New Zealand Breakers

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

New Zealand Breakers

Established	2003/04
Team Colours	Black, blue and white
Home Venue	North Shore Events Centre, Auckland
Major Sponsor	Harvey Norman
Championships	None
Team History	New Zealand Breakers (2003/04-Present)
Chief Executive	Richard Clarke
Coach	Andrej Lemanis
Captain	Paul Henare
Website	www.nzbreakers.co.nz

The New Zealand Breakers are a professional basketball team competing in Australia's National Basketball League. The Breakers joined the NBL for the 2003/04 season, along with the Hunter Pirates, as one of the two expansion clubs. The club is based in the city of Auckland.

They are the first team from outside of Australia to compete in the National Basketball League. As a representative team of the entire country of New Zealand, the Breakers play the majority of their matches at the North Shore Events Centre on Auckland's North Shore . They do however play the odd match in surrounding Auckland at Trusts Stadium in Waitakere, and the Telstra Pacific Centre in Manukau . In past seasons the Breakers have taken NBL games to Christchurch's Westpac Arena , Wellington's Queens Wharf Events Centre and Hamilton's Mystery Creek . From the 2006 season onwards they will play solely at the North Shore Events Centre in Auckland.

Since their inception in 2003/04 they have struggled like many other New Zealand sporting teams competing in Australian competitions .

In their first season of competition they finished with 12 wins and 21 losses, finishing 10th out of 11 teams. The inaugural coach of the Breakers, Jeff Green was fired after a poor 2 wins from the first 10 matches record and an on court brawl between players and coaches that he was involved with. He was succeeded by Frank Arsego.

In the 2004/2005 season things got no better, with the team finishing in 11th and last place in the competition, with 9 wins and 23 losses. Frank Arsego left the club at the end of this season and after much speculation about Tall Blacks coach Tab Baldwin taking his spot, Andrej Lemanis took the vacant coaching position.

In the 2005/2006 season, the Breakers finished the regular season in 9th spot out of 11 teams, with 9 wins and 23 losses. American forward Rich Melzer along with Ben Pepper starred for the team, and were named the players of the year at the Breakers awards.

On 14 July 2006 it was announced that star power forward Rich Melzer had signed a two-year contract with star NBA team San Antonio Spurs. He will leave the New Zealand Breakers and join with them immediately.

On August 16, 2006 the Breakers signed former West Sydney Razorbacks point guard Adam Darragh, who will be the Breakers back-up point guard behind captain Paul Henare.

The following day on August 17 it was announced that the Breakers had signed Ricardo Powell, a power forward to replace Rich Melzer who had signed earlier with the San Antonio Spurs.

On 28 August 2006 the Breakers unveiled a new look for their uniform, the primary colour of their jerseys changing to black, to represent New Zealand as they are the only New Zealand team in the competition.

The Breakers starting lineup for most games so far in the 2006/07 season is

PG= Paul Henare

SG= Brian Wethers

SF= Oscar Forman

PF= Carlos Powell

C= Ben Pepper

6th man: Aaron Olson

1 Honour Roll
2 Current Roster
- 2.1 Former players of note
- 2.2 External links

[edit] Honour Roll

NBL Championships:	0
NBL Finals Appearances:	0
NBL Grand Final appearances:	0
NBL Most Valuable Players:	0
All-NBL First Team:	1 Carlos Powell (2007)
Coaches:	Jeff Green 2004-2004, Frank Arsego 2004-2005, Andrej Lemanis 2005-Present

Source: www.nbl.com.au

[edit] Current Roster

New Zealand Breakers Current Roster
Head Coach:Andrej Lemanis
C	34	Tim Behrendorff	(QLD; Gardner-Webb University)
F	5	Brent Charleton	(Vancouver;Simon Fraser University)
G	20	Adam Darragh	(QLD)
G	50	Cowan Finch #	(NZ; Otago University)
F	3	Oscar Forman	(SA; Australian Institute of Sport)
G	32	Paul Henare - Captain	(Napier)
G	22	Aaron Olson	(Victoria, Canada; University of Victoria, Eastern Washington University)
C	31	Ben Pepper	(WA)
F	7	Carlos Powell*	(University of South Carolina)
F	2	Tony Ronaldson	(SA;Arizona State University)
F	14	Mika Vukona	(Suva, Fiji; Bethlehem College, Nelson College)
F/G	25	Brian Wethers *	(University of California, Berkeley)
G	0	Pierre Wooten*	(Winthrop University,South Carolina)
* = Import, # = Development Player Wooten signed as injury replacement for Wethers			New Zealand Breakers