Gillespie has been very good, maybe he always had an out in his contract, he's going to get more money OS and with Taco being around thought he go before pushed.

I'll believe the Tacko Fall thing when he steps on the court until then he's just a Matt Walsh marketing gimmick. If I were Gillespie I would be getting out asap too.

If you were Gillespie's agent and there was this Tacko Fall thing going on, you would be on the hunt for a great deal elsewhere and telling him to rack up his personal stats in the meantime. Doesn’t really surprise at all. A big risk for the Breakers though as who knows whether this change would actually make them better and whether Fall is going to get injured again with the physicality of the NBL.

Possibly Gillespie and his agent have seen the writing on the wall? Breakers wouldn't be letting him go if they valued him. Still, just a rumour at this stage.

Gillespie has been very good.

All but official now

Seems unlikely but Imagine JLA replaced him.

If so, serious chance the championship trophy crosses the Tasman once again

JLA would take the Breakers to another level. It's an interesting hint in the article because I’m not convinced Fall is ready to go yet. As JLA wouldn’t be an import, would that mean the Breakers could play both JLA and Fall!?

I think they could but wouldn't be able to claim a marquee exemption for JLA so it'd cost a lot

It's up to clubs who they chose to be their marquee(s). Which local has that status at the moment for NZ, Mennenga?

I doubt NZ has a Marquee on their books at the moment.
Mennenga talks about the pride of playing for the team that represents the city he grew up in all the time so I doubt he needed a bag of cash to move home and play.
If the Breakers are getting a buyout for Gillespie that may help with securing JLA.

You don't have to receive a huge wage to be listed as a marquee. If someone is making more than $235K (the average NBL salary is about 180K), listing them as a marquee reduces how much they count against the salary cap.

Bolden you would think is there marquee.

Listening to the post-game presser it sounds like Coach Kop didn't have much to do with the change and deferred questions about Gillespie to "management". A very strange situation.

Headed to Milan, big euro league club, he'll be in for a big pay rise, good luck to him, didn’t look great early but turned it around to be very good.

And Freddie's gone...

Pretty disappointed with this.
Liked what Freddie bought to the table defensively and was starting to contribute more on offence.
With King, Darling and now Bolden injured I would have preferred the devil I know than taking a gamble on Tacko.
Tacko will likely go down again with an injury once there aren't enough games left to replace him.

This whole Tacko/Gillespie thing was such a weird distraction to NZ's season. I was pretty critical of Gillespie early but he seemed to turn a corner and NZ have mostly been playing reasonably well even before he got going, and I just feel like a change wasn't needed. Tacko is going to need to be really good offensively and protecting the rim to make up for what I feel NZ will lose defensively whenever he gets switched onto a perimeter guard, which every team in the league will be trying to do every opportunity they get.

Agree it's been poorly handled and I'm not sure the roster will be stronger for it

I've said many times that gillespie was signed by kop for a role, which he ended up doing a good job of. Tacko is going to completely change their shape and potentially be a distraction offensively too.

I hope it works but think it won't

If it ain't broke, don’t fix it? It’s a high risk move. Gillespie was really solid in the end, without being spectacular. The thing they will miss most is the foot speed on the perimeter, the Breakers haven’t had anyone flying out to hedge and back to the paint again so fast since Vukona. Fall will be exposed by some good teams, in the same way Harrison and Zikarsky get isolated. But if JLA is joining with Fall, it’s different altogether. Genuinely curious as a basketball fan to see what changes are made and how the roster performs after it.

I don't think it's on the cards that JLA is joining as well.

Couldn't agree more on your points re closing out on the screens. Even harrell now has been shown up for sliding off the screen D and being stuck in no man's land

Feel sorry for kop. He's probably just realised how overbearing his bosses are and started thinking there's better places for him to be next year

"The thing they will miss most is the foot speed on the perimeter, the Breakers haven't had anyone flying out to hedge and back to the paint again so fast since Vukona."

Pardon and Brantley say hi!

And it's finally official: https://www.nzbreakers.basketball/news/tacko-fall-signed-until-end-of-nbl26-season

I'm risk averse, like many NBL fans and commentators, and would have kept Gillespie with his limited upside but known quantity and durability. Tacko has much more upside, but how long will it take him to adjust and how many games will he play?

Two years but will have out clauses

I don't like the change but will be interesting to see how it plays out. Not to mention with coach kop who is forced to live with it

The NBL's version of Bogues and Bol playing together in Washington

Bizarre change due to an owner's hard-on - unless his physique has dramatically changed Fall is extremely brittle.

Gillespie will have had very nice pay rise, don't think he’s unhappy.

I know but from the Breakers point of view their owner has hamstrung them.