The New Zealand Breakers are in China on a hastily arranged trip to to play in an annual pre-season basketball tournament, following the last minute withdrawal of one of the participating teams.
In the absence of the club's Tall Blacks and head coach Andrej Lemanis, Breakers assistant coach Dean Vickerman took a predominantly developmental side to China for the Lu An International Invitation Tournament with the club answering an SOS to fill a late vacancy in the six-team event in Changzhi.
The Breakers will join the Melbourne Tigers, ACB Unicaja of Spain, Shanghai, Liaoning and an American team in the all-expenses paid tournament, with each playing for a winner's purse of $US15,000.
Clearly though, the focus for Vickerman and the Breakers is more on the chance to provide valuable experience for some younger players, while also taking the chance to trial prospective imports for the upcoming Australian National Basketball League season.
