Racing
League
Rugby
Cricket
Golf
Motorsport
Combat Sports
Football
Netball
Basketball
Other Sports
Sport Nation
Live sport on SN this weekendNZ Breakers sign ‘defensive demon’ for upcoming ANBL season
Logan Swinkels • June 13th, 2023 8:44 am
One thing is clear from when Mody Maor took over as head coach of the New Zealand Breakers, defence comes first.
In the the 2022-23 season, the Breakers went from wooden spooners the previous season to second on the ladder. That defensive approach almost won the franchise its first ANBL title since 2015, but stumbled at the last hurdle, losing in a thrilling five-game series to the Sydney Kings.
Now, the Auckland-based club is gearing up for another shot - their winning intentions are clear.
On Tuesday, the Breakers announced the signing of Mangok Mathiang - a 'defensive demon' who is considered to be arguably better than Dererk Pardon, the American import who helped lead the charge on Maor's game plan and was named the team's Defensive Player of the Year.
The 30-year-old South Sudanese Australian centre will call upon his brief experience in the NBA, where he played four games for the Charlotte Hornets in 2017-18. More recently, the big has been applying his trade for Hapoel Eilat, averaging 11.1 points and 13.9 rebounds over 11 games in the Israeli league.
Mathiang also has ANBL game time on his resume, the 6'10" centre played 25 games for the Illawarra Hawks last season - averaging 7.7 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.0 blocks on a team that finished last.
For the record, Pardon finished last season averaging 11.8 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in the ANBL.
The signing comes with high praise from Maor.
“In my opinion, Mangok will be the most underrated player coming into the NBL this season,” the head coach said.
“It was clear that playing last season for Illawarra, he was rounding into form before heading to the Middle East. In the last couple of months, Mangok has dominated the Israeli League.
“If he produces the type of numbers for us that he’s been posting in Israel, then we are talking about a strong candidate for NBL Defensive Player of the Year.”
Mathiang's rebounding numbers caught the attention of the Breakers head coach as he looked to replace one physical presence under the rim with another.
“In Israel, Mangok’s dominance completely changed his team’s defence which was the critical factor in them avoiding relegation.
“This and Mangok’s competitive fire are what lead me to expect him to produce a ‘Defensive Player of the Year Season’ for the Breakers," Maor explained.
The new addition takes the NZ Breakers roster to seven confirmed players for NBL24, where Mathiang joins Tom Abercrombie, Will McDowell-White, Izayah Le’afa, Cam Gliddon, Dan Fotu, and Tom Vodanovich.
