Tom Abercrombie will miss away games for the Breakers.
Photo: PHOTO SPORTS
Breakers captain Tom Abercrombie is still troubled by a preseason stab in the eye on the eve of the Australian National Basketball League season, which ends this weekend.
The Breakers will be without their veteran leader, who will be unable to fly for seven weeks while recovering from surgery for a retinal tear sustained in an incident at a pre-season game against Brisbane.
Abercrombie still only has 50 percent vision in his left eye – thanks to a stray arm from former NBA player Aron Baynes just 46 seconds into the game 10 days ago.
Baynes is back in Australia to apply for the Brisbane Bullets this season but Abercrombie still has no clear idea of when he will be back on the pitch.
“Unfortunately, they had to put an air bubble in the eye to heal it, which made the recovery a little longer,” Abercrombie said.
“I could theoretically play and play now, but I just can’t see anything, so it has to get to a stage where essentially I can see well enough to play.
“I hope that will be the case maybe in a few weeks [the air bubble] is half the size it is now. I’ll be able to see enough to play basketball but I really don’t know anything until I get there but unfortunately there’s nothing I can do to make it out of our rush, it’s just there my friend in my eye.”
It’s the second season in a row Abercrombie will miss the start due to a “freaky” preseason mishap – after a side strain sidelined him last season.
“I’m in the best shape I’ve been in years and ready to go into this season and I spent five days lying on my right side with nothing to do and spent quite a bit of time doing that to ask me why but I’m on the mend now and will be back as soon as possible.”
The NBL has done the Breakers no favors after spending two seasons in Australia. The Auckland club are on course to open the season against Melbourne United on Sunday and have played six of their first ten games away.
Abercrombie sits this side of the Tasman until mid-November, which he admits is frustrating for him and a challenge for the team.
“It’s obviously not a very favorable timetable for us to start with we’re going to be out and about a lot in October which doesn’t sit well with me, but going out on the road now has a different feeling because we know we’re coming Hometown.
“It’s different too, as the boys found out when they went to Darwin [for the NBL Blitz] It’s not easy traveling from New Zealand, every road trip is a long journey and we haven’t done that in a while so it’s a bit of a change to get used to this travel regime again.”
Import Barry Brown is not fully fit before the start of the season.
Photo: Andrew Cornaga / www.photosport.nz
New head coach Mody Maor also faces a squad in disarray days before the first round.
In addition to Abercrombie’s injury, Will McDowell-White and Barry Brown are injured and a bout of illness wiped out the team’s three imports from Thursday’s practice.
Maor says the injuries came at a bad time.
“You want your core, you want your base and your foundation. You’re still in build-up mode at the start of the season and that’s not when I would want the injuries, but you don’t choose them, they are , if they are, we simply adapt to the circumstances.
Maor says the club will not seek to use a substitute to cover for the injuries.
“We like our squad, it’s deep, we have players who can move up and do more, Sam Timmins and Dan Fotu. This is what an opportunity looks like when you’re a young player and you’re ready and you’ve done everything preseason you did your job, now you’re taking advantage of the situation.”
Until Abercrombie returns, his minutes will likely be taken over by France’s next-star Rayan Rupert – currently ranked 22nd in ESPN’s latest mock draft for next year.
“Rayan had a fantastic preseason, probably our best player out there,” says Abercrombie.
“The boy works harder than anyone I’ve ever seen. If he can build on that and improve it will be fantastic for us; he is a great talent.”
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