Great Britain has apparently started to build their squad for EuroBasket after Unicaja Malaga revealed that their center Robert Archibald had made the cut as the first player names to their 12-man roster.

The official squad announcement is not expected until the end of July but Unicaja appear to have the inside track on at least one member of head coach Chris Finch’s selection, although it probably would have been a surprise had Archibald not been picked.

The 6-11 center from Scotland was one of the first Britons to be selected for the NBA via the draft, but despite stops in Memphis, Phoenix, Orlando and Toronto, the 29-year-old never really made it in the Association and left to ply his trade in Spain.

Britain has traditionally struggled on the European and World scene but with stars Luol Deng and Ben Gordon still possible for September’s tournament.

Qualifying through a group comprising of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Israel and the Czech Republic was a fine achievement, but Finch is keen to see them take the next step in the finals, where Spain, Serbia and Slovenia await.  This is the first time GB has even qualified since England played as a separate entity in 1981.

Realistically, Basketball betting suggests that Britain needs Deng and Gordon to play and perhaps even Kelenna Azubuike and Pops Mensah-Bonsu to make the trip to Poland if they are to stand the chance of going any further against the giants of the European game.

Deng and Mensah-Bonsu were the stars of the qualifying campaign, and the latter benefitted from the publicity gained to get a deal back in the NBA with the Raptors, but he is expected to be available to travel to Poland as well.

But Deng’s struggles to overcome a stress fracture in his leg, suffered while playing for the Chicago Bulls, has to go down as the biggest worry for Finch, whose side found out this week they will be going up against Pau Gasol, who confirmed he will be playing for the Spanish, as they look to avenge 2007′s Eurobasket Silver.

As for Archibald, the former University of Illinois star goes into the tournament on the back of a solid ACB season.  Archibald averaged 8.7 points in Spanish League action and 7.9 in the EuroLeague for Malaga.