By Ben Francis
New Zealand Breakers General Manager Dillon Boucher insists new signing Ben Woodside is not a direct replacement for departed point guard Cedric Jackson.
The 5'11" guard from Minnesota has played all his professional basketball in Europe and cannot wait to bring his talents down under. Woodside comes to the club based off recommendation from Kirk Penny who played alongside Woodside in Turkey and Spain.
Breakers General Manager Dillon Boucher is looking forward to having Ben Woodside join the club and have a new style of play on the floor.
"The key thing for us was we weren’t going out trying to find a replacement for Cedric Jackson, we were going out to find someone who was a crucial part of the team," said Boucher.
"He can do everything, in college he was a big time scorer.
"But probably his biggest strength is distributing to players and being able to use the pick and roll situations and get guys easy opportunities.
"We feel we have some very talented scores around him so we are happy that we have a player who can do both."
Woodside will arrive at the club In September for pre-season training.
The Breakers have nine of the eleven full time roster positions for next season. The club plans to use one of those two remaining spots on an import power forward.
"We will be looking for another power forward.
"We will make sure they tick all the boxes of what they can do on the court but more importantly about their character and can they buy into the Breakers values."
"If they can play both positions [power forward and centre] it's a bonus for when you are getting in things like foul trouble or injuries they can cover both positions."
Click above to watch Boucher's interview.
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