By Sam Worthington - Dominion Post
New Wellington Saints coach Pero Cameron says he is confident of assembling a quality squad after his first talent-spotting visit to the capital at the weekend.
The New Zealand basketball legend spent two days casting his eye over 20 local players who are hoping to make the cut for the Saints' National Basketball League campaign, which starts against the Manawatu Jets in Palmerston North on March 6.
The 35-year-old Cameron, who hopes to log some minutes for the Saints as a player-coach, already has four quality Kiwis on the books; point guard Lindsay Tait, centre Nick Horvath, swingman Leon Henry and shooting guard Troy McLean.
That group will form the backbone of the Saints, with Cameron planning on adding four more New Zealanders and two imports.
The Saints job is Cameron's first coaching gig, as he continues to juggle playing commitments with the Gold Coast Blaze in the Australian NBL and a potential international swansong at this year's world championships in Turkey.
Saints chief executive Nick Mills has given Cameron a free hand to mould a squad to his liking, but before flying back to the Gold Coast last night, Cameron said he was in no rush to decide his roster.
"We haven't made all of the decisions," Cameron said. "We've got a great group of young guys coming through to go with some of the experienced guys that are here.
"Not everyone could make the trainings but it was good to have a good look at what we want to run, to show the team what we want to do as a team, put some basic rules in place and get all the trainings under way."
Cameron won't set up permanently in Wellington till the start of the season, with Saints assistant and Junior Tall Blacks coach Kenny McFadden to fill the breach in his absence.
"He'll be running a lot of things over the next couple of weeks," Cameron said. "There's fitness issues that we've got to address, there's all sorts of things, but we're really looking forward to a good year.
"I'm glad we had a good couple of trainings here, it's the first part of the commitment, so here we go."
Cameron did not want to discuss the names of potential imports, with decisions based on whether he could first secure the signatures of his remaining local targets.
"That won't totally determine but it will have a little bit of influence on the type of player that we're going to get, import-wise.
"I don't really want to put anyone's name in the paper yet. I want to go away, and then over the next 10 days, sign them then."
Cameron, who as a player won a record nine New Zealand NBL titles during an illustrious career, hoped to return to Wellington for another flying two or three-day training visit within the next 10 days.
Cameron said his comeback from minor knee surgery was progressing well and reaffirmed his desire to take the court in a Saints singlet.
"I'm planning to train. I don't like to count myself as a contracted player but we'll see.
"There's an abundance of young talent down here and some of it's very new, some of it's not.
"I should be back training at the Gold Coast next week. I've been doing some shooting, everything's good and hopefully I can do a bit of live stuff next week. I'm in my fifth week of rehab and they told me four to six, so I've got to step it up."