NZ Basketball fans felt the sting this season with the New Zealand Breakers falling short of their playoffs goal. A hearty 94-78 loss to the Adelaide 36ers on Sunday eve officially knocked the Breakers out of contention.
Seasons like this from our boys, who have performed well over the last few years, always leave fans scratching their heads.
‘What went wrong?’ we ask.
I yarned to Breakers co-captain Mitch McCarron to get his thoughts.
Despite a disappointing season on the floor, Mitch had a lot of positive things to say about the Breakers organization, Kiwi Hoops and New Zealand as a whole.
“I think everyone can have a look at themselves and say, you know, I wasn't good in this area… no one was perfect this year, including myself, you know, everyone will evaluate themselves and work on that over the off season… it doesn't feel like a waste of a season to me.”
The overarching issue seemed to be a lack of consistency and continuity. We were always there or thereabouts, but still only found wins nine out of 27 games played.
Breakers were an entire rebrand this year. After two years as a head coach, Mody Maor left the organisation. New coach Petteri Koponen, in his first season head-coaching professional basketball, brought a different style of recruitment.
Parker Jackson-Cartwright (PJC), Breakers’ leading scorer and league MVP candidate, was the last man standing in the main rotation. A completely new squad means a lack of continuity, and from Mitch’s nine seasons in the ANBL, he knows “any continuity you can have in the ANBL in general is massive.”
He reminisces on ex-Breakers squads that had a ‘championship era’ between 2010-16. “It was a Kiwi dominant team… They had the better part of their national team playing for the Breakers.” Having a squad familiar with each other makes them "formidable because they have that cohesion, chemistry and experience.”
This is a harsh contrast to this years’ group who are a “relatively inexperienced group, not just in age, but just playing in the ANBL.” Mitch notes “it’s a different league. Everyone will get you every night if you’re not ready to go.”
The interruptions continued as Breakers found themselves riddled with injuries. A thin roster wasn’t uncommon, with key pieces like Max Darling, Mojave King, PJC, Tacko Fall and Mitch himself, all spending time on the sidelines. But for Mitch, “that’s just part of being a professional team.”
A suspension was thrown in the mix there too. PJC had to miss five games after letting his frustration take over and grabbing the referee mid-game. Given the talent of PJC, who is averaging 18.9 points, 6.7 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 1.6 steals this season, this left a gaping hole in the Breakers style of play.
Mitch was a co-captain alongside PJC, so he strongly felt the effects of his absence.
It sucks anytime you lose an MVP candidate.
"He really understood what we were trying to get done offensively and defensively, and is someone who could speak to the group… His voice is crucial in our group and to have him missing for five games, and take the talent away… We know what he can do in terms of creating advantages for himself and other guys… It just sucked.”
Another familiar Breakers name is ex-NBA player Tacko Fall. Mid-season, Freddie Gillespie was released, and in came big man Tacko. Freddie was tall, sure, at 6' 9", but Tacko slightly tops that… at 7' 6".
This man is huge.
This was a massive (literally) signing for the Breakers. With 36 games played in the NBA, he brought a rare type of experience and skill.
Unfortunately his height slightly hinders his movement, and it feels as though Breakers struggled to re-discover their identity amidst a roster switch.
“He is a different presence on the rim offensively. Defensively we obviously changed how we defended with him compared to Freddy defended as well.”
They are “two very different people.” Mitch talks about this as “a big adjustment for everybody. It’s an adjustment for Tacko playing in this league as well because… the ANBL is not the easiest to be in as a 7’6" guy. It’s really fast.”
Mitch continuously praised the coaching group, saying they “did a great job at putting systems in to say ‘This is our best chance at success when Tacko’s on the floor’, and then it looks completely different when Sam Mennenga is in.”
But Mitch wasn't afraid to be honest about the team's shortcomings.
Did we make the switch quickly enoughly [as a playing group]?" he asked. "Evidently not.
A rough schedule for the Breakers also played into the multitude of challenges faced. Their ‘home games’ extended out of just Spark Arena this year, with one at Eventfinda on the North Shore, three in Christchurch, one in Wellington and one in New Plymouth.
Pre-season saw them journey to the USA for their traditional NBA x ANBL trips, where they played three games against NBA teams Utah Jazz, OKC Thunder and Philadelphia 76ers. It was clearly a massive year travel wise for the squad, and this likely played into the struggle for continuity and consistency.
“I think it is definitely a challenge,” said Mitch. “But it’s a good thing that we get to take the ANBL around New Zealand and play in other kinds of cities.”
“You do lose a bit of that home advantage at Spark. You know, we feel like we’re pretty good at Spark… But it’s good for the club and it’s good for the fans down in those cities.”
Mitch recognizes that this tough schedule “is what it’ll take to be a championship team with the Breakers. You might have to do the America trip and do the road games around NZ and make them home games. You have to make them count.”
While it is easy to point fingers at all the things that could’ve gone wrong, there are always positives to take away.
“We had some success and found some stuff that was really good.” It is definitely not uncommon for ANBL teams to have lull years which are used to reconstruct and reconfigure a strategy going forward. It is important to recognize the good things that come from a season like this.
Mitch shone some light on people who had great seasons. “Look at Kareem, a 17 year old, and what he’s doing in the league. That’s an awesome get for us.”
He continued to praise teammates like Sean Bairstow and Mojave King on their seasons, and saw the light in the fact that there is great talent brewing amongst the younger side of the Breakers organization.
It was only love for Petteri Koponen and his staff. “He understands the game and understands what it takes to perform at that level, but hasn’t lost how to communicate with players and how players might think.”
Mitch was very clear that no coaches were at fault for missing the playoffs, “They have been great this year and he’s done a great job, especially for his 1st season.”
NZ Basketball fans can be relieved to know “There are a lot of bright spots that you can grab on to and say ‘You know, that was really good.’”
Fortunately, Mitch is signed on for another year, so his face will only become more familiar. Along with this, we are likely to see more continuity from this seasons’ squad carry into next.
Hopefully this group can come together for next year and make a finals run.
