Basketball: Webster home and hungry

Corey Webster.
Corey Webster.
Happy with his time in New Orleans but hungrier than ever, Corey Webster is back with the Breakers after briefly living his NBA dream.

And, after everything he's experienced in the past month, the Kiwi can confidently assess where his basketball future lies: "I don't think it ends here."

Webster yesterday returned to Auckland after being waived by the Pelicans in the NBA pre-season, believing he's a better player than when he left and ready to help lift the defending champions out of an early slump.

While the objective for the near-term is obvious - providing some offensive spark to a team that on Friday fell to 1-3 - the bigger picture is no less apparent. Webster enjoyed only a taste of his ultimate target and his appetite is far from sated.

"I learned a lot being over there," he said, "and I think the main thing for me was just realising that I could play at that level and play with the best players in the world.

I think there are going to be more opportunities down the road, so I'm just going to keep working hard.

"My agent's been talking to some other teams and they have said they're going to keep a good eye on me. There are always people watching and you've got to remember that. No matter who you are, there are always people watching, so you've just got to perform all the time. I believe there's going to be another chance."

Webster's initial chance wasn't quite everything he had hoped for when, on the promise of a three-day try-out, jetting off Louisiana last month. A pure shooting guard but also a capable ball-handler, Webster was asked to play only point guard with the Pelicans, a challenge that impinged upon his opportunities to impress.

The 26-year-old's skillset was still enough to win a place at the team's training camp, where his proficiency at the position saw him earn a non-guaranteed contract heading into pre-season. But running the point necessitated a tempering of his personal instincts, forcing Webster to switch off the sweet shooting stroke that saw him turn the right heads while on Tall Blacks duty.

Webster played 21 minutes across three pre-season games but managed just four points and six assists and, when back-up point guard Norris Cole was injured, the Pelicans were left scrambling for more help in the position.

"It was tough, playing point guard the whole time," Webster said. "It was surprising - I didn't realise that until I got there - but I just did what I could and they said they were happy with me.

"They said I did a good job and it didn't look like I was out of place, even though I was playing out of position. Even though it was tough not playing shooting guard, it was still a good learning experience."

That experience, Webster vowed, has made him a more well-rounded player, one more equipped than ever to provide a meaningful contribution in both guard positions. And it may also help the Breakers find a solution to the quandary Webster's return has created.

Signed on a short-term deal to cover the absence of his Tall Blacks team-mate, Everard Bartlett has proven he belongs at the Australian NBL level, scoring 14.5 points per game while shooting at a 50 per cent clip.

The Breakers, as currently constructed, boast one body too many, and Bartlett would be unfortunate in the extreme to be the odd man out. But Webster will certainly be capable of spelling Cedric Jackson, and development player Shea Ili has also shown his abilities manning the point.

So, instead, it could be journeyman Aussie Shane McDonald whose time with the champs might be almost over, having proven largely ineffective in his first campaign with the club.

That's not for Webster to worry about. His job will be replicating the offensive form that, with Jackson, last season gave the Breakers such a potent back court, a job set to begin with the visit of Sydney on Wednesday.

"I'm just going to go in there and help them however I can," Webster said. "I'm looking forward to seeing all the brothers again."

With that said, though, Webster knows where he belongs, where he has ached to play since shooting hoops as a kid, and where, every day, he will be working hard to once again reach.

"It's a pretty big thing, coming from New Zealand and going all the way over there.

"Just getting a taste of the NBA environment makes me more hungry and makes me wants to go back even more."

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