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Looking to break the cycle

The new head coach of the Breakers is looking for whatever edges he can find leading into the new season tipoff. Marc Hinton reports.

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For a US-born, Israeli basketball coach Mody Maor sure is dialled into his adopted country of New Zealand. He gave his daughter a Māori name to seal a bond that has been ravaged by Covid, and his current fixation is on an All Blacks legend who never lost a test as captain of the iconic team.

You could say Maor, about to embark on his first season as head coach of the New Zealand Breakers in the Australian NBL, is invested in his new home as much as his new role. He is desperate to revive a Breakers franchise that has not played a meaningful game on Kiwi soil since February of 2020 and which spent the previous two seasons wandering from pillar to post in Australia, searching for a sense of purpose denied them by the pandemic.

The 37-year-old extrovert, who succeeds mentor Dan Shamir in the top job, knows to do that this once dominant club, which won four championships in five golden seasons between 2010 and 2015, must embrace its Kiwi identity, and come to terms with its essential difference from the other nine teams in this emerging force of a league.

It will not be easy. Though the Breakers will have a full slate of home games for a 2022-23 campaign that opens with a visit tomorrow to Melbourne United (4pm tipoff NZT), they operate on a budget a fraction of the mega clubs, and have had quite the offseason makeover. They’ve also lost their captain, and spiritual force, Tom Abercrombie for at least the first couple of months with an eye injury.

So with less they have to make more. Which is why Maor’s search to uncover the essence of New Zealand sporting success led him to the story of the great Sir Wayne ‘Buck’ Shelford, one of the hardest men to have slipped on a pair of rugby boots and a leader who never lost a test as All Blacks captain. Maor hasn’t met Sir Buck. But he’s desperate to do so. ‘‘He’s not answering my emails. I think he’s been a little busy,’’ the Breakers coach told in a chat at club headquarters this week.

The Israeli, who spent time as an officer in the Special Forces before launching his coaching career, picked up on the Shelford story in a book on legendary sports leaders. He was particularly impressed by the tale of the ‘Battle of Nantes’ against France, where the tough No 8 had his scrotum ripped open and stitched up, lost four teeth and was concussed, but played on until deep in the match.

‘‘The highest winning percentage as a captain ever,’’ notes Maor. ‘‘I believe a strong team comes from strong internal leadership, and I think he exemplifies what that leadership looks like. It’s something I’m eager to expose our very young team to.

‘‘It’s said rugby is a gladiators’ sport. I think every athlete is a gladiator when he’s doing things the right way, and this is what the Kiwi athlete is about, and what our fans want to see. So finding ways to connect the Breakers to a heritage of New Zealand sport for me is something meaningful.’’

Mody and wife Liat love their new life in New Zealand, after shifting here in 2019 to work as new head coach Dan Shamir’s chief assistant. So much so that when their first baby was born here in September of 2020 they decided to call her Amaia.

‘‘It’s been quite a journey for us to become a family, and we felt being in New Zealand was a big part of being blessed with Amaia joining us,’’ says Mody. ‘‘A Kiwi friend brought up the name, which means the halo around the moon in Māori. We felt it signifies our connection to the place.’’

That connection has been stretched a little thin thanks to Covid, with Maor and the Breakers spending almost all the last two seasons based in Australia, living a peripatetic, and gruelling, existence.

Liat, who is expecting baby No 2 in a month’s time, and Amaia joined him for both campaigns, so the coach understands too well the backdrop to a season returning

At a glance

NZ Breakers 2022-23:

Jarrell Brantley, Dererk Pardon, Barry Brown Jr.

Next Star: Rayan Rupert.

Returning locals: Rob Loe, Will McDowellWhite, Sam Timmins, Tom Abercrombie (injured).

New locals: Tom Vodanovich, Izayah Le’afa, Cam Gliddon.

to much-needed normality. ‘‘The residue of those two years is huge,’’ reflects Maor. ‘‘We feel it. We’re in a rebuild in every aspect. It took us time to get Atlas [club headquarters] back up and running again, but this is a fresh start, and with a fresh start comes all the possibilities in the world. That’s the excitement you feel here.’’

A full board of home games. The normal tempo of a season. Home life to fall back on. All will be lapped up by the Breakers who went 5-23 in ‘21-22, but Maor stops well short of calling it an advantage.

‘‘Everybody gets to be at home,’’ he says. ‘‘All it means is we get to compete on a level playing field. And we have a fanbase to win back because we haven’t seen them for two years. This is a homecoming.’’

It’s why Maor hopes against hope that Spark Arena is full for next Friday’s home opener against the Tasmania JackJumpers. ‘‘For the guys [players and staff] who have been through it, that was the toughest two years you can imagine with a lot of sacrifice to personal lives. I think they’ve earned the right to come back home to a full gym, but at the same time we need to play in a way that our fans want to get behind.’’

Four players from the full roster were part of last year’s group, and three others went through similar challenges with other clubs. Then you’ve got Maor, assistant coach James Reid, physio Jonathan Sandler and trainer Emily Nolan who were all also part of last year’s difficult landscape.

‘‘There are people still healing from it, families who didn’t see each other for 6-7 months, relationships that need mending, individuals that need help. We’re dealing with it the right way, and it’s something we will overcome,’’ says Maor.

He’s equally confident about his own challenge, no longer operating with the ‘‘security blanket’’ of the assistant’s tag, and with a group featuring three new imports, a new 18-year-old Next Star and three new locals.

‘‘I prefer life without a security blanket,’’ he responds with a smile.

The road will be steep. Maor talks about a league with talent, with budgets, with attention all on the rise big time. The Breakers simply can’t recruit like many of their rivals. They can’t even hold on to their own guys once they get to a certain level – Yanni Wetzell a prime example. They sign hard-nosed, role-player Kiwis like Izayah Le’afa and Tom Vodanovich. Their imports are not marquee performers, but on-the-rise types looking to re-establish market value.

‘‘We’re not Sydney or Melbourne,’’ says Maor. ‘‘We recruit character, talent and potential, and then we put in the work.’’

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2022-10-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-10-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/282243784474394

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