Ethan Rusbatch talks to his Tall Blacks team mates. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
More pieces of the Tall Blacks' FIBA World Cup puzzle will be revealed this week when the draw for the global tournament is held in Manila.
By the early hours of Sunday morning the Tall Blacks will know where they will be based for the world cup and who their opposition will be.
For the first time the tournament will be hosted across three nations - the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia - from 25 August to 10 September.
Basketball New Zealand chief executive Dillon Boucher will be in the Philippines for the draw this weekend to find out first hand what lies ahead for the Tall Blacks.
Argentina legend and FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 global ambassador, Luis Scola, will be on stage to assist with the draw. Scola is the second all-time top scorer in the competition, having appeared in five editions, with his 41 appearances the joint-highest in history.
He will line up alongside former Germany and NBA star Dirk Nowitzki who is the chair of the FIBA Players' Commission for the process that puts the 32 qualified nations into eight pots each containing four nations before their pathway for the 19th edition of the tournament is unveiled.
Dirk Nowitzki playing for the Dallas Mavericks in 2017. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Philippines, as host of a Group and the Final Phase, is placed in pot 1. All other teams are placed in their respective pot based on their position in the world rankings.
The Tall Blacks are ranked 26th in the world, with 13 qualified countries ranked lower than New Zealand.
The three hosts have also selected a preferred team based on commercial reasons. USA will play in the Philippines, Slovenia will travel to Japan and Canada will land in Indonesia.
Where New Zealand end up and who they are drawn against will influence the Tall Blacks preparations for the showpiece event with coach Pero Cameron waiting on the draw before confirming the next steps which are expected to include camps and games in Europe.
Cameron will take a 12-man roster to the world cup and will have plenty of tough selection calls to make over the coming months.
Among those 12 could be several Breakers players.
Those players would have a limited pre-season with coach Mody Maor and their Auckland-based teammates before the Australian NBL tips off on 28 September.
No Breakers players were involved in the Tall Blacks' last two games to round out the world cup qualification window in February as they were part of the Australian NBL finals series but the world cup will be different.
Breakers general manager Simon Edwards says with a lot of local talent on the roster - nine New Zealanders played for the Breakers last season - having players on international duty was a situation the club was familiar with but it was still part of the discussions as they looked ahead to next season.
Sydney Kings player Brazilian Tim Soares is defended by Breakers and Tall Blacks player Tom Vodanovich Photo: PHOTOSPORT
"When you are a team like ourselves which has a large portion of its team that is from one country and also a lot of the players from the team are top talent from the country then there's a big chance that we will have players that are competing in the world cup.
"Obviously it was a conversation piece but the NBL has changed a lot too. South Sudan is in the world cup this year and there is a lot of teams that have some South Sudanese players, obviously the Australian Boomers there is a number of players in there, Sydney had a player from Brazil, Zhou Chi played for the South East Melbourne Phoenix last year and he represented China so it's becoming increasingly difficult [for the ANBL] in regards to the FIBA window ... but it is an honour to play for your country.
"Unfortunately it is just one of these things that we have to contend with and it is what it is."
The countries that have qualified for the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup: Philippines, Spain, USA, Australia, France, Serbia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Greece, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Canada, Venezuela, Montenegro, Puerto Rico, Iran, Dominican Republic, Finland, New Zealand, China, Latvia, Mexico, Georgia, Jordan, Japan, Angola, Cote d'Ivoire, Lebanon, Egypt, South Sudan, Cape Verde.