Breakers will soon welcome Bruton

The New Zealand Breakers are en route to an intensive eight-day pre-season tour around Australia and will soon be joined by new signing CJ Bruton.

The tour is the final preparation for the Breakers before the upcoming National Basketball League and will be boosted by Australian international Bruton around halfway through in Melbourne as he has now finished his Olympic duties.

Breakers General Manager Richard Clarke said Bruton was looking forward to a few days of rest before settling into the new campaign.

"The priority for CJ right now is to recharge the batteries and reacquaint himself with his family," said Clarke.

"On the playing side of things Andrej [Lemanis] has spoken with CJ prior to the Olympic campaign about his role and the way the team will play.

"CJ picked up his playbook and DVD of all our stuff when he was in Auckland with the Boomers, so he should be able to step into the team systems without too much trouble.

"Clearly he is an experienced player well used to adapting to new environments, so while he won’t have a great deal of time we have no doubt he will settle in quickly upon joining the team in Melbourne."

The Australian Boomers bowed out of the Beijing Olympic tournament in the quarter-finals, losing to gold medalists the USA.

Bruton's key role in the Boomers saw him finish in third on the stats list for minutes played by the Australia at the Games and led them in steals, assists and free throw percentages.

American import Rick Rickert is also back on board after arriving in New Zealand after spending the off season rehabbing his injured back.

The Breakers will play three games against the Perth Wildcats before travelling to Melbourne to play the Tigers and end the tour with a game against the South Dragons, now coached by Australian mentor Brian Goorjan.