Sport: Guam basketball calls on Australia & NZ for help

Guam is calling on New Zealand and Australia to help aid the development of Pacific Island basketball.

The US Territory completed a clean sweep of their opposition in an Asia Cup pre-qualifying tournament in Thailand last month, to advance to the final round of qualifiers next year.

The former FIBA Oceania Championship was a closed shop to Pacific Island nations, with Australia and New Zealand contesting the final eight editions of the men's event from 2001-2015 and the final four women's events from 2009-2015.

Guam was invited to compete in FIBA Asia for the first time this year after winning gold at the 2015 Pacific Games in Port Moresby.

Head coach EJ Calvo said after so long sitting on the sidelines it was exactly the sort of challenge they had been craving.

"Definitely we know that we have a lot of work to do before we close the gap between Guam and the other countries in Asia - especially New Zealand and Australia," he said.

"We're just excited to compete and be on the court with them and do our best. We have a pretty wide range of ages on our team: some experienced veterans and college players who are also a big part of our future and then trying to keep the system going for the next couple of years and inspire the next generation."

Guam are currently 76th in the FIBA men's basketball world rankings, well adrift of Australia (10th) and New Zealand (38th).

EJ Calvo said one way the Trans-Tasman neighbours could help Pacific teams improve is by revisiting changes to eligibility rules, which no longer treat Oceania players as "locals".

"I hope for the future that Australia and New Zealand continue to help Pacific Island programmes get better," he said.

"The biggest thing that they've done in the past is allow Pacific Islanders to play in their professional league as local players but then of course that rule was taken away - was it a year ago or a couple of years ago?

"That hurt a bunch of guys in Fiji and Tonga and definitely in Guam who the number of generations have been looking at that as finding a professional opportunity for a Pacific Island basketball player.

"I'm hoping that can be looked again and basically there's no opportunities for us to play domestically and play year-round and that would be a big benefit for us."

Each NBL team is able to contract a player from a FIBA Asia or Oceania country other than Australia or New Zealand as a non-restricted player.

However, in widening the eligibility to all of Asia, Pacific Island players are likely to be overlooked in favour of high-profile Asian imports.

Guam international Tai Wesley was signed by the New Zealand Breakers in 2014 using the old Oceania rule and won the Australian NBL title the following year.

He returned to the Auckland-based club in May, fresh from winning another NBL crown with Melbourne United, but was allowed to retain his "unrestricted" import status while he goes through the process of gaining New Zealand or Australian citizenship.

EJ Calvo said the next major focus for the Guam men's national team will be defending their Pacific Games gold medal in Samoa next year, with Tai Wesley and older brothers Mekeli and Russell expected to play a key role once again.