[As published in September/October BayBuzz magazine.]
At six foot eight (or 2.03 metres) Kahuranaki (Kahu) Treacher has the physical attributes along with natural talent and hard work ethic to realise his hoop dreams.
The 17-year-old wants to make it to bigtime in basketball – the NBA and he’s well on his way, living in Washington DC and attending St Albans High School, recently being named in the New Zealand U17 team; grabbing attention at an NBA summer camp in Abu Dhabi and now getting US college scholarship offers.
Kahu has been back home in Clive on Summer Break before embarking on his senior year at St Albans High, one of the most prestigious high schools in the US, known for being the school of the rich and influential. Former US Presidents’ children have attended the private school.
It’s a long way from where it all started, at home in Clive as a 12-year-old shaping your ball game on two players – his father Chris, who was late to basketball but went on to play for the New Zealand Defence Force team while serving in the Navy and someone a bit more famous … the greatest sharp shooter to grace the NBA, Stephen Curry, of Golden State Warriors.
Like Curry, Kahu spends many hours standing in front of the 10ft hoop, honing pin-point accuracy, shooting consecutive ‘nothing but net’ shots as well as under the close tutelage of Chris, a personal trainer, who has been helping develop his fitness, strength and agility.
As Chris says “the building blocks of a professional player”.
It’s obvious that Mum, Aroha Treacher, a talented journalist, has also had a big role to play.
As Kahu wanders into their living room, throwing out his big tattooed right hand to greet me, with a welcoming smile, he turns to Mum and tells her how much he loves her. Something that’s pretty rare for a 17 year old to say, especially in front of a stranger.
It’s this grounded, yet focussed attitude that are hallmarks of this close-knit whanau.
Before returning to the US for his final senior year, he will meet up with his New Zealand Under 19 team mates for a rushed training camp, before meeting up again for the FIBA U17 Ocean Championships to be held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea from 2–7 October 2023.
Another local player Ezrah Eagle is also in the squad.
Sport is big in the Treacher household with Chris and Kahu shooting hoops in the driveway, always trying to outdo each other in how many consecutive shots they can shoot through the hoop.
Up until recently Chris held the record of 20, with Kahu finally surpassing that shot count.
“I always fell short. I would get to 19 and blow it, it would get in my head that I couldn’t beat Dad.
Eventually with lots of practice, Kahu would go on to easily surpass Dad’s record – shooting 30 in a row.
The Treachers are fully invested in Kahu’s dream of playing professional basketball, ultimately in the NBA or in another professional league elsewhere in the world.
Off to St Albans
He’s off to a cracking start, going from playing age group representative b’ball for Hawke’s Bay since the age of 13, through to a scholarship at Auckland Grammar and now at St Albans.
The commitment for the Treachers is significant. School fees are in excess of $100,000 NZ but the school provides financial aid. High schools are not allowed to offer scholarships.
“Instead of it costing an arm and a leg, it’s just costing us a leg. The financial aid they offered in the first year was significant and it covers dorm accommodation and food, but not medical insurance and other extras,” says Chris.
Kahu was surprised to hear the cost of the fees. It wasn’t something he knew until this interview and he digests how fortunate he is to be at a sought after school, thousands of miles away from Hawke’s Bay.
For many of his fellow students, the fees are a small investment in education. The parents of one student own the Marriott Hotel chain, while most have houses the size of the Pettigreew.Green Arena, the home of the Hawks.
“I was pretty overwhelmed when I arrived but the school itself was really welcoming and it took me a week or so to make some friends, and once I made some friends, I was away. Now we’re brothers.”
Kahu is proud of his Māori whakapapa and Māoritanga, which has been welcomed by the school.
“My physics teacher was buzzing that I was from New Zealand and I have taught her some Māori language.”
To be the best he can be in basketball, Kahu needs to make every post a winner in the highly competitive leagues in the States.
Upon arrival he admits it was daunting, taking a few weeks to understand how to play the American fast-paced style of basketball.
He had to trust the process and the groundwork done by Chris hoping that his fitness, athleticism and hard work ethic would impress coach Glennard “OJ” Johnson.
OJ had only seen snippets of Kahu on video, with one play being the deal maker.
For Kahu it was a part of the game he had yet to master. The slam dunk, the show pony part of the game where a basketballer runs down the court, leaps mid-air and ferociously slams the ball through the hoop, before hanging on to the hoop as a statement. It’s the big play that players and fans alike love about the game.
Kahu’s first slam dunk came while playing in a senior competition in Auckland, and fortunately it was caught on film and shared to high school coaches in the US.
The St Albans coach says Kahu’s character has been a stand out feature.
“He is a bright light and brings lots of fun energy to the team while his athleticism and ability to dribble the ball at the size that he is.”
Path to NBA
For high school coaches in the US, they will know New Zealand’s most famous NBA player Stephen Adams and perhaps see Kahu as the next big power centre.
Ten years on from Stephen being selected with the 12th overall pick in the NBA, Kahu is mapping out his next steps in the game and how to impress College talent scouts.
Kahu is keen to follow in the footsteps of Stephen Adams but only as a Kiwi player, not as a tough uncompromising defensive player for which Adams is highly regarded, but instead as an all-rounder.
“When people hear that I am from New Zealand they think of Steven Adams and then they think you might be the same and have that toughness and mongrel, but I want to be more than that.”
He instead wants to pave his own way as a ball player, equally adept on attack, defense, dunking or scoring multiple three pointers like his all-time favourite player, Steph Curry.
He’s already ticked one box, surpassing the average height of an NBA player of 6 foot seven, which Kahu surpassed after a big sleep in at home on summer break, and is now marked in the hallway door at home.
In the high school leagues, they play ‘position less’ basketball where the coach has the confidence to put a player in any starting position whether it be small forward, point forward, centre or power forward.
Like Steph, Kahu is a sharp shooter too, spending at least an hour longer each day than some of his St Albans team mates shooting extra hoops.
“In America the game is so much faster, it’s actually crazy. The speed they play, they just get the ball and they run.
“It took me about a month worth of games to start to get used to it.
At the NBA “Basketball Without Borders” camp in Abu Dhabi he impressed coaches, making the All-Star game and being dubbed one of the best players in the entire camp and in the top 10 in his age group in the world.
He was coached by Atlanta Hawks forward Saddiq Bey, who personally approved of his game saying he had all the tools to succeed – height, athleticism and the ability to dribble and shoot, and run the point.
Kahu has two routes to get into the NBA.
He can go to college in the hope of going into the draft or he can chose to play professionally elsewhere, including the Australian Basketball League and then get picked up by an NBA team.
He has a college offer on the table with Coastal Carolina and is also in talks with other colleges.
The Treachers are leaning on close family friend Steve Cozens, a talent scout with Airtime Australia to help secure a college scholarship.
“If I went to college, I would like to do at least two years max in college and then hopefully will have done well enough to go into the NBA draft.”
The only advice from Chris and Aroha is that if Kahu decides on a professional playing career, he needs to continue to study.
“We’ve said that if he chooses the professional route then we’d still like him to do some part-time study because you’re only one injury away from never playing again.”
As the trainer for the Hawks Basketball team, Chris says it’s still not too late for Kahu to play for this local team in the NZBL, it would just be a matter of timing.
“Timing is everything. If nothing came up and the Hawks season had just started then sure, he would go and jump on that,” says Chris.
However, being based in the US, instead of New Zealand provides greater chance of NBA recruitment success.
“College coaches ideally want to see you play. So being able to play in front of them has been really good,” Kahu says.
“Plan A is to get to the NBA and there’s no plan B essentially.”
And with what team … there’s only one – the Golden State Warriors alongside Steph Curry.
“I’d be happy with any team but if I could pick it would be the Warriors.
So as Kahu’s career takes flight, he wants to ensure that the commitment of his whanau and his own values remain deeply rooted to growing up in Hawke’s Bay. To that end his Tā moko (tattoo), which reflects his whakapapa (ancestry) alongside his ongoing personal story is etched onto both lower arms.
Kahu’s Tā moko is a bird’s eye view as well as a front view of his Maunga, Mt Kahuranaki.
Hawk in Te Ao Māori means Kahu, and the Tā moko will continue to develop as a journey of his life – where it all began and where it will go into the future – soaring to the top of professional basketball.
Starting like most kiwi kids playing rugby barefoot on frosty Hawke’s Bay mornings, Damon became a sports editor for the local rag and then a sport promoter for the ASB Tennis Classic, the national rugby championship and the Auckland Blues. He served 15 years on the board of Sport Hawke’s Bay, five years as chair, and continues to be involved in sport governance locally. A third-term Hastings District councillor, in his spare time he’s an action man – surfing, mountain biking, a gym bunny and a newcomer to water polo.
