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Great Britain National Team

  • Thread starter Thread starter FilWelsh2
  • Start date Start date
Chris Finch has named his 12-man roster and admitted it was a tough decision when making cuts.


The Standard Life GB men have been riddled with injuries, illnesses and player availability; however, with the first EuroBasket game in two day's time Finch has been able to train with a fully fit squad for the first time this summer, which made his decision to cut Justin Robinson and Jermaine Forbes even harder.

A fully fit Kieron Achara and Flinder Boyd will travel to Poland, alongside Houston Rocket Pops Mensah-Bonsu and Malaga pair Rob Archibald and Joel Freeland, while former GB under 20 Dan Clark will have the chance to make his senior debut in a competitive game.

"It's an interesting roster, we have a lot of depth up front in the big guys and that will be the strength we need to play to," said Finch.

"But I also want to acknowledge the guys who didn't make the roster. Justin did a great job playing at this level and I'm sure he learnt a lot.

"This was probably the highest level he has played at in his life. He is definitely one for the future as he gives us some things we just don't have at the moment.

"I'm looking forward him making a big step between now and next summer.

"It was the first chance to see what Jermaine could do. He was extremely solid and I will be interested to see what happens with him over the next year. It was a difficult decision to leave him off but we went for youth in there instead, even though it's a little unbalanced.

"For the first time yesterday we had a chance to have our full squad train together. Everyone is in the right frame of mind to compete.

"Over the last couple of days there has been a good spirit in the team and I think everyone is looking forward to arriving in Poland.

"The key to competing internationally is understanding that you can't control your environment. When it comes to the national team you can't control certain aspects so you have to make the best of it and stay flexible.

"This year was a good example of that and we have had to demonstrate how we've had to be creative, but I'm confident we have it right."

Britain open their European campaign against Slovenia on Monday.

The final roster:

Kieron Achara
Rob Archibald
Andy Betts
Flinder Boyd
Dan Clark
Joel Freeland
Nick George
Jarrett Hart
Mike Lenzly
Pops Mensah-Bonsu
Nate Reinking
Andrew Sullivan
 
tough match for Team GB tomorrow. . . i am looking forward for Flinder Floyd and Joel Freeland to deliver. . . go go go Team GB! ! !
 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ot...ritish-basketball-faces-its-biggest-test.html

another nice article, though I wish they'd stop with the now or never cliche, there's always 2011 before the Olympics.
I would support UK as a second team but I think too high expectations can do real damage to the team as well as the future of British bb.
BB is not cycling that you can build 5 pro arenas, hire 10 top trainers and managers and in 2-3 years you have olympic medals. The GB bb team enters a club of nations that on each tiny village, on each school there are 2-3 bb grounds and they are full of kids playing the game from 4-5 years old. Quite similar as we have in UK with football. In 2004 Olympics, the US bb NT had to travel by coach through Athens. When they arrived, a team manager said: "god...I thought New York is full of bb grounds"
I don't really believe that GB team would anything special this year. I doubt they would even make a win to qualify. I do believe however that by 2011 they can even make it to last 8. In 2012 even better. It would take decades to see a major medal, not just years.
 
I would support UK as a second team but I think too high expectations can do real damage to the team as well as the future of British bb.
BB is not cycling that you can build 5 pro arenas, hire 10 top trainers and managers and in 2-3 years you have olympic medals. The GB bb team enters a club of nations that on each tiny village, on each school there are 2-3 bb grounds and they are full of kids playing the game from 4-5 years old. Quite similar as we have in UK with football. In 2004 Olympics, the US bb NT had to travel by coach through Athens. When they arrived, a team manager said: "god...I thought New York is full of bb grounds"
I don't really believe that GB team would anything special this year. I doubt they would even make a win to qualify. I do believe however that by 2011 they can even make it to last 8. In 2012 even better. It would take decades to see a major medal, not just years.

The thing I wonder about with Great Britain, is what are they going to do post 2012. They seem really dedicated to making a competitive team for the Olympics, but will they have the same drive to continue when they don't have an event upcoming on their shores?
 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ot...Britain-to-play-in-2012-basketball-event.html

Great article about FIBA sitting on their hands, and what GB showed in Eurobasket. Though one wonders who these 'enemies' are. The description made me think Lithuania though I suppose it could be several of the former Yugoslavian countries as well.
This article is ridiculous. What will the ask for next? Allowing GB football in the Olympics too? Some things are there and have not changed for 120 years for a reason...

Greece marches 1st, Olympic flame starts in Greece, GB doesn't compete in basketball and football, American sprinters are all on dope, Isinbayeva will hold the world record for eternity... little traditions that make the Olympics so special...
 
This article is ridiculous. What will the ask for next? Allowing GB football in the Olympics too? Some things are there and have not changed for 120 years for a reason...

Greece marches 1st, Olympic flame starts in Greece, GB doesn't compete in basketball and football, American sprinters are all on dope, Isinbayeva will hold the world record for eternity... little traditions that make the Olympics so special...

hmm this post does kind of back up the theory of eastern European hostility toward Britain the article proposed :p
 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ot...Britain-to-play-in-2012-basketball-event.html

Great article about FIBA sitting on their hands, and what GB showed in Eurobasket. Though one wonders who these 'enemies' are. The description made me think Lithuania though I suppose it could be several of the former Yugoslavian countries as well.

I agree with article. Great Britain is still small team compared to others in their group(Serbia, Slovenia and Spain), but their game in matches against Spain and those first 3 quarters against Slovenia proved me that they could compete. If you add missing 3 NBA players, they could really give someone headaches in Olympics. Surely they can't win tournament, but they could be potential danger for every team who doesn't take them serious
 
ofc what I forgot to mention is they should be also focusing to create youth talents, and not just to give British citizenship to non-British players ;)
 
GBR – Deng hailed by coach Del Negro after fast start

CHICAGO (2010 FIBA World Championship) – Of all the absentees at the EuroBasket in Poland, perhaps none was more significant than Luol Deng of Great Britain.

With the Chicago Bulls forward in their line-up the previous two years, Chris Finch’s Brits won promotion from Division B to Division A and also qualified for the EuroBasket.

Without him in a Group C in Warsaw that included eventual gold-medal winners Spain, beaten finalists Serbia and semi-finalists Slovenia, the Brits were overmatched and lost all three games, though they nearly upset Spain in probably the most bizarre game of the tournament.

Britain, with mostly reserves on the floor, stormed back from an 18-point deficit to lead midway through the fourth quarter before falling to the 2006 FIBA World Championship winners, 84-76.

Even with Deng, who missed the event with a stress fracture in his lower leg, it would have been hard for Britain to win a game but there is no doubt his presence would have lifted the spirits of his teammates and made the team much more formidable.

The rest and rehabilitation from the stress fracture clearly did Deng a lot of good.

He has so far been one of the Chicago Bulls’ best players, particularly on defense, in their 4-2 start to the NBA season.

Team USA’s Carmelo Anthony, who is leading the NBA in scoring at more than 31 points per game, will be the man Deng must guard on Tuesday night when the Denver Nuggets visit the Windy City.

"We need Luol at both ends using his versatility, but especially his length and versatility defensively," Chicago coach Vinny Del Negro said.

"Melo can come out and shoot the ball well," Deng said.

"My job is to make it difficult on him and try to do whatever I can to help us get the win."

Deng was a frustrated player this summer and during the month of September when he had to miss Great Britain’s campaign.

Maybe, if the Brits receive one of four wild cards to play at the 2010 FIBA World Championship, he’ll have a chance to show everyone in Turkey what was missing from the British team at the EuroBasket in Poland.
http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews/p/newsid/37395/arti.html
 
BRITAIN STILL 'NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK'

// 04 March 2010

One never knows just how strong a national team will be each summer because of player availability issues.

There is one guarantee for Great Britain, though, as they look to make it back to a second-straight EuroBasket.

A different coach will be in charge.

Chris Finch will still hold the reins, but it will be a different Finch, one with new ideas and perhaps a bolder approach, a transformation that has happened following his departure from Dexia Mons-Hainaut in Belgium's top flight for the Houston Rockets' NBDL side, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.

After a lot of careful consideration and advice from colleagues like another NBDL boss, fellow American Nick Nurse - the Great Britain assistant coach - Finch felt it was time to stretch his comfort zone.

"I was always too conservative," Finch said in an interview with the BBC's World Service.

"I am more of a practice coach, a preparation coach.

"I like the routine European basketball had playing twice a week.

"But Nick was right.

"He said it (joining the Vipers) would help my game and it has.

"I feel much more comfortable in game situations than before.

"I was a little reluctant to do or try things but now I realize there's nothing to lose."

The Brits lost all three games they played at the EuroBasket last year but that wasn't surprising and for different reasons.

They played in Group C, the toughest of the tournament with opponents Slovenia, Spain and Serbia all advancing to the Semi-Finals and two of them - the Spanish and Serbians - making it to the title game.

Another setback for Britain was the absence of leading man Luol Deng due to injury and that, Finch has revealed, also led to fellow NBA star Ben Gordon from making his British bow.

"Ben is saying all the right things as he always does," Finch said in a tone of frustration.

"I really believe with Ben, he would have played last year had Lu played."

Gordon was born in London but grew up in the United States and does not have a strong connection to anyone other than his former Chicago Bulls teammate Deng in the British team.

"People need to understand that Ben has very little familiarity with the team in what we do," Finch said.

"We have a good relationship with him. It's a good one, it's open, and honest.

"He just said ‘I don't feel like going over there as such a major piece of the puzzle without having some familiarity.'

"You know, Lu provides that and it's all the more important that Lu commits, comes and helps with the integration of Ben."

Another factor that worked against Britain was their inexperience, and not just in the tournament but also the preparations.

This is something that Finch, Nurse and the rest of British Basketball have been looking at since the end of their EuroBasket campaign.

"We do a lot of debating about the things we've done in the past," Finch said.

"We really are critical of ourselves to make things better."

So what needs to happen for Britain to be competitive again and have a chance to reach the EuroBasket?

"The first thing we've got to do is set our schedule," Finch said.

"This summer is tougher than ever because the competition's moved up into the summer calendar.

"It's going to affect our guys' off-seasons. We need to make sure they are fresh and prepared."

This means the players will not be together as long as Finch would like before they start playing.

"We'll have two to three weeks of preparation period, closer to two, playing four or five games in there," he said.

"But we'll have the benefit of having worked with our guys for the last three or four years. We didn't have that before.

"And we also have an early bye. After we play our first game, we'll get some quality practice time and that allows us to keep building after the competition starts."

Finch said something that all of the players and fans need to understand is that this summer is like starting over.

"The biggest thing," Finch warned, "is we need to guard against entitlement because we were there last summer. We have to prove ourselves all over again. That's really the biggest mission statement we have for our guys.

"We can't be spoiled. We're still new kids on the block."

http://www.fibaeurope.com/coid_tgmeh41jHuIED2BUstyM73.container_frontpage.articleMode_on.html
 
GBR – Gordon says he’ll play with Brits

LONDON (EuroBasket 2011) - Great Britain have received some good news with Detroit Pistons sharpshooter Ben Gordon declaring he wants to play for the country this summer in qualifying games for EuroBasket 2011.

Gordon, a former teammate of Chicago Bulls forward and Great Britain star Luol Deng, will help the Brits when they go up against Hungary, Ukraine and FYR of Macedonia in Division A, Group B.

"I am delighted to have committed myself to GB for this summer and beyond,” the London-born Gordon said in a statement by British Basketball.

“I have heard a lot from Luol about the team and where we are going, so I am excited about the prospect of pulling on the GB vest.

“I have been in discussion with British Basketball for a while now, but various things have stopped me being able to fully commit.

“However, I am now settled with the Pistons and the time is right."
Gordon, who spent his first five NBA seasons with Chicago, is a career 40.4% shooter from long range but in his first season in Detroit, he buried just 32.1% of his attempts from behind the arc.

The 27-year-old’s 13.8 scoring average was also less than his career 17.9 points per game.

Great Britain have enjoyed a dramatic change in fortune the past several years in basketball following the awarding of the Olympic Games to London.

Unlike ever before, there has been a sense of urgency to put a competitive basketball team on the floor with the hope of convincing FIBA they will have a competitive side and deserve to take up the spot normally reserved for host nations at the Olympics in 2012.
http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews/p/newsid/39887/arti.html
 
GBR – Great Britain’s Freeland coming of age with Aito’s Unicaja Malaga

VALENCIA (EuroBasket 2011) - Great Britain’s Joel Freeland oozes with talent.

As young and raw players go in Europe, he’s had as much promise as any the past few years.

Now the pieces are coming together.

In his first year at Unicaja Malaga after beginning his career at Gran Canaria, Freeland, who turned 23 on February 27, has started at center and taken important steps under the watchful eye of Aito Garcia Reneses, one of the game’s great teachers.

Freeland has been one of Malaga’s standout performers in the ACB play-offs, first helping them upset Power Electronics Valencia in the opening round.

On one play in the first half, with his back to the basket and a few feet from the rim, Freeland caught a pass with both hands while at the top of his jump and threw down a reverse dunk.

It was such an athletic play that a very boisterous La Fonteta grew quiet for a few seconds before the Valencia fans started to applaud him.

“He’s very good at running, jumping and shooting,” Aito said to FIBA.com after his team won that game, 83-82.

Freeland has had some dynamic moments against Regal Barcelona as well in the semi-finals, although it hasn’t stopped the Catalan club from winning the first two games in that series.

After scoring 17 points and grabbing eight rebounds in Game 1 against Barca, Freeland poured in 11 and hauled in five in Game 2.

Drafted in the first round of the 2006 NBA draft by the Portland Trail Blazers, there has been a lot of hype about Freeland.

Aito says it’s important to keep things in perspective.

When asked if Freeland had improved this year, the coach said: “Yes, but the problem is that he began to play basketball late, at 17. He needs to understand basketball a lot more but he practices with a lot of interest and I hope that he will improve more, like this year, every year.

“He can be better, but he needs to understand the game better. But it’s normal because a lot of other players began in the game at 10 or 11 years old.

“He began later and sometimes he doesn’t recognize things.”

Freeland, who will play for Great Britain at the 2012 London Olympics, spoke to FIBA.com after Unicaja’s dramatic play-off opening win at Valencia 10 days ago.

Joel, you were a force out there against Valencia. Have you played like that all year?

Joe Freeland: It's going great. I had some ups and downs through the season, but I've learned a lot - especially with Aito teaching me a lot about defense. And I've tried to put that into my game. Every game, I think I'm getting better.

What is the big difference between playing at Gran Canaria and Unicaja?

Joel Freeland: The big difference between Unicaja and Gran Canaria? I learned a lot there, but here I'm learning different things, harder things, and trying to be smarter with my game instead of just thinking about my offense and giving up easy things on defense. I'm trying to fix the defensive part of my game but it's not coming as quickly as I want it to. But it will come eventually.

The first play-off game against Valencia was remarkable. Unicaja looked beat but somehow came back from a 12-point deficit and won with Zabian Dowdell’s buzzer-beater.

Joel Freeland: I'd been waiting for something like that all season. Other times this season, it went the other way. But this time in the play-offs, it was different. Since the second half of the season, we've been playing really well. We finished fifth and got to play in the four versus five (pairing) so that was great for us. We knew that we had to go all out in that first game.

We saw you play last year in Warsaw at the EuroBasket with Great Britain. What are the team’s prospects going into EuroBasket 2011 qualifying? You have some tough games coming up against Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, FYR Macedonia and Hungary.

Joel Freeland: I think we should be good. We've got Luol Deng (Chicago Bulls) and Ben Gordon (Detroit Pistons)- they're set to play. We're going to have a great side. Obviously we didn't have everyone last year in Poland. We have some tough games coming up but we should qualify for the European (Championship) in 2011 and be ready for 2012 (Olympics).

How will Ben Gordon fit in the team?

Joel Freeland: I think it will be easy. He's a veteran in the NBA and knows how to make adjustments. He'll be able to adapt and play the way (Britain coach) Chris Finch wants us to play. As long as we can get him there from the get-go, everything should be fine. It's the same for everyone. You join up a whole new group of players and must learn how to play with each other over a short period of time. That's never easy.

Last summer was tough for Britain, losing three games at the EuroBasket, albeit against excellent teams that advanced to the semi-finals. How do you evaluate that first EuroBasket experience for everyone in your team?

Joel Freeland: I think it put some extra pressure on us for the next games. I think it was a big step up for us, but it didn’t help us not having our best side and Pops (Mensah Bonsu) coming into the squad very late. It was a tough situation. I think we'll be okay next time.

The Blazers drafted you a while ago when hardly anyone in Britain knew who you were. Where is the NBA in your thought process now?

Joel Freeland: At the moment, I have a contract with Malaga and all of my thoughts are with Malaga, the play-offs.
http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/inte/p/newsid/40212/arti.html
 
FREELAND LOOKS TO SUMMER WITH CONFIDENCE
// 25 June 2010

Great Britain's players have heard it before.

Yes, they earned a place at EuroBasket 2009 and nearly upset world champions Spain.

They know that to be considered one of the leading national teams on the continent, though, qualification for the big tournaments has to happen again, and again, and again.

And they also have to win some games once there, something that didn't happen in Warsaw last year.

The Brits will put on their hard hats and go back to work this summer, playing in Division A games just for the right to play in the Final Round of a EuroBasket 2011.

"I think we should be good," British big man Joel Freeland said to Basketball World News.

"We've got Luol Deng (Chicago Bulls) and Ben Gordon (Detroit Pistons) - they're set to play.

"We're going to have a great side.

"Obviously we didn't have everyone last year in Poland."

Deng didn't play because of injury and Gordon delayed suiting up for Britain as well.

Freeland said: "We have some tough games coming up but we should qualify for the European (Championship) in 2011 and be ready for 2012 (Olympics)."

Tough games is an understatement.

The Brits will go up against Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Ukraine and FYR of Macedonia.

Each of those national teams will be champing at the bit to face England and prove that even with NBA players like Deng and Gordon, Britain can be beat.

Britain's success will depend largely on players like Freeland, who came out of nowhere when he was selected by Portland in the 2006 NBA Draft.

He has been honing his skills in Spain, first at Gran Canaria and this season at Unicaja Malaga.

"He's very good at running, jumping and shooting," Unicaja coach Aito said.

"The problem is that he began to play basketball late, at 17.

"He needs to understand basketball a lot more but he practices with a lot of interest and I hope that he will improve more, like this year, every year."

There is one big question that won't be answered until the games are played this year.

Detroit sharpshooter Gordon has yet to represent the Brits in international competition and everyone wonders how his presence will affect the chemistry of the team.

"I think it will be easy," Freeland said.

"He's a veteran in the NBA and knows how to make adjustments.

"He'll be able to adapt and play the way (Britain coach) Chris Finch wants us to play.

"As long as we can get him there from the get-go, everything should be fine.

"It's the same for everyone.

"You join up a whole new group of players and must learn how to play with each other over a short period of time.

"That's never easy."
http://www.fibaeurope.com/coid_wlIi12T4IeUMdY3AgZAP70.container_frontpage.articleMode_on.html
 
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