Basketball: Breakers' future leans on champions of the past

New Zealand basketball legend Dillon Boucher is back at the Breakers - six years after he suddenly left the NBL club.

Boucher was the first "key signing" by the new owners of the Breakers and will take on the role of the president of basketball operations as the club looked to rebuild following a clear out of the front office ahead of the 2025/26 season.

As a Breakers player Boucher was there during the glory days, winning a three-peat of championships from 2011 to 2013 and taking the court more than 100 times, beyond his playing days he filled a couple of roles in the front office and was general manager between 2016 and 2019.

The chance to return to the club where his retired playing number hangs in the rafters was too good to turn down.

"The club means everything to me. I poured everything out on the court for the club and then after finishing playing going into the office and doing the same thing," Boucher said.

"So I have a passion for the club and I want to see the club successful.

"That doesn't just mean winning championships, it just means being successful both on and off the court."

The new ownership group first approached Boucher in an advisory role before he was offered the opportunity to preside over the basketball side of the organisation.

"It's really important that it's not an individual journey for a group of owners.

"It's a journey for the whole of New Zealand to get on and go on it together and be stronger together."

Boucher saw first-hand the club under the ownership of New Zealanders Paul and Liz Blackwell during his playing career and the early days of his off-court involvement. He was general manager when the outgoing America-based ownership group took control in 2018 - an arrangement that did not last long.

Moving on from the Breakers in 2019 was "not easy" for Boucher.

"I always thought there was a possibility one day there'd be an opportunity to be back in the NBL, whether it was with the Breakers or could have been another club."

Boucher describes himself as a "Breaker for life" so getting the 49-year-old on board helps bridge the past and the future of the club that has been around since 2003.

The Blackwells are also back as part of an ownership group lead by Marc Mitchell and includes brother Leon and Stephen Grice, Sean Colgan and former Breakers captain Tom Abercrombie.

"There's a lot of things in the past that were really strong and we'll make sure those are embedded in the club.

"We want to ensure the history remains it's important that those have been part of the organisation, feel like it's in their bloodline and that they still feel a part of it.

"But at the same time, we need to ensure with the new group that there's a direction that we're taking this thing that people want to be a part of."

Boucher left his post as Basketball New Zealand chief executive to return to the North Shore base of the Breakers and will have a busy six months ahead before the next season tips off.

First on his agenda was securing the playing roster.

All players and coaching staff who were on contract for the upcoming season under the previous owners "remain on contract".

"It's working with the coaches, working with the ownership on pulling together the strongest team possible.

"Looking at the pieces we've currently got and building a roster that the fans want to come and watch, but also that's capable of winning a championship."

Since Boucher was last involved in the NBL a new club has joined the league, the path to the playoffs has changed and the overseas playing talent showing an interest in the league has increased but Boucher wanted to bring back some of what worked before.

"There's a lot of good bones there, but I think new ownership, they always want to stamp their own feel and vision on it. So we look forward to picking up the good stuff and building on that to be able to be successful.

"We're fortunate enough to be the only New Zealand team in the Australian NBL so we want to be able to capture the country. We want to engage in the community.

"We want to have a strong development programme through playing, coaching and administration roles. We want to be able to ensure we're supporting the pipeline of basketball in this country.

"I think for us it'll be how we portray that message to the basketball community or to the community out there and encouraging people to be a part of the journey."