New Zealand Breakers signing CJ Bruton sees his role this season as not just about winning another NBL championship but also about giving back to the wider international basketball community.
During a highly accomplished 14-year basketball career, travel has never been an obstacle for the highly respected Australian shooting guard. He has pounded courts and shot hoops in Perth, Brisbane, Wollongong, Canberra and Sydney as well as overseas stints in Venezuela and America.
So it shouldn't come as a surprise to those who have persistently followed his progress that the 31-year-old is eagerly embracing a new home court, in a new city, in a new country this season.
The personable son of ANBL legend Cal Bruton freely admits to sadness over the demise of his most recent club the Brisbane Bullets, with whom he won one of his three NBL Championships, but sees his move to Auckland as a highly positive spin-off. With a number of clubs pursuing Brutton's post-season signature he says it was the Breakers who made the most exciting impression.
"I think in life you like to get something that excites you and I think when the Bullets went down it was sad to see but I could also see exciting opportunities and I wasn't trying to look back. Where I'm at in my career I felt I needed to go to a team where I felt I could help because that'll make me come out of my shell a little more and also I think this is a great place to raise a family," said Bruton.
And Bruton was quick to cite the off-court strengths of the Breakers as a factor in his decision.
"There were quite a few teams (interested) but I think the way this team has been held together; the way the club has been managed up to this point, what they've gone through, we're they're at now and them seeing what I could bring to the table and also when you've got a young family - I really appreciated the way I could see this organisation is being run, it made even more of an impression on me," he said.
The veteran of 90 Australian caps says that he had no reservations about plying his trade alongside a host of Tall Blacks players that he's done fierce battle with over the years.
"Absolutely not. The game is bigger than that. What was taught to me is mine to pass on, my father taught me that at a very young age and he taught me to never be wrong to the next guy walking down the street. At the end of the day we're all friends, we all know one another through this competition and we often know each other's pasts and families too," he said.
And he says that this desire to share his knowledge and skills along with a change in lifestyle are key motivations for him in 2008-09.
"Obviously I've got a lot of experience and knowledge of the game and not only do I want to give some of that to the Breakers but I want to share some of that with the community and the kids too. I've been able to do that around Australia and I want to do that here in New Zealand as well."
If Bruton can pass on a just fraction of his outstanding basketball knowledge and skill then both the Breakers and New Zealand basketball will be much the richer for it.