Brits Hopeful Of Getting Pops Soon
Nothing would make British basketball fans happier than to discover that big man Pops Mensah-Bonsu will join the team for the EuroBasket.
Mensah-Bonsu has had protracted contract talks in the NBA and has reached a verbal agreement with the Houston Rockets but so far, he hasn't been given the all clear to join up with Chris Finch's British side with the EuroBasket tipping off in Poland in less than two weeks.
Finch, whose team is about to take part in the Efes Pilsen Cup in Turkey, said: "We are currently working with the Rockets and the NBA to sort out the details that will allow Pops to play. He is keen to join his teammates.
"Hopefully, he will be able to join the team in Turkey."
Mensah-Bonsu averaged 12.2 points, 10 rebounds and 1.8 blocked shots per game last year for the Brits in their successful qualifying campaign.
Finch was very happy that Britain were able to bounce back from five straight defeats and beat Slovenia in their final game at a four nations tournament in Spain.
They did so without their Unicaja Malaga stars Robert Archibald and Joel Freeland.
"The win on Friday was very important," Finch said.
"The guys were pretty tired, it's been pretty long stretch with six games in eight days.
"We got beat pretty bad the night before [against Lithuania]. Throughout the tournament, we played pretty well from time to time - just not long enough.
"However against Slovenia we managed to play better for longer. The guys deserved that win. It was a good statement.
"It was a big effort from Kieron [Achara] and also the guards; Mike [Lenzly] and Nate [Reinking] who have played a lot of minutes."
Britain were due to arrive in Ankara, Turkey, on Tuesday for the Efes Pilsen World Cup.
They will play Latvia on Wednesday and F.Y.R. of Macedonia on Friday.
"We just need to keep getting better," Finch said.
"I told the guys after the Lithuania game that it is a process. We will take some steps forwards and some steps backwards but we have to keep trying to continue to get better.
"The key now is starting to get a picture of how to play to be successful and how we're going to do that.
"We need to play more towards our strengths and away from our weaknesses. I think the biggest thing is coming up with an identity, our team needs an identity."