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Breakers shooter John Rillie - Source: Photosport -
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He's been in New Zealand less than a week but already John Rillie has brought fun back to the Breakers gym.
The 38-year-old was signed up last week in an effort to fill the void left by injured star Kirk Penney.
Rillie had time for just two team trainings before last Thursday's 83-74 win over the Perth Wildcats and despite the tight turnaround, he hardly missed a beat.
Coach Andrej Lemanis has worked with Rillie before as assistant coach at Townsville so knew the value of what he was getting.
Lemanis says that Rillie has already injected life back into a struggling campaign with his energetic personality.
And while he's still warming up on court, it's what he contributes off it that may be of the greatest value.
"He's helped already with the chemistry at practice, you can tell there's a fun feeling within the gym when he's in there," Lemanis told tvnz.co.nz.
"He's a smart player and good guy. Talking some trash and having a good time enjoying basketball.
"He just loves playing and that's contagious, we've got a few guys like that now.
"You can feel a little shift in the energy levels and spirit of the group."
The Breakers have completed their final training on home soil before heading to Australia for a two-game road trip against Cairns on Wednesday and Townsville on Friday.
And while Penney is expected to be one more week away, Rillie is looking to help out on the scoreboard a little more this week.
"With him having two days of practice (against Perth), the offence wasn't out of sync. It didn't go exactly as you would draw it up but generally he knew what he was doing," Lemanis said.
"He's a smart guy and picks that stuff up. Seeing him hit a deep three was nice that he's doing it for us and not someone else."
