Imports in The League
The New Zealand NBL allows each side to play with two non-New Zealand citizens (imports or restricted players). From 2001–2003 however the league believed that overseas players were detracting from giving New Zealand-born players significant minutes and playing time in the league and as a result, one import only was permitted per side. In the past, the NZ NBL sides have usually relied on Americans to fill their import player positions. These American players have usually been players who have had fairly good collegiate basketball careers, but who were not good enough to make it into the NBA. In 2004 the trend of using American imports started to change though with New Zealand gaining a professional side the Breakers in the Australian NBL. Many of the NZ NBL clubs began to use Australians for their imports, as the Australian NBL league does not run at the same time as the New Zealand NBL and many of the Australian players wanted to keep in shape over their off-season. In 2003 the Taranaki Mountain Airs pulled off a major coup by signing Link Abrams, the most consistent and dominant player over the past few seasons.
Restricted players who have stood out over the last few seasons have been John Whorton (Canterbury), Mike Pegues (Canterbury/Otago), Greg Lewis (Waikato), Ryan Prillman (Canterbury), Dusty Rychart (Hawke's Bay), Jacob Holmes and Josh Pace (Nelson) and David Cooper (Manawatu).
In the recently completed 2006 season American guards Garry-Hill Thomas of Taranaki and Dennis Trammell of the Canterbury Rams were the league's leading scorers with both averaging 25 points a game. Otago's American forward Branduinn Fullove and Nick Horvath of the Wellington Saints and a former Duke Blue Devils standout, excelled also.
Read more about this topic: National Basketball League (New Zealand)
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