“He figured out that having players from New Zealand was the team’s strength,” said Marc Hinton, an Auckland sports journalist. “If they had this Kiwi team, a brothers-in-arms sort of thing, it would always be an advantage against club teams from Australia.”

Today, the Breakers have a robust developmental program that draws on young players from New Zealand. Six of the team’s 10 current players are products of the system. The Breakers also run an academy for promising players between the ages of 14 and 19. Tai Wynyard, a 17-year-old developmental player for the Breakers, committed last month to play college basketball at Kentucky — a sign of progress if ever there was one.

The eight teams in the N.B.L. are subject to a salary cap of 1 million Australian dollars (about $783,000), spread among 10 players. The Breakers try to maximize every penny, and they seldom give up on prospects. When Corey Webster, a shooting guard, was suspended for the 2011-12 season for violating the league’s drug protocol, the Breakers sent him to China to work with a trainer. He also stocked shelves at one of the Blackwells’ supermarkets. This season, Webster is averaging a team-leading 15.4 points a game.

“We want guys who are willing to sacrifice,” Clarke, the chief executive, said.

Before joining the Breakers, Clarke had little interest in basketball. In fact, he said, he had played the game only once, while on a rugby trip to Venezuela.

“It rained one day,” he said, “so we played basketball.”

With the Breakers, Clarke entrusts those who do understand the game to advise him on personnel decisions. In some ways, he said, his ignorance is an advantage.

“Agents will start talking, and I just don’t care,” he said.

Clarke likes players who come from winning backgrounds, and he tries to anticipate how different personalities will mesh. One of the problems last season, he said, was that the team had too many players who spent too much time staring at their cellphones. So he brought in Carter, the Australian point guard.

“We needed to have that loud, brash Australian,” Clarke said. “All our Kiwis were quiet.”

Clarke also asked Vickerman to detail his vision. Vickerman hoped to improve the team’s athleticism and rebounding. So in addition to reacquiring Jackson, the Breakers bolstered their frontcourt by signing Tai Wesley, a forward from Utah, and Ekene Ibekwe, a center from Los Angeles.