Portland Trailblazers coach on benefits of NZ Breakers clash

By Christopher Reive

The Portland Trailblazers operate in a different world to the New Zealand Breakers.

But when the NBA and NBL teams collide in Oregon in less than a month, Trailblazers analytics coach Jacob Mooallem says his side will have a fair idea of what awaits them.

Mooallem is in his second year with the Portland team after being headhunted by head coach and former NBA All-Star Chauncey Billups while Mooallem was working as an assistant coach with the Breakers during the team’s two Covid-impacted campaigns.

During his time with the New Zealand team, Mooallem was close with fellow assistant and now Breakers head coach Mody Maor. When asked about what he was expecting from a team with Maor now at the helm, Mooallem told the Herald there was only one mentality in a Maor-led Breakers team.

“We’re not going to take these guys lightly,” Mooallem said. “I think everybody saw what happened last year between Phoenix and Adelaide. We certainly don’t want to repeat that and we know the Breakers, you know, if I can tell the team one thing about the Breakers it’s that they play hard.

“They’re going to come out playing really, really hard and trying to win this game, and they believe they can win. I know Mody believes they can win. It’ll be fun to watch.”

Mooallem, a US native, said he still frequently talks to Maor and has been cheering the Breakers on from afar over the last year, and credited Maor for helping in his development as a player and a coach. When the Trailblazers did come knocking, it was Maor whom Mooallem spoke to about the opportunity, and he said the current Breakers head coach put things in perspective for him.

“Something Mody told me, which I think is very true, is that the pool does not get deeper,” Mooallem told the Herald of Maor’s career advice.

“It is not necessarily that there’s an additional depth of knowledge that you need to learn. It’s more so that the scale is magnified, and so it’s certainly a big step to go from the NBL to the NBA, but I think everybody will tell you that the problems that we face as a coaching staff or the Xs and Os challenges, they’re the same in almost any level of professional basketball.”

Mooallem is one of two links between the New Zealand and Portland teams, with last season’s Breakers’ next star Rayan Rupert drafted by the Trailblazers and preparing for his rookie season in the NBA.

While he showed glimpses of his potential with the Breakers, Portland selected Rupert in the second round as a player still seen as a raw talent and one learning how to get the best of out his physical gifts. It is likely he will spend time with both the Portland NBA team and their development team in the NBA’s G-League this season.

The Breakers will make the trip to Portland for an October 11 date at the Moda Centre for the first of two NBA crossover games they will play – the second being in Salt Lake City against the Utah Jazz the following week.

“I think there’s a real benefit towards playing players that you might not be as familiar with and teams that you might not know as well,” Mooallem said of the benefits of playing crossover games with NBL teams. “For us, this preseason game is going to be really like any other preseason game. We’re going to be focused on getting better at the things we want to do, working on our principles offensively and defensively.”

The Breakers showed some glimpses of what the season might hold over the last week in their own preseason games. Although they went 1-3 in four games, there were plenty of positive signs – including the performances of import duo Parker Jackson-Cartwright (averaging 14 points and eight assists) and Zylan Cheatham (13 points and eight rebounds).

While the game will be a preseason clash for Mooallem’s Trailblazers, it will fall after the NBL regular season has started, with the Breakers’ campaign beginning next Saturday at Spark Arena. They will have to catch up for the two rounds they miss later in the year.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission