Great Britain National Team

[FilWelsh]

What is the latest for Team GB? did Chris Finch has already started practice sessions with the players? What is the status of Ben Gordon?

I am looking forward to Four Nations Basketball Tournament this coming August. . . I just got my ticket on the said fixtures. . .

[inaminute23]

The training camps starts the back end of July. What i can tell you though is that British Eurosport will be televising Eurobasket! Brilliant news & a great boost for the game in the UK.

[auris1]

British Eurosport will be televising Eurobasket! Brilliant news & a great boost for the game in the UK.

My main issue is that the commentary probably will be provided by curling experts; coverage is not going to be live or complete – i.e. they are still advertising NBA finals – apparently all you have to do is to sign on with them to watch games 6 and 7. Plus eurosport is not on freeview.
And this boost is more like a short term fix due to olimpics with years to come of …well, nothingness. To have 4 teams tournament in O2 with ticket prices like this – how is it going to help anyone to promote the game?

[inaminute23]

My main issue is that the commentary probably will be provided by curling experts; coverage is not going to be live or complete – i.e. they are still advertising NBA finals – apparently all you have to do is to sign on with them to watch games 6 and 7. Plus eurosport is not on freeview.
And this boost is more like a short term fix due to olimpics with years to come of …well, nothingness. To have 4 teams tournament in O2 with ticket prices like this – how is it going to help anyone to promote the game?

The commentators will be basketball experts, Roy Birch, Martin Henlan (former England international) etc. Eurosport may not be freeview, but a hell of a lot of people have access to this station. Also what are you going on about regarding ticket prices for the tournament at the O2? I've paid £45 for 6 games of basketball. Im going to Warsaw too where i've paid only £56 for 6 games. So I don't know what your point is.

[mvblair]

The commentators will be basketball experts, Roy Birch, Martin Henlan (former England international) etc. Eurosport may not be freeview, but a hell of a lot of people have access to this station. Also what are you going on about regarding ticket prices for the tournament at the O2? I've paid £45 for 6 games of basketball. Im going to Warsaw too where i've paid only £56 for 6 games. So I don't know what your point is.

Those aren't bad prices, man. When I went to the 2002 WBC, I think that was about the same. Take some pictures for us when you go, OK man?

I hope we start to get some rosters soon...

[auris1]

The commentators will be basketball experts, Roy Birch, Martin Henlan (former England international) etc. Eurosport may not be freeview, but a hell of a lot of people have access to this station. Also what are you going on about regarding ticket prices for the tournament at the O2? I've paid £45 for 6 games of basketball. Im going to Warsaw too where i've paid only £56 for 6 games. So I don't know what your point is.

How about the family of four?
Do you care to do the math? 4 *11 for tickets, 4 *1.75 service charge, another 2 or 3 for delivery + 20 for the parking .How about multiplying this for 3 days? And that’s is the cheapest ones – there are 18 and 50 per person per day

Roy Birch interview - In our first season of ULEB Cup, we couldn't get to the most distant games, so we did some by satellite. The first one was with Martin Henlan, and we were supposed to be doing Dynamo Moscow; as soon as the pictures came through, I looked for Lazaros Papadopolous, in white, as a starting point, but the teams were in Yellow and Purple, and all the graphics were in Russian. I knew we had the wrong game, but we hadn't got a clue which game we had. I got on the phone to Paris to tell them. And they eventually got the right game over the satellite but Martin and I had to waffle on for 15 minutes (it was Unics Kazan). That was hard work, and it was Martin's first game!

I suspect they never stopped waffling ever since (that’s based on this years final 8 eurocup commentary).

[inaminute23]

How about the family of four?
Do you care to do the math? 4 *11 for tickets, 4 *1.75 service charge, another 2 or 3 for delivery + 20 for the parking .How about multiplying this for 3 days? And that’s is the cheapest ones – there are 18 and 50 per person per day

Roy Birch interview - In our first season of ULEB Cup, we couldn't get to the most distant games, so we did some by satellite. The first one was with Martin Henlan, and we were supposed to be doing Dynamo Moscow; as soon as the pictures came through, I looked for Lazaros Papadopolous, in white, as a starting point, but the teams were in Yellow and Purple, and all the graphics were in Russian. I knew we had the wrong game, but we hadn't got a clue which game we had. I got on the phone to Paris to tell them. And they eventually got the right game over the satellite but Martin and I had to waffle on for 15 minutes (it was Unics Kazan). That was hard work, and it was Martin's first game!

I suspect they never stopped waffling ever since (that’s based on this years final 8 eurocup commentary).

Since when was I a mind reader? As in previous posts you have stated nothing about ticket prices, or how many of your family were going. Also don't park @ the o2! You can get plenty of public transport there.

[Dtown]

Bulls trainer doesn't believe Deng will be able to go for Britain. With the group they're in if this is true their odds plummet.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/basketball/bulls/1641835,CST-SPT-bullnt27.article

[inaminute23]

If it is true, who do you think will play his position. Pops, Sullivan, George, or A N Other? If he is out, then I still think the squad is stronger than last year as long as Gordon plays. Don’t forget we didn’t have Archibald, Freeland has improved greatly again & Betts is fully fit & had a great season. I now think Finch might put more emphasis on a 3 point game, but to have any chance now we need Ben Gordon! I think his contract will be sorted very soon, maybe as soon as Wednesday when the free agency begins.

[arturcia]

sometimes I hate the NBA that they ruin European Basketball

[inaminute23]

sometimes I hate the NBA that they ruin European Basketball

You are so right! In my eyes he could continue his rehab in Britain, and see how it goes. Sooner or later he has to try & play again so why not with GB? Also it is still 10 weeks away from Eurobasket, so how does Forman know? It is just wishful thinking on his part I hope. Even after Eurobasket there is still 6-8 weeks before the NBA season starts! This is very premature and I think it is Gorman putting pressure on Deng. Deng is strong minded & hopefully he will be fit enough & tell Gorman where to go.

[HIGHLANDER]

You are so right! In my eyes he could continue his rehab in Britain, and see how it goes. Sooner or later he has to try & play again so why not with GB? Also it is still 10 weeks away from Eurobasket, so how does Forman know? It is just wishful thinking on his part I hope. Even after Eurobasket there is still 6-8 weeks before the NBA season starts! This is very premature and I think it is Gorman putting pressure on Deng. Deng is strong minded & hopefully he will be fit enough & tell Gorman where to go.

Could not agree more.
Sometimes these NBA guys think the NBA comes before country.
To an extent that is right as far as paying wages and insurance but
they must understand some players are passionate about playing for their countries.
So yeh..f-off Gorman ya wank..

[g.g]

Can you please explain a bit more your world rankings?

[Dtown]

Can you please explain a bit more your world rankings?

I'm assuming you mean me, they were made after one of the many discussions on this board about how much the FIBA rankings make little sense, and didn't reflect a team's strength (see Serbia ranked 5th). So I cut it to a 4 year window (region 05,world 06,region 07,olympics 08), kept FIBA's point system, and eliminated the junior competitions from scoring then counted it all up (I was very bored that week).

I think it's pretty good at measuring the teams '05 to the present.

[akitto]

i think that ur national team is good but need some work so u can compete in high levels