Coach Chris Tupu was quick off the mark when it came to nicknaming the Nelson Giants' new (old) American import player for the 2010 national basketball league season.

"He's ATC, the air traffic controller," Tupu said. "No-one gets to fly in his space without his say-so."

The "he" is Michael Harrison, a 2008 Giants recruit who was unavailable last season but will return to the Trafalgar Centre for next year's campaign.

A 2.06m forward, Harrison played more minutes than any other Giant in 2008, eventually averaging 18.4 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.4 blocked shots a game.

Harrison, now 25, was on his first overseas engagement since leaving Colorado State University. Since 2008, he has played in Romania for Atlassib Sibiu and in Israel with Hapoel Haifa.

Tupu believes the experience and confidence Harrison has gained since leaving Nelson will make him a handful for the Giants' opposition next year.

"He's been in a couple more countries since he left us and had a couple more birthdays so I'm expecting he will be a different player  not that there was a lot to pick holes in before."

Harrison missed his senior season at Colorado State and had been out of basketball for the best part of a year when he joined the Giants last year. Despite that, he proved a talented all-round player, a fierce shotblocker with superb ballhandling and driving skills in an athletic frame.

He wasn't a dominating rebounder, preferring to use his length to beat opponents to the ball, rather than clearing space, but will be a more than useful complement to the Giants 2010 frontcourt duo of Tony Rampton and Mika Vukona.

"Mike can still get a lot better. That was one thing that stood out when he was with us  that his upside and his potential to develop are huge," Tupu said.

"The key for us is to get Mike to realise how good he can actually be."

Since leaving Israel, Harrison has been at home in the US, leaving Tupu keen to bring him to Nelson ahead of schedule.

There is a group of young basketballers who have been training two nights a week over the past two months and Harrison might arrive in Nelson a month ahead of the league start in March to join them.

"Mike Fitchett (Nelson's point guard) will be there and we will be full on into our pre-season training, so getting Mike to spend some time with our trainers will be really valuable."

The Giants have also managed to retain the services of the sport's premier fitness trainer, Claire Dallison, team doctor Shaun McKenzie-Pollock and the physiotherapy team at Sports Therapy.

"They are all pieces of the puzzle," he said. "Without the health and fitness professionals behind us, the performance on-court will suffer and the league will have a few very strong teams next season. You can't afford to put anything less than your best out there."

Harrison's signing completes the Giants' roster of contracted players for 2010. They are going with just one American player, having already signed Tall Blacks Rampton, Vukona and Phill Jones, Tall Black trialist Darryl Jones and Junior Tall Black Josh Bloxham.

"I'm happy with the roster that's been put together," Tupu said. "I did pursue Josh Pace for a while there, but Mike is a versatile guy with great size and the ability to play three positions comfortably.

"He has ambitions in the Australian league and tells me he's determined to catch the eye by playing great basketball in Nelson first."