There are some missing pieces, but so far so good for the Breakers.
The defending Australian National Basketball League champions made a positive start to the pre-season with back-to-back wins against the Wollongong Hawks in the North Island last week.
But the campaign shifts up a gear today when the Auckland-based club joins the other ANBL teams at the Sunshine State Challenge pre-season tournament in Brisbane and Gold Coast.
The Breakers have had some high-profile departures in the off-season with the team's leading scorer Kirk Penney, veteran point guard Paul Henare and import Kevin Braswell not returning. Corey Webster's future with the club also remains in doubt after he returned a positive test for a prohibited substance.
The incoming players have some large boots to fill but their contribution has been good and bodes well for the franchise.
New import Cedric Jackson has impressed with his passing game and ability to run the floor, and unwanted Melbourne Tigers guard Daryl Corletto has also slotted in nicely.
The pair played key roles in the Breakers' 78-70 and 75-74 wins against the Hawks, great results considering Mika Vukona and Tom Abercrombie were sidelined with niggles which are being monitored until the beginning of the season proper.
Assistant coach Dan Vickerman said it was early days but there were some promising signs.
"We're still trying to find who we are, with the people that we lost. They did some things very well. Paul's defensive pressure and Kirk's ability to put the ball in the hoop will be hard to replace," Vickerman said.
"I think what we have found in the games so far is we have five or six people in double figures, so we are looking to establish who is our `go to' player at different times.
"Defensively, though, we are looking very good. To hold teams to 70 and 74 points in the pre-season is encouraging.
"With Cedric coming in, you don't know what you get for a while, but he is finding his way and getting better and better.
"We don't have a true identity about our team right now, so we will hang our hat on defence until we find what our offensive flow is."
The Breakers play the Sydney Kings on the Gold Coast at 8pm tonight and, in a rematch of last year's final series, the Cairns Taipans in Brisbane tomorrow.
The nine competing sides play two games each and are then ranked 1-9 with the top two sides playing each other in the final and the next two highest-ranked sides playing off and so on. The ninth-ranked side will play a Queensland All-Stars team.
The Perth Wildcats opened the pre-season tournament with an impressive 98-59 win against the Townsville Crocodiles in Rockhampton on Saturday.
