Having two former NBA players on their books, won’t break the bank for the Canterbury Rams.

Canterbury has achieved a National Basketball League-first with ex-NBA duo, centre Mickell Gladness and shooting guard Jermaine Taylor in their line-up.

Teams have fielded imports with NBA experience in the past, but having two at the same time is unprecedented.

Taylor played 65 games for the Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings between 2009-11, scoring a career-high 21 points against Orlando.

Shot blocking king Gladness appeared in 26 games for the Miami Heat and Golden State Warriors during the 2011-2012 season.

Rams’ director Andrew Harrison said they wanted to lift the team’s profile this season and inspire young basketballers in the region.

The Rams’ organisation were prudent with their finances and both came at the right price, he said.

“We run a tight budget and we don’t move outside of that budget. We’re getting really good value for money with these guys.

“We just can’t offer top dollar and never will be able to. We don’t even try to compete on that.”

Getting Gladness and Taylor to Christchurch had been made easier with their US-based agent Daniel Moldovan representing Rams’ coach Mark Dickel in his playing career.

Ad Feedback

Canterbury were also fortunate to have strong corporate support, including naming rights sponsor, Buildtech.

Harrison said the American pair were coaching in the Rams’ academy programme and schools. They often worked eight to nine hour days, once they had fitted in team trainings and weight sessions.

The young players in the Rams’ squad were practising against Gladness and Taylor each day, which would only make them better players and prepare them for US college scholarship opportunities.

“Our kids from New Zealand have so many disadvantages in that they haven’t got the same talent to compete against day in, day out, as they do in the States,” Harrison said.

“We have to provide them with some advantages. This is one of them. They can go up against guys like that.”

Taylor debuted in last Saturday night’s 86-76 loss to the Super City Rangers at Cowles Stadium, scoring just seven points on 2/13 shooting.

The game was a 1400-sellout and Harrison was optimistic the “full house” sign would go up at their remaining five home matches.

“Either one of these guys could have been career NBA players. It’s pretty special for our basketball community to go and watch guys like that.”

Harrison anticipates the Rams will break-even this season after generating a $15,000 profit in their first year back in the NBL last year.

He said it was important they continued to attract new sponsors each season to be sustainable long-term.

Creating a Rams’ general manager position within the next two years was a major goal.

“We’re still reliant on a whole lot of people putting in volunteer time. We’ve got next to no management overheads, but we can’t do that forever.”

Harrison said the Rams were highly likely to take one or two home games to the larger Addington-based Horncastle Arena next year.

That would depend on getting support from the Christchurch City Council and reasonable pricing from Vbase, who manage the venue.

He was confident they could get more than 6000 fans along if it was marketed well and ticket prices were lowered.

 – Stuff