AUCKLAND (2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments) - The New Zealand Tall Blacks crave a large presence in the low post to boost their chances of reaching the podium at a major basketball event, or booking a trip to the Olympics.

They will have to keep waiting for Steven Adams, though, with the Oklahoma City Thunder center ruling himself out of national team duty again this year. The 22-year-old has decided not to make himself available for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Manila, a six-team event the Kiwis must win to clinch a spot in the Rio de Janeiro Games.

New Zealand had hoped that Adams would play at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup and at last year's FIBA Oceania Championship but he decided against taking part in those tournaments as well. Tall Blacks coach Paul Henare is nevertheless unshakable in his belief that the team can still make it to the Brazil Games.

"Of course we would have liked to have Steven join the 2016 campaign. I've said it before that he is world class and would bring plenty to our group, just as we believe the Tall Blacks environment would offer plenty to Steve," Henare said.

Our history shows the Tall Blacks are a formidable team that can mix it with the best in the world, I think you’ll find that 2016 is no different. The Tall Blacks have a proud history and a strong culture that produces focused and committed teams. - Henare

When the New Zealanders are firing on all cylinders, they are one of the toughest teams in the international game. No opponent can take them lightly. That has certainly been evident the past couple of years.

At the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup, when the team was coached by Nenad Vucinic, New Zealand almost upset Lithuania and reached the Quarter-Finals.

At last year's FIBA Oceania Championship, the Tall Blacks made life very difficult for Australia but faded late in the opening game. They lost that encounter, and the one in Wellington, too. But New Zealand provided plenty of evidence that the team is capable of getting to Rio.

At the OQT, New Zealand will play in Group B against France, who are likely to have Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert, and the Philippines, who boast former NBA big man Andray Blatche. If they finish in the top two, the Kiwis will advance to a Semi-Final and take on one of Group A's three teams: Turkey, Senegal or Canada.

Turkey expect to have their giant NBA pivot, Omer Asik, and Senegal will boast several impressive players on their front line, including Gorgui Dieng of Minnesota. Canada do not have a dominating center but with Tristan Thompson (Cleveland) and Kelly Olynyk (Boston) in the squad, they will not be short of talented big men.

Our focus right now is on bringing together the strongest possible group of players committed to wearing the black singlet in Rio. - Henare

"The silver lining here is that we have certainty early on, while not the answer we wanted, we can now focus solely on bringing together a strong group of players and finalising our build up campaign for the qualifying tournament in Manila."

FIBA