Top of the game
At 30 years old, Tom Abercrombie heads into a new NBL season as the New Zealand Breakers’ senior player. But 2018 has already seen plenty of action.
Feb 1, 2018
As he arrives at our photo shoot location, Tom Abercrombie unfolds himself from his Audi Q5. It’s a spacious car. But then, when you’re 1.98m tall, you go through life redefining most people’s perceptions of spaciousness.
He confesses to being “a little rusty” as our photographer captures him laying up some shots for the lens. He smiles wryly to himself before attempting a couple of slam dunks.
We’ve got him in unfamiliar surroundings: a street court in the back of Ponsonby in Auckland. A local shooting hoops at the other end of the tarmac does a double take and then gives him a big wave. Looking from Tom to his ball and back again, you can see this guy wishing he had a marker pen for an autograph. Friendly, quiet and polite, Tom wouldn’t hesitate to give him one.
Back in front of the hoop, with a camera lens poised to record his ascent, Tom laughs: “This is the first time I’ve picked up a basketball in about three weeks!”
Truth is, we’ve got the champion basketballer on a cold start. He’s rehabbing his body after the physical and mental challenges of the 2018 Commonwealth Games; a tournament which saw the New Zealand Tall Blacks falter at first (a sluggish semi-final performance against Canada), but ultimately rally in brilliant style to take home bronze after ousting Scotland 79-69.
Tom in particular stepped up, the Kiwi team’s swingman menacing the Scots with a ruthless performance of three-point shots at one end of the court, and some deft defense at the other.
“We played as best we could in that last game,” he says. “But yeah, we could have done a few things differently in the lead-up.
“I’m happy to have taken part in the Commonwealth Games though; with basketball in the mix it has been a long-standing goal of mine to get there. So, to come away with a medal is fantastic.”
Right at the moment, Tom’s enjoying some quiet home life. He and his wife have a new baby. At one point he checks his phone and I apologise for keeping him longer than anticipated.
“No, it’s all good. I’ve got nothing on after this.”
He’s taking things slow, before his life in the spotlight inevitably speeds up again. He has spent time playing in Spain and Turkey in previous off-seasons (“Turkey is fantastic,” he says. “Such an amazing place to play and live.”), but with a growing family and much less time between commitments in the Southern Hemisphere this year, Tom is staying close to home.
Soon he will play perhaps the biggest game of his career thus far. Not in terms of the accolades riding upon a win, but rather the viewing audience. The Tall Blacks will take on China as part of the World Cup qualifying rounds.
“There’ll be something like 50 million people watching that game, so in effect it’ll potentially be some of the biggest exposure New Zealand basketball has ever had.”
Alongside World Cup qualifying, Tom also has to think of the NBL season ahead.
The rest period following the Tall Blacks’ bronze medal win on the Gold Coast is a short one. With Tom’s New Zealand Breakers side featuring many new faces this season – not to mention a brand-new coach in former point guard Kevin Braswell – pre-season training will start well-ahead of October’s opening NBL games.
“There’s a huge amount of change this year, and I’m pretty much the last senior player standing. There’s a fair bit riding on my shoulders; the responsibility is on me to ensure the new guys coming through maintain the integrity of the club,” he says.
“That’s why we will have a longer pre-season training than ever before; it’s important that we’ve all gelled together before that first game rolls around. I have to prep my body as much as I can ahead of the season; there’s a physical motivation there to just get on the court and play, and I know we have a squad that is really motivated to do the best we can.
“I’m really looking forward to getting out there and playing Breakers basketball again.”