Tall Blacks coach Paul Henare is hopeful the new FIBA basketball schedule will enable Kiwi basketball star Steven Adams to suit up for the national team.
In the past, the 24-year old has made himself unavailable for the Tall Blacks as he has tried to focus on growing as an NBA player.
But now heading into his fifth NBA season, and after signing a US$100 million (NZ$136m) extension with the Oklahoma City Thunder, the time is right for Adams to represent his country.
Henare was hopeful the Rotorua native would be available for New Zealand at next month's Asia Cup in Lebanon where the Tall Blacks will make their debut in the new look FIBA Asia zone.
However, Henare opted to go with youth for the tournament, deciding not to select any American based player for the tournament and go with young talent playing in New Zealand.
As Adams was not selected, the seven-footer's next chance to don the black singlet for the first time will have to wait until next year's June-July international window.
"I sat down with him (Steven) a few weeks back and he had a look at the program over the next few years," Henare told Newshub.
"The thing for Steven now is that it is clearer in terms of what he can and can't commit to.
"It is a discussion we will have closer to the time to see how he is coping with his workload."
The Tall Blacks will face Kazakhstan, Lebanon and South Korea at the Asia Cup, and Herare believes this tournament is the perfect time to develop New Zealand basketball as they build towards the FIBA basketball World Cup in China, 2019, and the Olympians in Japan 2020.
"We felt like we needed a larger pool of talent to call on.
"It wouldn't be fair to go into our first window in November and through either unavailability or injuries, we just call in one of these guys and say you are playing in a World Cup Qualifier now, go and be your best.
"What this campaign does, it gives these guys that experience to play against the Asian teams, and gain confidence through experience knowing if their number is called in the coming years that they have a little background behind them."
Meanwhile, Adams is currently in the Philippines to help promote the NBA 3v3 tournament this weekend and told Philippines website the Rappler that the time has to be right to represent his country.
"Yeah, definitely. When the time is right, I may be suiting up," he told reporters in Manila on Tuesday
"We're just talking about when's a good time because they understand my commitments with the NBA. Obviously, that comes first."
"Olympics would be cool, especially it's in Japan (in 2020)," he said. "Japan's like my favourite country."
Newshub.
