Anyone know what warm up matches they are playing before the Olympic Qualifying Tournament?

If we were able to take two naturalised players, and we had Penney and Abo, we would be looking really good.

A starting five of:

Braswell
Penney
Abercrombie
Marcel Jones
Pledger

That would be very very competitive.

Wonder who will go out of Jones and KB though?
Might as well rule out Frank because both those two are miles better than him.

Would be a tough decision, as we need both of them to replace Kirk and Abo (and they both fill those two players spots)

I wonder if those imports will be picked up in the NBL as non imports if they get naturalised?

You can only have 1 naturalised player per national team.

PG stocks are weak so KB everyday of the week. Not a lot of scorers on that list either.
I believe the Breakers will be looking at KB as a local player for this season

Jones can play.

Had a run with the Bulls in the NBA Summer League a few years back.

Averaged 15.3ppg at Oregon St. 8th in Pac 10.If he did get in the team, I would put him in over Vukona because of his superior size (6"8) and because he can flat out score which is what the TB's need desperately.

But Mystro is right. We need a PG/Combo guard like KB, because right now our PG rotation is so weak (Tait, Kench, Bloxham) ?

Did Craig Bradshaw put his hand up? Frank, Trueman, etc in there and he's not. Could've been a strong player if his effort levels and so on were there.

Bradshaw played NZBL for the Southland Sharks.
I believe he has had some injury problems but even then I'd rather Rob Loe got his spot.

My team would look something like this picking from the available

Tait/Allen or Bloxham
Braswell*/Bartlett
Henry/Fotu
Vukona/Truman
Pledger/Loe


Braswell as the one naturalized player.
Fotu does not count as a naturalized player despite being previously categorized as one, NZ successfully appealed to Fiba. I'd let him play SF instead of PF as he has shed a heap of weight and has length. It's a pretty young team with Vukona, Tait and Braswell as the veterans and not a heap of scorers but a bit of height and length whilst still being able to get out and run.

would much rather field this team lol

Braswell/Bartlett or Tait
Penney/Webster
Abercrombie/Henry
Vukona/Anthony
Pledger/Loe

My Team-

Tait / Bloxham / Webster
Bartlett / Allen
Jones / Henry
Vukona / Loe / Fotu
Pledger / Trueman

If Steve Adams, Kirk Penney, Tom Abercrombie or Mark Dickel were available I would pick them also.

Since it's a long shot to qualify Ive gone with some young players to look towards the future. The starters and a couple role players should get 95% of the time but Webster, Fotu and Loe can pick up some minutes here and there.

I went with Marcel Jones over Braswell simply because I think I would rather have Tait as a starter over Leon Henry. Tait has experience and an extra swingman will be beneficial.

^ Webster is unavailable. Still serving suspension.

Although his brother, Tai, is in the squad (Tai was actually included in the 17 man squad (i.e. He wasn't a development selection).

Must be hard for Corey to watch his little 17 year old brother get a shot.

Corey would be getting a lot of burn at the Tourny if he was available.

Personally, I don't think he should be in there.

Take Braswell, Allen, Tait, Bartlett over him.

You cannot include someone in the team who hasn't even played in the NZNBL.

Going from NZ U/19 basketball Nationals to FIBA international tournament--That is a step up I couldn't even describe in words

Yeah I did mean Tai Webster. I know he's young and all that but he does have game and a whole lot of confidence. It would be more beneficial to give the garbage minutes at the end of games to a 17 year old than to a player on the down hill.

As a country we dont have alot of Point Guard talent and Tai could be the one to fill some gaps in the future. I think its important to see that even though he is only young he has been included in the list with the other players and not in the section for development, the coaches obviously think he can play.

I agree with Macdub. If we are wasting money sending a team over it may as well be a B team instead of a development squad.

Tai trained with the Pirates and played 2 games for them. Going up against Lindsey Tait in training and having played his brother for years would give him expirence against atleast some of NZs best. He also averaged 12.7ppg at the Albert Schweitzer tournament.

Ive got Bartlett playing the two spot and Allen being a combo since no real shooting guard is included. I decided to include Webster over Bloxham since I think he has a bigger future with the Tall blacks.

I realise he most likely won't get picked and understand why, from a basketball point of view I think its better to send a development team but from a sport perspective it would be right not to waste money and send the best team possible.

I think by sending a B team they are wasting cash, we had NO shot the minute we lost our 2 best players who do the bulk of the scoring.
I hope they can prove me wrong tho lol

alonzo burton is the son of willie burton who played a few years in the NBA with the miami heat and then came to play in the NZNBL.

where is bj anthony??

BJ Anthony still has a stress fracture I think.

Yup BJ Anthony is still injured

Any news regarding both Braswell and Jones NZ critizenship status? Did they make Tall Blacks trail deadline?

Morgan Natanaira and Jeremy Kench are both out with injuries. Only 13 players (not including Marcel Jones or Braswell who still need to get citizenship) are going for 12 spots now!

"They will travel to Canberra for two games against an Emerging Australia side, and then to Brazil to compete in a tournament involving the hosts, Greece and Nigeria. The Olympic event is in Caracas from July 2-8."


http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/basketball/7081716/Injury-defections-a-blow-for-Tall-Blacks-coach

Heres the Tall Blacks squad for the upcoming campaign after Isaac Fotu pulled out to leave for the University of Hawaii early.

Lindsay Tait
Josh Bloxham
Jarrod Kenny
Everard Bartlett
Hayden Allen
Tai Webster
Leon Henry
Mika Vukona (captain)
Casey Frank
Jeremiah Trueman
Alex Pledger
Rob Loe

-Looks like They have decided to go with the veteran Casey Frank over Marcel Jones, im not sure about that.

-Leon Henry is the only real small foward on the list.

-Tai Webster at 17 makes the squad

-Lots of guards there in Tait, Bloxham, Kenney, Bartlett, Allen and Webster.

-Finaly my starting lineup:
Tait, Bartlett, Henry, Vukona, Pledger

University of Hawaii?
Isn't that where Scott Fisher is coaching?