MELBOURNE (Paulo Kennedy’s View from Downunder) - Something pretty amazing happened at the North Shore Events Centre in Auckland on Thursday.

No, it wasn't the New Zealand Breakers running up 114 points with a pizazz and style rarely topped on any basketball court, anywhere. Though that was pretty good!

And no, it wasn't the fitting send-off the Breakers and another sell-out crowd gave to retiring Tall Blacks legend Dillon Boucher. That was great too, but the tribute for him will come after the playoffs.

'It' was summed up pretty well by Aussie legend and honourary Kiwi CJ Bruton as he walked from the court with 3:15 to play in the game and the Breakers leading Melbourne 103-72.

The long-time Boomers point guard noted the Breakers' three leading scorers on this night were all development players, part of the club's junior programme, when he arrived shortly after the Beijing Olympics.

Perhaps what made the night more extraordinary was the fourth leading scorer was current development player Reuben TeRangi, of FIBA 3x3 U18 World Championship gold medal fame.

Eighteen-year-old Reuben rammed home 13 points to join the party being held by Tom Abercrombie (24 points), Corey Webster (23 points) and Alex Pledger (22 points, 12 rebounds).

Add to that mix FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) star and U18 gold medallist Tai Webster, who made it onto the court for the last five minutes to hook up with his brother for a basket.

Once heavily criticised for overlooking talented young New Zealanders, the Breakers have become one of the world’s best nurseries for breeding international players.

All 12 of the Tall Blacks who competed at the OQT have either played for the Breakers or been a part of their academy or training squad. That didn't even include Abercrombie or Kirk Penney.

A year ago Abercrombie, Pledger and Mika Vukona all signed long-term deals to stay with the club, and you can be sure Corey Webster will do the same now that he's proved he's over last year’s "hiccup".

For Tall Blacks coach Nenad Vucinic, these developments are music to his ears.

"The Breakers in the recent years have certainly been on the right track in terms of their recruiting philosophy of 'looking internally first',” he said.

"For me, as a long term servant of New Zealand basketball as well as head coach of national team, it is a pleasure to see our young Kiwis getting opportunities to be in this professional organisation."

Perhaps what is best about the correlation between slipping on a Breakers shirt and stepping out for the Tall Blacks is the similarity of roles.

"They've got players in the New Zealand national team who come in and play roles," Melbourne coach and Boomers great Chris Anstey said of the Breakers after the game.

"Their guys who don't play a lot of minutes are national team players. The club has done a great job of making sure they develop that talent and fitting them into the NBL team."

Off the bench, the Breakers bring Bruton, Boucher, Webster, Oakland graduate Will Hudson and their 10th man is Leon Henry, the same man who torched Angola for 15 points and four boards in Venezuela last year!

Henry and Webster are playing very similar roles as they will for the Tall Blacks, alongside a number of the same teammates. Not many national teams can match that.

"How can it not help?" was former Boomers coach Brett Brown's simple response when asked about the Breakers-Tall Blacks alignment.

Perhaps the most intriguing thing for me is what style New Zealand will play internationally as this crop of youngsters develop.

The Tall Blacks' current style - constant movement on offense and disruptive smoke-and-mirrors defense - is reflective of basketball Downunder.

But the other thing you see down south is speed. The game is played quick here - transition offense, full-court defense.

Of course, with 'non-athletes' like Boucher, Pero Cameron and Phill Jones the stars of their era - and New Zealand lacking depth to run with top-class teams - Tall Blacks basketball evolved a little differently.

But this next generation, including college standouts Isaac Fotu and Steve Adams, are athletes, long and aggressive. That's the way the Breakers play and they do it exceptionally well.

Vucinic is traditionally coy about strategic matters, as you would expect, saying teams need to be able to play a number styles and that transition is important for every team to get some easy baskets.

But watching this group play you can’t help but feel the natural progression is mixing the Tall Blacks’ traditional discipline with this generation’s natural flair and athleticism.

It could be a very exciting few years leading to Spain and Rio for Kiwi fans.

Before I finish, as important as the Breakers are to the Tall Blacks this is definitely a two-way relationship, with the international experience their players get each year crucial to their NBL development.

Yet amazingly - while the sold-out sign goes up every game for the NBL team, corporate sales keep increasing and more and more New Zealanders welcome the Breakers into their lounge rooms each weekend - the Tall Blacks are basically penniless.

Hopefully watching Abercrombie, Pledger, TeRangi, Vukona (another former development player) and the Webster brothers do their thing so well in the NBL makes the NZ government and private enterprise realise they have a national team to be supremely proud of too.

Because if that is left to slip, as the current funding situation is threatening to do, you can bet that will have negative consequences for the Breakers’ performance on the court and ultimately off it as well.

Paulo Kennedy

FIBA

FIBA’s columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

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