You don’t often get three bites at the same cherry, so Leon Henry is determined to make the most of his latest opportunity with the New Zealand Breakers.The rangy, sharpshooting small forward was the man signed up when Breakers star Kirk Penney decided to take his talents to Spain this year. It’s a role Henry has some experience in.
Last year, he got a foot in the clubrooms door when Penney missed the start of the Australian National Basketball season to try out for the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs. Henry was called up as a temporary replacement and stayed on with the practice squad when the Tall Black captain was ultimately cut by the Spurs and returned to the Breakers.
„At the time, knowing Kirk was probably coming back, it was a difficult transition for me,” reflects Henry. „But I had already been through the system and knew what the Breakers family was all about.
„I just put my head down and did whatever I had to do in the hope I would get another shot. That’s how it’s worked out.”
And it’s a case of sweet redemption for the man who squandered his very first chance with the organization as a boy several years ago.
After an outstanding junior career that saw him consistently selected for All-Star and MVP honours at age-group tournaments, Henry was offered a development spot with the Breakers, but never really appreciated the opportunity until he let it slip through his fingers.
„I was too young and stupid to understand what was put in front of me,” he admits. „I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, whether I wanted to play professionally or go to college.”
Henry’s American college dream turned out to be a year at tiny Southern Idaho Junior College, not exactly what he had envisaged, and by the time he landed back in New Zealand, his fortunes seemed to be on the decline.
But former Tall Black coach Tab Baldwin recognized the talent beyond Henry’s showy streetball style and took him to Romania for a season with Univ Mobitelco Cluj Napoca. Somewhere in the hinterlands of Transylvania, Baldwin rekindled his protégé’s career by changing his game.
„Straight out of high school, Tab had asked me to come along to trials, so the first offensive and defensive systems I ever learned were under him. Those systems are not easy, so at 18, that was quite something.
„Getting the opportunity to go to Europe and play top level basketball against top level teams was a real eye opener for me.”
Up until then, Henry had been better known for his athleticism and acrobatic dunks than his shooting touch. Baldwin tutored him in the need to develop an outside game and three-point range is now the backbone of his armoury.
But like his US college experience, Henry found the culture of European basketball bewildering. Both he and Baldwin had their contracts with Cluj terminated, and it was about then he probably realized what a good thing he had let slide with the Breakers.
„It’s tough for kids to make that decision, whether college is the right option or turning professional. But the good thing is that clubs like the Breakers now have everything to offer … education for young athletes and support for their families.”
