Breakers’ attack looks elite, but can they defend?

The New Zealand Breakers have been one of the most active teams this off-season and, with newly signed coach Gordon Herbert locked in, the roster is starting to take shape.

With the recent additions of Kouat Noi (reported) and DJ Vasiljevic, the Breakers have added two highly talented offensive threats who have already proven themselves on championship teams.

“It’s more firepower for this team and (Noi) has come out and said how excited he is and what he thinks is going to be a career year for himself,” Olgun Uluc said on The Marketplace, presented by Paywise.

“We spoke about DJ Vasiljevic a couple of weeks ago. Between Vasiljevic, Kouat Noi and then Parker Jackson-Cartwright and Sam Mennenga bookending that, there’s a lot of firepower here.

“I’m intrigued where everyone fits in these lineups, but they’ll be able to put points on the board.”

With a couple of major pieces still to fill for Herbert ahead of NBL27, the question now turns to what this group needs most to become a genuine championship contender.

“If you’re looking at the gaps, they need an absolute dog defender,” Pete Hooley added.

“Defensively there will be question marks and we won’t see how that will be answered until the season is underway.

“That three spot has to be a super high-level point-of-attack defender and, to be honest, if they wanted to go out there and get someone who might be a little deficient offensively, think a Tony Allen type, I think they can afford to do that now because of the offensive weapons around them.”

While fans wait to see exactly what those remaining signings look like, it’s hard not to get excited about what is already coming together.

“They have scoring depth, having those guys who can fill it up any given night. Now you have four guys who can give 25 any time.

“It’s going to make PJC’s life a whole lot easier, having these knockdown shooters who bring the defence out a little and that allows more space for PJC to get in and do what he does potentially better than anyone else in the league.

“So it’s going to be exciting to watch.”