There’s been a fair bit of basketball on recently, what with the NBA Finals finishing up and all that, not to mention the impending draft and free agency, or even the local chatter about the Tall Blacks games on the horizon, the camp that Paul Henare’s conducting which Steven Adams is uneventfully missing from. Heaps of basketball. So you can be forgiven for sleeping on a couple new signings from the NZ Breakers.

Following on from the Corey Webster deal a few weeks back – Corey who is dropping 40+ in China these days – Kevin Braswell’s team has added their first two imports. Armani Moore is the first and Patrick Richard the second. Thus taking the roster up almost to completion, with one further import to be added. An import who will almost certainly be a centre.

Armani Moore is 24 years old, hailing from Georgia and having attended the University of Tennessee. He’s a 6’4 small forward. In his own words he brings energy, competitiveness and teamwork, capable of playing some feisty defence and hitting the odd three pointer. Moore was a four year player at Tennessee and has played in Poland and Germany as a pro the last two years.

This guy is definitely a style fit. Someone who can kickstart possessions with his rebounding and, crucially after last season’s issues with guys like Casper Ware, Jason Cadee and Demetrius Conger, all of whom bagged at least 24 points in games against the Breaks down the stretch, Moore is a versatile defender capable of roughing it up with buggers from 1-4. Doubt he’d have been able to stop Josh Boone getting 33p/15r in the elimination semi-final but that’ll be someone else’s job.

Kevin Braswell: “We want to play at a faster pace, he will help a lot with this because he’s a very good rebounder for his size, and can start our fast breaks well. He is also very crafty on offence and has many ways that he can fill the stat sheet. He’s a great defender too who can guard every position on the floor.”

As for Patrick Richard, he’s a bit older at 28 years old which is a nice balance between the two. Also 6’4 but preferring to play at shooting guard, he hails from Louisiana and attended McNeese State for four years. The bloke’s done the rounds in Europe for the last five years, playing in Netherlands, Germany, France, Israel and, most recently, Spain. Not a guy who scored bundles of points with Divina Seguros last Eurobasket season but he does offer a pretty well-rounded skillset.

Curiously Kevin Braswell compared him to CJ Bruton in the press release, liking the experience that he can bring to a roster. Statistically he should be an above-average three-point shooter which is always crucial, particularly when Braswell’s very openly trying to build a team that plays with a quicker tempo. You need the right players to be able to do that. Brilliant as they were in their own right, neither Kirk Penney nor DJ Newbill particularly suited that strategy. And Edgar Sosa was superb (right up until he got shut down in the semis) but you could argue he didn’t quite mesh with the rest of the team. The Breakers definitely fell into relying on him creating his own shot too much in crucial times.

Kevin Braswell: “Patrick is very knowledgeable when it comes to reading the game. He can also do everything. He shoots the ball well, he makes plays well, and he can defend well. I’m trying to find guards who have depth in that position and can do everything. Last year we had Shea Ili, DJ Newbill, Edgar Sosa, and Kirk Penney who were all quite different guards. This year we have Shea, Weeks, Corey and Patrick who are all up tempo. Now we have four guards who can push the pace… hard.”

That’s an interesting point, that last one. While Paul Henare was a former point guard who preferred a floor general type of PG in his team. Kevin Braswell’s likely to rely on Shea Ili and Jarrad Weeks covering that position (probably with plenty of ball-handling responsibilities for Corey Webster too), a couple speedy guys who love to cut to the basket but also maybe not the sort to call out possessions and dominate games with assists. Surround Shea Ili with shooters and he’ll be fine, especially if he can get those triples to drop, but there’s a clear shift in strategy going on here.

There’s one more import to follow and they’ll have to be a centre. With Alex Pledger, Rob Loe and Rakeem Christmas all gone that just makes sense. This is not a roster that has an excessive amount of size right now. Someone’s gotta get up for tip-offs – Majok Majok isn’t playing 40 minutes.

PG: Shea Ili / Jarrad Weeks

SG: Corey Webster / Patrick Richard

SF: Tom Abercrombie / Armani Moore / Jordan Ngatai

PF: Tai Wesley / Finn Delany

C: Majok Majok

By the looks of the current depth chart, neither of these imports will actually be starting games unless there’s a shakeup. Always possible. But what strikes you about what Braswell and the team are building here, secondly after the immense confidence being granted to Shea Ili, is how many three point shooters they’re dealing with. Remember that Ngatai is a gun in NBL action, even if he’s not quite been at that level for the Wellington Saints this season. Tai Wesley shoots ‘em too.

Quite exciting, that. Braswell’s going all in on pace and what goes best with pace? Space, of course. Both Richard and Moore are coming from higher standard leagues so you’ve got to assume they can bring some legit defence and that completes the holy triumvirate of modern basketball. Whether it tastes as good as it smells we’ll have to wait and see but the pot’s getting stirred and the aroma’s rather pleasant.

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