Breakers' local target search continues

The new era of the New Zealand Breakers is well underway, as the club continues to re-establish the culture it once had over a decade ago, when they won four NBL titles.

As their roster slowly comes together, President of Basketball Operations and former Breakers star Dillon Boucher spoke about the importance of getting a New Zealand core to build for the future.

“We've made no mistake in trying to develop a core group of local talent that's able to do the job,” he said on NBL Now.

“Then it’s about adding the crucial pieces of imports to that… to hopefully be able to build a championship calibre team.”

There are some prominent New Zealand names in the basketball world, who are currently playing in every corner of the globe.

“Every New Zealander I think that's playing outside of New Zealand or Australia right now, we have either had a conversation with them directly or their agent –and trying to understand exactly what it would take to bring these guys back,” Boucher said.

Some of those high-profile locals include Finn Delany and Yanni Wetzell, who continue to pop up on the NBL radar each off-season. Both big men have continued to find success overseas, further strengthening their value at home and abroad.

“Some are not ready yet,” Boucher said about that task of trying to bring them home.

“I know NBL teams are approaching some of them as we speak, too. Would we love them on our team? Absolutely. Are we realistic that we can keep every top New Zealander? No way, that’s just not going to happen.

“There's a couple of guys that I've told to their agent, ‘Hey, I'm going to come see you next year then. Hopefully the time's right then."

Boucher could perhaps be the perfect hire for the new ownership, who has made a statement about their intentions of getting back to what made the club so powerful and successful when he played.

“It's unique being from New Zealand… We've got the whole country. We're literally like a national team playing in a professional league,” he added.

“We have that chip on our shoulder being the little brother across the ditch and we want to be able to prove that we can beat the bigger brother in games.”

With the new ownership on board and a complete refresh for the Breakers, Boucher is excited about the future of the club. A future that hopefully holds many more titles to add to the trophy cabinet.

“Anytime you've got a new ownership group, guess what? They want to win a championship, right?” Boucher said with a smile.

“They are very motivated to win. And that's great. And I love that pressure; that’s that's the whole reason we're in this game.

“You know, we want to win championships, and our fans want us to win championships.”