It’s been a long time since there was any legit Breakers news, a loooong time. There’s been plenty of little attention grabs from the club in the meanwhile from sneaky recruitment updates to opening their facilities up to some stranded local pros to some lovely community work and all sorts like that. But this week has brought with it some actual chunky news to digest because NBL Free Agency has officially begun and our mates at the Breaks wasted no time in getting down and dirty.

Three signings. Tai Webster. Dan Trist. Kyrin Galloway. The first two on single year deals and the latter on a three year deal (with the first year as a development player). As with most Breakers news there are a few different angles to attack these all from and there’s also a lot of free agency still to unfold but bringing in probably the highest quality available Tall Blacks dude is a decent old way to start.

Tai Webster has spent the last few months training with the Breakers since coming back for lockdown and the club made zero attempts to hide the fact that they were keen to recruit him. Matt Walsh had already made a few passes at him on Twitter long before that and they had a crack at bringing him in last year too. As you would. The dude is one of the very best kiwi players out there. 25 years old and with three years playing in Europe (in Germany and Turkey), including EuroCup ball. One of the key players for the Tall Blacks. And with the basketball situation in Europe pretty weird at the moment due to the pando it meant that circumstances were right for his return home. For the Breakers they get to register him as a local player as he serves up import level quality, that’s the dream right there when putting together an NBL roster.

If Tai Webster’s signing feels a little underwhelming then it’s only because it came to feel inevitable over the last few weeks (and maybe also because of the two other dudes he was packaged with). This is a superb addition for the team and one which head coach Dan Shamir reckons puts them right on the brink of title contention... although that eventuality probably depends on them being able to add a couple more options with Scotty Hopson being front and centre in those wishes.

Walshy has been vocal about making Hopson priority number one for this offseason. It’s a bit awkward when those discussions are being discussed publically through the media but you can’t argue with the intent. Hopson is a fringe NBA talent. There had been talk about him having a peek at the G-League to see how things stood for him with those NBA hopes but thanks to the pandemic nobody really knows what basketball will look like in America for the rest of this season, let alone the next one. Chuck in Aotearoa’s immense success at dealing with the virus and surely the Breakers’ chances of retaining Hop have gotten a fair bit brighter.

But even if he doesn’t come back, there’s still a Breakers backcourt of Tai and Corey Webster to strike fear into opposing teams. The brothers united at club level, finally. The presence of CW was probably a large part of getting TW involved, definitely a sweetener at least, and they already have an existing on-court flow thanks to all them Tall Blacks caps together (and, you know, the blood that runs through their veins). Another aspect that’s gotta make a coach’s eyes shine... especially since Corey Webster wasn’t at his best last time. The stats are skewed because he left for the second half of things which was when the Breakers came out of the foggy mess of the first half and started winning some games. Still, the Breakers had a negative offensive rating with Corey Webster on the floor and that’s a confusing one. But chuck him next to his brother and just see what happens – yet another reason for Shamir to smile about this deal. Tai Webster won’t go on to have the career that RJ Hampton will down the line but in terms of immediate fit for this Breakers team... TW is miles better. It’s a one year deal so Tai’s clearly at least keeping his options open to go back to Europe in the future and so he should, a player of his age and talent. Outstanding signing though. One of the best imaginable deals they could have made.

As for the other two signings, they’re alright, s’pose. Dan Trist is an odd one coming in as a 27 year old Aussie forward who only averaged 3.0 points and 2.2 rebounds per game last season with South East Melbourne. That’s largely down to only playing an average of eight minutes in those games so clearly the Breakers are gambling on him having a bigger impact in a bigger role. In fairness he was a decent scorer in his four years at Lafayette in his college days and he has some experience playing in Europe too which Coach Shamir no doubt loves. Denmark and Spain if you’re wondering.

Trist will offer a bit of frontcourt depth for the club, don’t expect him to start too many, though at 6’9 he’s a little undersized for that five spot which is potentially where they’ll need him the most. Doing what Tom Vodanovich did a bit last time around. Dunno why they didn’t just sign Tom Vodanovich or Tohi Smith-Milner or even Sam Timmins for that role, there are plenty of dudes in the kiwi NBL right now offering something close to the skill-set that the Breakers are looking for there compared to a 27 year old Aussie who only played eight minutes a night for a non-playoff team last time around (SEM were 9-19, six wins fewer than the Breakers). Hell, Alex Pledger is a free agent too. But the proof will be in the pudding. Clearly Shamir and company have seen something untapped in him. Hopefully he has more of an impact than Ater Majok did in 2019-20 with his 71 minutes that he played in that campaign – fewer minutes than the notorious Glen Rice Jr.

More exciting is 21 year old Aussie forward Kyrin Galloway who joins the club on a three year deal, the first year as a development player, having now wrapped up his college ball at the University of North Carolina. He’s 6’8 with plenty of bounce. Has very decent potential as a shooter from range and is already a shot-blocking machine. Definitely a project player and dunno how much we’ll see of him initially but he’s a talent who was gonna end up on one of the NBL rosters and it was the Breakers who got him.

Again though it’s hard to bury the idea that they coulda offered a kiwi player this role. Traditionally the DP spots have been used for up and coming kiwi ballers, in fact Tai Webster once occupied one of those very same roles, but last season they had Terry Li there and that was it. They did utilise a few designated replacement spots with Ethan Rusbatch (who was promoted to a full roster spot after Corey Webster left) and Deng Deng (who never actually played) but yeah nah not quite the same thing. Having said that, there were still four kiwi DPs in the league... they just weren’t at the Breakers. Tyrell Harrison at Brisbane, Taylor Britt at Perth, Hyrum Harris at Illawarra, and Tai Wynyard at Cairns. Only Harrison is still contracted btw.

So it’s a bit annoying on that level but the Breakers don’t have to play up to those expectations. They’ve got an American CEO, American ownership, an Israeli head and assistant coach, and are going to have different visions on the sport than the very kiwi-orientated regime that preceded them all. Expecting anything different is just illogical considering the patterns we’ve seen from this regime. Regardless, there’s still a firm Tall Blacks core to this roster at the top end which is going to dominate on the court and set the culture off of it. So annoying, yes, but nothing more.

This is the roster as it currently stands...

• PG: Tai Webster | Jarrad Weeks

• SG: Corey Webster

• SF: Tom Abercrombie

• PF: Finn Delany | Daniel Trist

• C: Rob Loe

Add in a couple imports to that crew, hopefully one of whom being Scotty Hopson, and one more local player and it’s all sorted. There’s a very high chance they’ll also add another Next Star to the group though whoever that ends up being they won’t count against the 10-man roster - note on that, it’s usually 11 men on the roster but the league has dropped one import slot this season for financial/pandemic reasons. Clearly another big man will be amongst the remaining signings. Probably a defensive-minded shooting guard too or someone like that. Former import Sek Henry has already signed elsewhere internationally so he won’t be back (haven’t heard anything about Brandon Ashley but don’t expect him back either). The Breakers did have chats with Isaac Fotu but he chose to go back to Italy instead. Jack Salt should have been an option, not sure if there were discussions there or not, but his current injury might have nixed that for him... Yanni Wetzell has been training at the Breakers facilities too although he seems to prefer an overseas pro move at this point.

It’s also not impossible that there’ll be complications with getting imports aboard given the global situation which makes Tai Webster’s acquisition even more valuable. The Breakers have the local talent to make a run at a title and over the second half of last season they showed the form to suggest that they could. The remaining distance, as always, has gotta be covered by the imports... if Hopson does indeed come back then this is a legit team with legit expectations. But let’s wait and see on that one.

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