Tom Abercrombie will retire after 16 seasons playing for the Breakers. Photo: Anthony Au-Yeung
From fan to fan favourite. Tom Abercrombie will leave a lasting legacy at the New Zealand Breakers.
Abercrombie is retiring at the end of the 2023-24 Australian NBL season bringing to an end a 16-year professional career that includes championship wins, wooden spoons and friendships that will last a lifetime.
The Breakers captain started his final season bringing up a milestone 400th NBL game and will sign off as a club legend.
Hometown boy
After growing up on the North Shore and making a name for himself in a Westlake Boys' High School basketball side that he captained to a national title Abercrombie was destined to be the face of his hometown club.
He was in the stands when the Breakers played their first ever game in 2003.
In the years to come Abercrombie would transition from the sidelines to the starting side.
Tom Abercrombie with his good friend Mika Vukona. Photo: Anthony Au-Yeung
He would play alongside his heroes - Kirk Penney, Phill Jones, Paul Henare and Dillon Boucher - team mates who would become friends.
A 21-year-old Abercrombie burst onto the NBL scene in the 2008-09 season by draining a corner three with his first shot and showed off his athleticism with an alley-oop the next trip down the floor.
At 36 years old he retires holding the club record for most appearances and is the Breakers' leading all-time point-scorer as well as holding records for most field goals made, three-pointers, free-throws, blocks and steals.
Abercrombie is the only player to have played in all six Championship Series appearances for the Breakers.
Aside from being part of the four championship teams, he also was Grand Final MVP in 2011 and received All-NBL First Team honours in 2012.
Tom Abercrombie with the Championship trophy during the iinet ANBL Basketball Finals v Perth Wildcats 2012 Photo: Andrew Cornaga / photosport.co.nz
"I remember coming into the Breakers and we'd never won a championship or anything like that. We played at the North Shore Event Centre in front of a couple of thousand people. Coming off the back of what the Tall Blacks had done at the 2002 World Champs basketball was starting to build in this country and the North Shore was kind of the hub of that and the Breakers and our success came along at the right time and we were able to capture the hearts of a lot of people.
"Those championship runs that we went on were incredible and as we had success the momentum and excitement for basketball built as well.
"We've come a long way and it's just it's been wonderful to play a small part in that journey."
Being a one-club player in a league that sees players switching clubs regularly or clubs collapsing and establishing is a rarity.
Abercrombie has played for six different head coaches across his 16 seasons and has had team mates come and go and come back again.
His role in the team has changed but his intention has always been the same.
Tom Abercrombie 2008 Photo: Renee McKay
"I think I'd like to be remembered as a selfless player who did whatever it took to help his team win.
"I think that's been a hallmark of my career is being able to not box myself into playing a certain way. I've adjusted to playing for many different coaches and tried to play a role whatever was called upon me at the time. But certainly, defence first has always been a point of pride for me.
"I've loved playing that end and being able to use my abilities and athletic gifts to impact the court at that end. I've always just concentrated on controlling what I can control on a basketball court and for me defence has always been the easy thing that requires effort and intensity and attention to detail. It doesn't matter if you make or miss a shot; you can always play hard at that end of the floor and contribute to a game no matter what else is going on.
Tom Abercrombie hangs off the basket as he does a slam dunk against the Adelaide 36ers in 2020. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
"I've had some fun at the other end too, probably a little bit more up and down and athletically gifted earlier on in my career and had some fun catching some hoops from Cedric Jackson and some of those guys. Those are great highlights and great memories. But for sure the defensive end is where I hang my hat."
Setting an example
Abercrombie's oldest son has been counting down the games until his dad's basketball career is over.
"I am happy that I was able to play to a stage and to an age where my kids could watch me play and understand what I did and why I did it.
"I'm not retiring because I want to spend more time with my kids but I'm very excited to do so...my kids are starting to get a little older now but they know what dad's done now and are always my biggest supporters so I'm really, really pleased and proud that I've been able to set a good example for them."
Not only has Abercrombie been a role model for his own children but for many others.
Tom Abercrombie of the Breakers is greeted by his children Photo: Photosport
"I've always prided myself on being a professional and doing things the right way. I try to set a good example for my peers and anyone watching me and always tried to be humble and carry myself in a way that is inspirational to others and I know that we're role models in the community. There's kids that look up to us and every interaction with a kid after the game can mean the world to them.
"So it's probably one of the things I'm most proud of is how I've been able to interact and impact my community and hopefully have a positive effect and impression on those that I've been able to meet along the way."
When former coach Dan Shamir spoke out in the media in defence of an American import Breakers player who was before the court for a late night incident in 2019, Shamir made a reference that he had come across players from different backgrounds "and they're not all Tom Abercrombies who grew up on the North Shore of Auckland and are like him."
In that moment the Breakers management were probably wishing their wayward player had a few more of Abercrombie's professional qualities.
That player will be an awkward footnote in the club's history while Abercrombie will leave a legacy that will see his number 10 jersey hanging in the rafters alongside other club legends like Paul Henare, Dillon Boucher and CJ Bruton.
The time is right
Tom Abercrombie's involvement in basketball hasn't ended with the end of his professional playing career. Photo: Alan Lee / www.photosport.nz
Abercrombie admits it is "scary" to think about what comes after basketball.
He will complete his Masters in Business Administration this semester which will be "great to have in the back pocket".
"I can see a lot of different paths at the moment and I'm trying not to tunnel myself into anything at the moment. I'm excited for new challenges and new adventures and whatever that is so look we'll see what happens."
Whatever comes next for Abercrombie basketball will always have a place in his life.
-RNZ
