zzzzzzzzzzzzz..........what.......sorry i fell asleep in the middle of reading that!! ha!

you get a headache if you read more than 2 sentences curious???

when it is about the tallblacks.....yes!!

haters gonna hate. if your beloved Boomers don't pull their shit together you'll have plenty of time to catch up on sleep during the Olympics while NZ get to play

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz................there i go again, fell asleep when you mentioned NZ playing in the olympics!!!

knock knock.

whos there?

New Zealand Tall Blacks Player.

New Zealand Tall Black Player WHO?

......exactly!!

Hey curious, whilst I also want to Boomers to win, let's bide our time before stirring up our friends across the ditch...heaven forbid it comes back to haunt us...

Trolls gonna Troll aye Bi-Curious, if you aren't interested then why post in here douche?

lets talk about the Boomers then, the Great Wall of China increased by 40% during Australia's leg of the Stankovic Cup due to Australia's great outside shooting but don't worry, by just writing down the names of a bunch of guys the Australian Basketball Public overrates will be enough to get the Boomers the win and to the Olympics. They'll win that too ;)

It's just a bit of friendly banter. These types of posts are great because it builds up anticipation among supporters of both teams.

Strewth, once upon a time this type of banter never occured between Kiwi and Aussie basketball fans. It's good to see the help we gave the kiwi's over a decade ago hasn't been in vain ;-).

thankyou big ads, good to see someone has a sense of humour, lighten up you other guys! Also i dont even know what Ozhoops is never been there! might just be someone using the same name! looking forward to the series, pretty confident of the boomers getting up though!! the only thing that may haunt me is Mystros poor attempt at humour!! haha! remember lighten up folks lets not get too sooky over some joke comments! its a forum, people post replys to your topic they are not always going to agree with your point of view that is the whole purpose!! ;)

cos your clever banter has this whole site in fits of laughter bi-curious?

omg mate are you always a sooky little girl or just today? surely any team that call themselves the 'tallblacks' are taking the piss out of themselves!! ha!

oh please follow this up with another sooky comment just to prove me right!............ or try something light and funny bro, you might actually put a smile on your face!

Mystro, was Frank Loe that young guy with a lot of potential that we (or maybe Macdub) were talking about a couple weeks back?

Rob Loe, and yes that's him, 6'11 can shoot the three, pass very well and put the ball on the floor. Interesting comment from Vucinic that Loe has become a lot more humble and a part of the team after a year in college.

He is a good inclusion for NZ, their offence is very hard to stop when the big guys are hitting jump shots, and he gives them someone to rest Pledger.

Loe has talent and plays alongside Aussies Christian Salecich (now left) and Cody Ellis at Saint Louis in College.

Big jump up for him IMO and is unlikely to play a role in this series.

Nah, I think Beantown was maybe thinking of Steven Adams.

Got no idea why he isn't in the team.

I think youre right MACDUB. I think Adams isnt there because of schooling issues? Loe is probably a bit ahead of him at this stage too, though not for long.

I reckon Loe will get some minutes, not many but enough to hurt the Boomers with a couple of jumpers.

Yep, it was Steven Adams. Rob Loe is obviously a bit older than Steve, being at college. I guess Steve is still seen as a bit too raw by NZ?

Mystro and Macdub, do you think Loe and Frank will realistically do much more than warm the bench? Or is there a Baldrickian plan afoot to exploit the Boomers in some way?!?!

Frank is in the rotation and very dangerous popping out and hitting the open J. His pick and roll defence struggles but apart from that he is a pretty handy member of this team.

Averaged 7p and 4r in 15mins and hit 4/6 threes at the WCs.

Yeah, I think Steve is having some schooling issues, hence PITT are telling him to hit the books hard otherwise his scholarship is in jeopardy.

I think Loe could definitely get some minutes given the lack of height in the front court. I am lead to believe he is a 4-man, but can play the 5 man role. He is quite mobile big man, and offensively he has a very nice mid-range game..But I think in this series, he will be mainly used for rebounding and possibly his role may be simply to go out there and play Defence and rebound while Pledger gets a breather.

The TB's will definitely attempt to use the likes of BJ Anthony, Frank and maybe even Loe to exploit mismatches in the front court.
Those players above are extremely agile and mobile and I think the TB's will try to use that to their advantage in matching up against the slower front court of the Boomers (Ogilvy, Kickert, Maric)

Two more things to cover:
Lemanis, Australian assistant coach, will be very clued up about some of the TB's offensive systems as they are extremely similar to the Breakers (2 shake, trans, 2 down, 3 series)

and I have a trivia question:

Mark Dickel entered the 2000 NBA Draft, but was undrafted.
But which other player from the current TB list from above also entered the NBA draft? hint: the year of the draft was 2004.

Well you would think Penney as he came out of Wisconsin that year, but this smells like a trick question!

Penney tried the 03 draft didn't he?
And yeah trick question..the answer will shock you ;)

what MACDUB said.

There can be no doubt that the NZ program gets a massive boost by being a part of the NBL, but what exactly does Australian basketball gain by having an NZ side in the NBL and our national junior championships?

A stronger team in Oceania to play against, which can only be healthy, and a team who has performed well enough that Australia get automatic entry to the WCs?

Breakers pay to be in the NBL like any other franchise, they supply a television deal for NZ with the footage available to be played in Australia and last season Abercrombie and Penney supplied plenty of highlights

Mike Fitchett was the answer - He entered the 04 NBA Draft after playing in the NZNBL.

Lol, I didn't realise Lindsay did as well.
Fitchett did enter 04 Draft:

http://basketball.realgm.com/player/Michael_Fitchett/Summary/24085

anyone surprised that they aren't both Allstars yet lol.

RealGM actually says every player has entered the NBA draft...Kirk Penny and Mark Dickel are the only two to actually enter

Dickel had a decent college career @ UNLV

Rumour has it that Webster is being sent back home for a drug violation. Anyone with their ear to the ground that can confirm or deny?

That was my first guess when I saw that he'd been replaced, but haven't heard anything to confirm. How hard can it be to toe the line at that level?!

If true, will they replace him at the Breakers?

Probably worthy of a new topic.