Tall Blacks coach Paul Henare is facing a serious selection squeeze ahead of the final Fiba World Cup qualifying window later this month but is vowing to put his "best possible" lineup on the floor for a tricky trip to the Middle-East.
With the last wave of internationals butting right up against the Australian NBL playoffs, and with the European season at a key juncture, Stuff understands Henare could go into the last two games of the qualifying process with a number of high-profile defections.
Further complicating player availability for the final Fiba window is the fact that both the Tall Blacks and Boomers have already clinched spots at this year's World Cup in China (they top their respective groups with 9-1 records), and that the last two rounds will determine only their final seedings out of the Asia zone.
But a typically defiant Henare has declared the February 22 and 24 matchups at Lebanon and Jordan, respectively, as "massive, massive games" and that he hopes to field close to a full-strength lineup.
At this stage Henare has major doubts over the Germany-based Isaac Fotu who has been struggling with a back injury through the European season and is also waiting for a medical assessment on the knee injury suffered by veteran Mika Vukona playing for the Brisbane Bullets against the Breakers in Auckland last Sunday.
But Stuff understands that there are also concerns over the availability of Turkey-based Tai Webster and his brother Corey who has been battling fatigue and niggling injuries this season, while the NBL playoffs (starting just days after the window) loom as a major point of contention.
This is where it gets tricky for Henare. He is an assistant with Melbourne United who are playoff certainties and include Tall Blacks Alex Pledger and Tohi Milber-Smith in their squad.
Would Melbourne be keen for that duo to make a gruelling trip to Lebanon and Jordan just days out from the opening game of their semifinal series?
And he could also have players in a similar situation with the Brisbane Bullets or Breakers who are locked in a tight battle for likely the fourth and final playoff spot that might go right down to the wire.
Boomers (and Bullets) coach Andrej Lemanis told Stuff that any decision on Australian players involved in the NBL playoffs being spared this window would rest with governing body Basketball Australia.
"Right now I'd prefer to leave that with BA and the NBL and they can have those discussions," said Lemanis. But it is understood no Australian players involved in the NBL playoffs will make this trip (the Boomers travel to Kazakhstan and Iran for their final games).
"It's terrible," said Lemanis of the timing. "You could land and be playing on the road the next day, and that's unfair on the players from a health and wellbeing perspective. You can't expect players to do that, and it's unfair on the clubs."
But Henare took a different view.
"As far as I'm aware we're well within our rights to select anyone within the Fiba system. Our goal is to go into this window with the best possible team," he told Stuff ahead of Melbourne's clash against the Breakers.
"They're massive, massive games for us. We have the potential to qualify as the No 1 seed from Asia, and that would theoretically give us a better World Cup draw. We also have Korea snapping at our heels, and could drop to third.
"If finishing first gives us a chance to avoid a USA, Spain or Lithuania in pool play, then we're going to do everything we can to try achieve that."
Henare said his only player "in real doubt" was Fotu who has been sitting out games in Germany with a disc bulge in his back. Tai Webster had also been dealing with a back injury as well, but "if he's healthy we'll be selecting him to play. It's something we've got to manage and see how we go a little closer to the time".
Henare has Vukona and the in-form Reuben Te Rangi at the Bullets and Corey Webster, Shea Ili, Tom Abercrombie, Finn Delany and Jordan Ngatai at the Breakers who could be involved in the NBL playoffs, alongside his own Melbourne duo.
But Henare doesn't back leaving decisions to the players: "If we're doing the best thing by the Tall Blacks you have to almost take that away from the players because they're naturally going to be torn. From a club point of view it probably doesn't make sense to be playing this time of year, but we've got goals we want to achieve with the national team as well."