ANALYSIS: The New Zealand Breakers need a hoops miracle to avoid tumbling to the worst season in their 19-year history in the Australian NBL – which is why all we’re hearing from them right now is puffery around two young Frenchmen we’ll likely never see play on these shores.
New Zealand’s only Aussie NBL club currently sit on a 5-17 record for the 2021-22 season, which makes them the warmest of wooden-spoon favourites. They have six games remaining, and need to win four to even match the lowest win total in their history (9-23 in both 2004-05 and ’05-06).
Based on what we’ve seen thus far, even factoring in a general improvement offensively after finally getting their full roster on the floor, that’s a big ask considering the Kiwi club have finals contenders Perth, South East Melbourne and Sydney Kings among their last half-dozen games. Their next outing is on Monday against fellow wooden-spoon contenders the 6-14 Cairns Taipans in Hobart.
So, it seems as likely as Will Smith winning humanitarian of the year that the Breakers avoid slipping to the worst record in their history when the 2021-22 season finally grinds to a merciful end. It will also continue a streak of post-season whiffs under American owner Matt Walsh (now four, and counting).
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The big question fans and critics alike will be asking is how should they be judged?
Well, these last two campaigns certainly deserve to have an asterisk next to them. That’s a given. They will play the entire ’21-22 campaign on the road in Australia, including the bulk of their “home” games in a Hobart venue behind closed doors with the atmosphere of a morgue.
Last season was similar, with the Kiwi outfit lurching from pillar to post across the ditch, only returning to New Zealand to play their last seven games on various home courts, with their season already dust.
These last two campaigns have been brutal, and there can be no doubt the Covid landscape has been an unforgiving one for the Breakers. There has been nothing resembling a rhythm of a season, no home comforts, no loyal fans to lift them when times get tough, no advantages whatsoever whenever they step on court.
It’s been tough. We all get that. You try living out of a suitcase for six, seven months, staggering from hotel room to apartment, from practice court to game venue, with no escape from the daily grind of professional hoops. Film sessions, trainings, games, and lockdowns … that’s what these players’ lives have essentially consisted of for much of the last two years.
That said, it is what it is. They knew what they signed up for. And it’s been the same for the Warriors and Phoenix across in those other codes (though, not surprisingly, they’ve both also found the going challenging). Even other teams within the NBL have had their own limitations (Perth, for instance, have only just returned home for the first time in three months).
The Breakers have been by no means a disgrace. They’ve had the odd blowout (Melbourne United anyone?) and some staggeringly sub-par performances, but they’ve also gone toe to toe with some of the heavyweights of the league and not suffered in comparison.
Their recent back-to-backs against the finals-bound Wildcats summed that up nicely: they went down to Bryce Cotton and co 104-102 in an overtime thriller in Hobart; then led the perennial contenders at halftime on their return to RAC Arena before being pipped 95-85. Next game out they lost to another OT buzzer-beater, 101-100 to the Brisbane Bullets.
They’re not horrible. They just can’t win games. That’s mainly because their defence is abysmal. The Breakers have the worst defensive rating in the league, and it’s not even close.
And defence is considered the ultimate guide to how well coached, how together and how hard a team plays. Too often when the Kiwi club is on the other side of the ball, it’s like a layup line out there.
It’s doubtful that this roster is as flawed as the ’04-06 group, but it’s close.
There have been some bright spots in ’21-22. Yanni Wetzewll has continued his rise to become one of the premier big men in the league. He is a player the club can build around for next season and beyond. Peyton Siva, when fit, has been the playmaker they need. And 20-year-old Frenchman Hugo Besson has morphed into a reliable pro – though one likely to disappear into the NBA ether.
But the roster is unbalanced, the backup brigade short of the mark and there is simply nothing resembling a culture or identity to this group. Long gone is the Kiwi feistiness they used to hang their hat on in the good old days.
It’s why all we hear from the club these days are puff pieces on their two NBA draft prospects (Besson and the flawed but gifted Ousmane Dieng). It’s great that the Kiwi outfit has given them the platform to showcase their ambitions, but has it made them a better club?
The answer lies right there in that woeful 5-17 record.
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