Depleted JackJumpers face real test in Bendigo

The Tasmania JackJumpers will use the CODE Sports NBL Blitz to test their roster depth, with several key players already ruled out.

Of the JackJumpers' expected starting five, only Taran Armstrong is expected to line up for the clash against the Bullets in Bendigo on Thursday.

Will Magnay is out until the September 12 pre-season clash with Sydney. Majok Deng is also set to miss, still flying back from international duty with South Sudan. Josh Bannan is a question mark after representing the Boomers.

Anthony Drmic and David Johnson will return for the JackJumpers' second game against New Zealand on Sunday, while Bryce Hamilton lands in the country on Wednesday.

Roth said he was excited to see the JackJumpers' roster put through its paces, including 6'11" New Zealand centre Ben Gold, who most recently spent time with the Marquette Golden Eagles in the NCAA's Big East Conference.

“Ben's obviously a huge factor in what we do,” Roth said.

“Bringing him in, he hasn't played basketball in five months since his ankle bone spur had to be removed. He's just getting up and going in the last probably seven to eight days of actually playing again. He's got a little rust on him.

“This will be his first real action of having some competition. We're hoping to get 15, 20 minutes out of him in this first round of games.

“We'll see how he settles in and his comfort level.”

The Blitz will also give Tasmanian fans their first look at star off-season signing Taran Armstrong in JackJumpers colours.

“Taran hasn't played basketball, if you really think about it, for quite a long time,” Roth said.

“So we have guys that need to get reps out on the floor, and the Blitz will allow us to have some more time with them.”

With a little over two weeks until the regular season tips off, Roth admitted the unavailability of players had made preparation far from ideal.

“We're behind in our conditioning, five on five,” he said. “We haven't had enough players continuously to play five on five.

“I think we're probably two or three weeks behind actually in that area, on the conditioning side of it. We'll have a good swing at it these next two games and we'll continue to work on that side.”