's on court."
It is a little bit of an eyebrow-raising stat that since the Breakers' much publicised change in ownership, not one import player has stayed for longer than one season, with some not making even that far. But Delany takes the high rotation in his stride.
"It's an ongoing challenge to sort of build a team from sort of not from scratch, but, you know, it's a constant. It's part of the business. It's part of the job. Guys are always moving on."
The one thing that's going to help the Breakers get their season underway successfully is the draw, they have three of their first four games at home, with the Spark Arena atmosphere a definite factor in the way they play.
"Saturday night will be the first time I've played at Spark in three years," Delany said.
"So, reuniting with the Breakers fan base is going to be huge."
Delany's position versatility is going to be key as the Breakers attempt to go one better than last season, as will Cheatham's potential ability to play the role that Brown Jr. did to great effect. The 27-year-old out of Arizona State has already provided some serious highlights in pre-season, so it's expected that he will be on court as often as possible.
If there has been one slightly negative observation of Maor's rotation, it's that he doesn't do it enough, however. He sticks with his main guys as often as possible, so it's imperative they all stay injury free. There will be a lot of work to do organising a solid defence now that the three aforementioned imports are gone, as they were the key part of that facet last season.
As for the rest of the league, expect Sydney to be dominant again even though they struggled through the recent preseason while Melbourne United look set to start with an all-Australian side on court. The Breakers should go into their first match as favourites against the Cairns Taipans, who are fielding a relatively inexperienced squad this season.
Tickets sales have been strong for Spark Arena for the first game, with over 6,000 expected in.
