Kirk Penney, Kirk Penney, Kirk Penney

Its been a tough season for one of our NBL favourites, Kirk Penney. Coming off an MVP season in 2008/2009 his team was tipped as the favourites for the NBL title and he is their team leader (along with CJ) and number 1 scoring option. A few months later and Kirk has been injured for much of the season and the New Zealand Breakers find themselves outside the top 4 and looking like they will miss out on the post-season.

Last night against the 36'ers, with the Breakers' season on the line, Kirk delivered like only he can: 49 points, 16 of 23 from the field, 9 of 15 from downtown and 8 of 11 from the line ... all in just 34 minutes of playing time. Along with 4 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals and ZERO turnovers.

This performance left him just one point short of the club's record for individual points in a game held by star import Carlos Powell. Carlos of course had 48 minutes to set this record unlike Penney who of course was playing in a 40 minute game.

Kirk is definitely one of our favourite shooters in the NBL and last night he showed just why we love him. Season on the line, his team's confidence in tatters, Captain Kirk delivers!

Countdown to the NBL playoffs

On the back of the most obvious press release ever from the NBL about how close the season is, and with just one month until the regular season finishes, its time to start thinking about the playoffs.

The New Zealand Breakers have just announced Kevin Braswell as a second import for the remainder of the season. The Breakers are yet to find form and haven't been able to close out games in the final quarter. If Braswell can come in and give the team a much needed spark, the Breakers still have time to make the finals.

The Melbourne Tigers are at the bottom of the ladder but are just 4 games out of the top 4. They too are tipped to be looking to add another import for the last month of the season. The Tigers have won 3 of their last 4 games, if they can stay healthy and find the right addition to their squad, their not out of contention yet.

The Woolongong Hawks started the season as the Cinderella story, tipped to finish last they won the pre-season tournament and led the league over the opening months. Trouble struck the team last week when it was announced they have lost star import Tywain McKee for the season. They currently sit in 4th position on the ladder but have lost 3 of their last 5 games and look like they will slip out of the playoff picture.

The Townsville Crocs have been the surprise of the season for me. Croc Nation have jumped on the back of Corey "Homicide" Williams and he's led from the front and they find themselves just one win out of the top spot.

The Gold Coast Blaze started the season slowly but they've hit their strides and are tied with the Crocs in second place. They further strengthened their roster adding former Bullets Craig Bradshaw in to the mix. Despite their good form, the best news for the Blaze is that they still have plenty of upside and they're not playing to their full potential yet. If the injury to Adam Gibson turns out not to be too serious, look for them to make some noise in the playoffs.

The Perth Wildcats began the season much like the Blaze, slowly. They have now won 4 of their last 5 games and have a strong 9 - 2 record at home. Luke Schenscher took a little while to fit in to Perth but the team have found the right balance of late and have surged to the top of the table.

The top 3 of the 4 playoff teams seem set with the Wildcats, Blaze and Crocs. The story of the final month of the season will be which team will round out the four. Can the Hawks hang on to the final spot or who can make a late charge in to contention?

Breakers vs Wildcats

Its been an extremely busy week at work so today was the first chance I've had to duck down to the gym. As well as the physical benefits of getting some cardio in, the other bonus was that I got to catch the end of the New Zealand Breakers vs Perth Wildcats game on Fox.

The game was notable for a number of reasons. First it was the debut this season of John Rillie (pictured right in his new strip) after his axing from the Crocs, secondly the Breakers have been struggling of late and needed a win and finally, the two teams had matched up in the previous round in Perth that had resulted in an easy win for the home-team.

Rillie was eased back in to things with just 13 minutes of court-time and while he knocked down 1 of 2 from deep his biggest impact was felt on the boards with 5 rebounds. Youngster Thomas Abercrombie led the Breakers in scoring with 23 points but the most influential player was Dillon Boucher. Boucher was at his menacing best frustrating Shawn Redhage and finishing the game with 8 boards, 7 assists, 4 points, 3 blocks & 2 steals.

The Breakers scored a much needed win 83 - 74 but it never actually seemed as close as the score would indicate.

John Rillie - back in the NBL

Welcome back to the NBL, John Rillie!!

The news officially broke today that John Rillie has been signed by the New Zealand Breakers to replace import Awvee Storey. Rumours of this signing have been floating around on Twitter between the people in the know for the last two weeks or so but I was waiting for John or the NBL to make it official.

JR himself has kept it very much under wraps with no hint of the signing on his blog or on FaceBook until putting a note on the latter today.

New Zealand are now stacked with shooters as Rillie joins fellow gunners CJ Bruton, Oscar Forman and the currently injured Kirk Penney. Look for it to rain triples when the Breakers play!

Rillie in, Storey out

The Burger King NZ Breakers are flying in an NBL veteran to supplement their playing stocks ahead of Thursday night’s home game against the Perth Wildcats with John Rillie jetting into the club late last night. And as the club considers the ideal playing mix for the remainder of the season, the decision has also been made today to release American import Awvee Storey.

The call to release Storey was not one taken lightly by the club, with Head Coach Andrej Lemanis wishing the American well in the future.

“Awvee has acted like the true professional he is throughout his time with us, working hard on and off court. But from time to time you are faced with making tough calls and this was one of them, things simply weren’t working out and we needed to make a change. All of us on the team and at the club wish Awvee and his family all the best for the future.”

Meanwhile former Boomer Rillie has arrived at the club, a decision that was taken prior to that of letting Storey go. With Kirk Penney still out injured and back up centre Alex Pledger out for at least a further 3 weeks with a knee injury, Breakers General Manager Richard Clarke said the club simply needed another body on the floor at training and on stand by for Thursday night and the 38 year old Rillie has answered the call.

Gold Coast Blaze - Testing week

I thought to myself today that I haven't seen or heard anything about the Gold Coast Blaze for a while. I checked the schedule and found out why ... the team only had one game last week and that was last Wednesday.

The schedule this week sees them on the road with two game, the first is Thursday against the New Zealand Breakers and the second is on Saturday night against the Adelaide 36ers.

The Blaze currently sit tied second last with the Melbourne Tigers but with the competition being so close still they're just 1.5 games out of 3rd. With two games on the road this is a defining week for the team. Their 3 wins have all come at home so they really need to get their first win on the road this round.

To win, the team needs to get out, run and get some strong offensive production from outside the big 3 of Harvey, Ubaka and Maxey. The Blaze need Gibson running the show at both ends of the court. Most importantly tho they need scoring from the second unit of Goulding, Vanderjagt, Petrie & Vukona.

Its going to be tough for the Blaze to go to NZ and knock off the Breakers but its not impossible. If they do lose tho, they need to regroup quickly and be ready for the 36ers just two days later. They should match up well with Adelaide as they have the defensive players to "contain" reigning Player of the Week John Gilchrist and bigman Adam Ballinger.

With 7 days off, the team should be well rested and focused. Let's hope that translates to their first road win and some momentum and confidence.

Carlos Powell: Working Hard to Reach the NBA

I stumbled across the following article about former NBL'er Carlos Powell and his quest to make it in to the NBA.

I remember Carlos from the one season he played in the NBL with the New Zealand Breakers. I was working with the Brisbane Bullets at the time and we were one of the few teams that did a decent job of containing him. That season he was a scoring machine and everyone knew he wouldn't be back in our league the next year. His eyes were always on the NBA and after spending some time in the D-Leagues he's getting close to a roster spot for the Phoenix Suns.

Click on the title below to read the full story.

Carlos Powell: Working Hard to Reach the NBA - Bright Side Of The Sun

Phoenix Suns preseason roster addition Carlos Powell was undrafted coming out of South Carolina in 2005 where he played all four years. Since then he's played overseas in both Europe and Asia and spent the 2007/08 season with the NBA D-league's Dakota Wizards where he averaged 22 ppg, 6.4 rpg and 4.8 apg. Powell's known as a physical small forward (6'7', 225lbs) who can shoot the three, has good vision and can still bang a little bit.

Carlos is a prototypical guy 'on the bubble' and is trying to make it to the NBA the hard way just as former Suns Matt Barnes and Raja Bell did. From the look of things, this summer has brought Powell much closer to reaching his dream.

In July the Phoenix Suns added Carlos to their Vegas Summer League roster where he played well putting up 9 points in 16 minutes of play and shot 60% from three. That apparently was enough to earn Carlos an invitation to join the Suns training camp and preseason squad where he continues to impress.

Suns Head Coach Alvin Gentry said this about Powell, 'He's played well at camp. He's a good guy. Real aggressive guy and a real physical guy. He's done some good things. Shot the ball real well.'

NBL'ers in the NBA

Still no good news regarding Patty Mills and his attempt to play in the NBA but there are Aussies or NBL-related players seeing some action in the NBA pre-season.

Firstly, David Andersen has been putting in work with the Houston Rockets. He knows he can't replace Yao Ming but in his last 3 games has average 25 minutes per game and has started 2 of them. He had 8 points 4 boards, 17 points 4 boards and 12 points 7 boards. Respective production, let's hope it continues in the regular season.

Secondly, former New Zealand Breakers import Carlos Powell is getting a run for the Phoenix Suns. Carlos was a scoring machine for the Breakers and had high hopes of stepping from the NBL to the NBA. He's spent some time in the D League but with Shaq in Cleveland and Robin Lopez injured, the Suns could using another scoring bigman. He came off the bench in his first game for 6 points 3 boards but started yesterday and had 12 points 3 boards.

Finally, Nathan Jawai has FINALLY stepped on court for the Dallas Mavericks. This article would tend to suggest he's unlikely to make their roster but it was nice all the same to see him get 2 points and 2 assists in 7 minutes of court-time (not surprisingly, a blowout Dallas win).

Thanks to the guys at NBA Mate for pointing out an article from NBA.com about our two main Aussies in the NBA.

Mate vs mate, Anderson shooting over Bogut in a pre-season game

Basketball shooting

As well as reporting on the NBL and the NBA, the focus of this blog is basketball shooting. Today we have two shooting related stories from the NBL. The first is from the team at the Wollongong Hawks interviewing Larry Davidson about a basketball shooting drill they use. Full credit to Asa and Joel for the video work they've been doing with the team.



And just reward for one of the best shooters in the league, CJ Bruton from the New Zealand Breakers picked up the Player of the Week award for the display he put on in the first game of the season against the Cairns Taipans. CJ was a red-hot 10 of 11 from the field and 8 of 9 from downtown on his way to 28 points. After off-season surgery I expected CJ to ease back in to form on court but he's come out with a bang!!

Bruton wins Player of the Week

New Zealand Breakers star CJ Bruton has ridden a hot shooting streak to capture the National Basketball League’s Player of the Week award for Round One.

Opening the Breaker’s quest to become the first Kiwi team ever to capture a championship in a major Australian professional league, Bruton was instrumental in guiding New Zealand to their season-opening 95-75 win over the Cairns Taipans at the North Shore Events Centre in Auckland on Thursday.

The popular point guard scored 28 points and added five rebounds, two assists and one steal but it was his sizzling shooting performance that really caught people’s attention. Bruton went 10-of-11 from the field, including an amazing 8-of-9 from three-point territory, to form a lethal one-two punch with backcourt partner Kirk Penney.

NBL predictions

With the NBL season kicking off tonight, its time to take that step and make predictions on the final standings of the league. There are only 8 teams in the competition so how badly can you get it wrong? (famous last words)

There's been so much change on and off-court during the off-season that its a fairly close, open competition ... or at least it would seem to be. There's no defending champions so we start this season (and the process of reform) with a relatively clean slate.

Here are the current odds fresh from Centrebet:

Championship 2009/10

MELBOURNE TIGERS 4.00
NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 4.00
PERTH WILDCATS 5.00
TOWNSVILLE CROCODILES 5.50
ADELAIDE 36ERS 9.50
GOLD COAST BLAZE 11.00
CAIRNS TAIPANS 13.00
WOLLONGONG HAWKS 23.00

At those prices, I think the Crocs are a little over-rated and the Blaze and Hawks look good value. Sure, I don't expect the Hawks to win but I don't think they're clearly the worst.

Here's my rankings:

New Zealand Breakers
Melbourne Tigers
Perth Wildcats
Gold Coast Blaze
Townsville Crocs
Adelaide 36ers
Wollongong Hawks
Cairns Taipans

How did I go? Let me know your thoughts in the comments and what you think the final standings will look like.

NZ Breakers

Although I have made it quite clear already that my NBL team this season will be the Gold Coast Blaze, my second team will be the New Zealand Breakers. They're considered by many to be the favourites for the championship this season, but that's not why I like them, because I almost always side with the underdog.

The reasons I like the Breakers are:
1. They are a great three-point shooting team
2. They have a couple of ex-Brisbane Bullets on the team (CJ Bruton & Dillon Boucher)
3. They don't play a lot of defence so the games are usually high-scoring and fun to watch
4. They have Kirk Penney ... one of our favourite basketball shooting man-crushes from last season

So with the Breakers getting the season underway in New Zealand on Thursday night, here are a couple of stories in the news about them.

Title or bust this year for Breakers - Boucher | Stuff.co.nz

Dillon Boucher isn't looking to hide from the pre-season hype surrounding the New Zealand Breakers ahead of Thursday's tipoff of the new Australian NBL season against Phill Jones and the Cairns Taipans at the NSEC.

In fact you could say that the Breakers' hard-nosed do-it-all forward is embracing the favouritism being heaped upon the New Zealand club who are being strongly tipped to become the first Kiwi franchise to win an Australian national league.

Australian basketball legend Andrew Gaze has labelled the Breakers the team everyone's chasing this season, and it's a view that's pretty much universal across the Tasman, even if bookies Centrebet have the Melbourne Tigers as slight favourites ahead of the Breakers. Boucher has heard all the talk, all the speculation that this is the Breakers' year and, what do you know, he agrees with it.

NZ Breakers owner about making a difference | Stuff.co.nz

Who is this faceless, publicity-shy owner of the New Zealand Breakers? And why does he shell out his hard-earned fortune to keep a basketball club afloat. For the first time Paul Blackwell has opened up to the media about his motivations. MARC HINTON sat down to hear his special story.

Paul Blackwell is an enigma dressed up as a riddle. He's successful, rich and is in the select group of Kiwis who own professional sports teams.

Yet he's much happier parting with his hard-earned profits as the owner of New Zealand's busiest supermarket than he is giving up his story, and by association his privacy.

In a business all about ego, this God-faring, sports-loving everyday bloke doesn't just break the mould, he shatters it.