Great Britain National Team

[inaminute23]

http://badaball-boards.com/gbbasketball/

Official, no Deng or Gordon!

Massive blow & probably need a minor miracle to get out of the group.

[HIGHLANDER]

Yip, that is a massive blow.
I feel without those 2 players they will not have a chance of qualifying.
However if they play as the captain stated in his article (getting in faces and playing hard defense) then they could gain some respectable scores.

I think people forget that most of the squad have alot of experience in playing for big European clubs or in big leagues.

To be honest though i don't care what happens, it is just great they will be there and it can only be good for the game in the 4 countries of the UK.
Most of all i am happy that Scotland will have a player or 2 representing.

[inaminute23]

Where does the absense of Deng & Gordon put us now? We need at least 2 players to excel, perform like they have never before. More emphasis will have to be put on a 3 point game, so i'm thinking the back court will now have to be Lenzley & Reinking. I Can't see us starting with just one 3 point threat (Nate).

Which 5 out of the 17 won't make it? My guess would be Robinson, Clarke, Hanke, Forbes, & Achara. Just think Vanderbeeken will have a better shot at 12th man as he is a good shooter, well by looking at his stats anyway.

A massive bonus will be if Pops can play the 3. If not, do we expect Betts to drop to the bench in place of George or Sullivan at the 3? Again George might be favourite as he can shoot the 3 well.


So my final 12 would be.....

BETTS
ARCHIBALD
MENSAH-BONSU
BOYD
LENZLEY
LEVEN
REINKING
FREELAND
SULLIVAN
GEORGE
HART
VANDERBEEKEN

My starting 5 (if pops can play the 3)

C - BETTS
PF - ARCHIBALD
SF - POPS
SG/PG - REINKING
SG/PG - LENZLEY

Or if Pops can't play the 3

C - ARCHIBALD
PF - POPS
SF - GEORGE
SG/PG - REINKING
SG/PG - LENZLEY

We will go there with less pressure now, which hopefully will help us. Stranger things have happened, but there is always hope & you have to believe we can win one of these games. Whatever the outcome I just hope we try our best, and do ourselves proud!

[Paul Nilsen]

In a nutshell it puts Great Britain as probably the worst team in the tournament



thank goodness for my sister and my new family ties

[stuart]

Tough blow for Great Britain, especially with Deng, he is the consumate team player and can do so many things on the floor. How is GB's backcourt looking? With Archibald, Pops, and Freeland, their frontcourt is looking good... it's all about chemistry though.

Stuart

[sime0n]

Why isn't GB a lock for 2012 as hosts?

[inaminute23]

Tough blow for Great Britain, especially with Deng, he is the consumate team player and can do so many things on the floor. How is GB's backcourt looking? With Archibald, Pops, and Freeland, their frontcourt is looking good... it's all about chemistry though.

Stuart

The back court will probably be

LENZLEY – SG/PG
REINKING – SG/PG
BOYD - PG
LEVEN - SG
HART – PG

The guards are steady, can shoot well on any given day, but lack someone who can dominate the floor. Saying that our guards are probably better than they were last year.

[rikhardur]

Why isn't GB a lock for 2012 as hosts?

They are.

[auris1]

0-3
Point’s difference – minus 50 plus

[Paul Nilsen]

I will settle for

a) Being there and deservedly so
b) Keeping games to 6-16 points and respectable, maybe 20 points v Spain

Much as it pains me, mayube you are not too far away with that assessment.

With Deng and Gordon I think GB could have taken Serbia, an outside shot at Slovenia and no chance with Spain

Without them, no chance with Spain, no chance with Slovenia and an outside shot at Serbia

Hope i am wrong and sometimes the underdog has its day.

Also while we seem to have a monopoly in big guys (which we do at the five spot), the one pitfall of all three of our guys who are good players is that they dont have any range to step outside and consistently make any kind of shot. Archibald, Freeland and Betts

A lot of onus will be placed on Reinking in my opinion because he has to shoot the lights out to keep us in games

The guys will fight and it is not a downer on the guys we have got - take Nowitzki and Kaman out of Germany and it has the same effect

Just glad we are representing and luck with Deng deserted us

[SunOverHStreet]

With Deng and Gordon I think GB could have taken Serbia, an outside shot at Slovenia and no chance with Spain

Without them, no chance with Spain, no chance with Slovenia and an outside shot at Serbia

Hope i am wrong and sometimes the underdog has its day.

I don't want to be disrespectful, but do you really think that with that two players you could do so much as you speak of. I think you should be realistic a little bit. If someone plays in NBA, that doesn't automatically means that he's better than other euro-based players and that he's overbalance to his side.
You should take into consideration that this is your EC debut, and that majority of GB's players are inexperienced to such level of competition.
Lot of Serbian NT players are very young, but the majority of them played or playing in Euroleague for years and already played in EC.
Sometimes big names means success, but they ain't guaranty for it.

[auris1]

Sometimes big names means success, but they ain't guaranty for it.

The only player to do so is, scratch "is", was Dirk. Deng and Gordon are decent players, commanding x amount of monies in nba but with no pedigree playing in Europe.
Paul, I agree with a) and I agree with b) as well.
I would even have a slight ray of optimism of getting through to quarterfinals, but don’t ask me how–still, there is always a chance. But I wouldn’t bet my money on this. What I would bet is GB loosing by certain amount of points
Anyway, are you coming to O2 to watch GB?
I am still hoping to make at least one day

[g.g]

The only player to do so is, scratch "is", was Dirk. Deng and Gordon are decent players, commanding x amount of monies in nba but with no pedigree playing in Europe.
Paul, I agree with a) and I agree with b) as well.
I would even have a slight ray of optimism of getting through to quarterfinals, but don’t ask me how–still, there is always a chance. But I wouldn’t bet my money on this. What I would bet is GB loosing by certain amount of points
Anyway, are you coming to O2 to watch GB?
I am still hoping to make at least one day

Be optimistic, anything can happen...somebody in the predictions thread sincerely believes that Turkey would reach the final. Why not if they play well on key games.

[auris1]

Be optimistic, anything can happen...

True. But, you see, I am not British, I just happen to live here. And as a matter of fact I want them to do well. And it is not conflicting as well – you can name any sport and bet it has more funding here than basketball, the game I like. So GB doing well means there should be more moneys available ,more teams to watch.
The very first question new people I meet ask me here – what team do you support, meaning football. I don’t. So it is not very surprising I sit on my own in the pub

[Paul Nilsen]

I am not going to make it to the 02. I am heading for the Seville tournament the week afterwards instead ..... South London or Andalucia....what a choice

Dont worry about being disrespectful SunOverHStreet, just lay it down as you see it, that is why we are here I guess - would be boring if we all agreed

I do think that had Deng and Gordon played, Great Britain would have had a shot at making it through - I say only a chance. They would still be a quality point guard away maybe

But

PG
Gordon
Deng
Mensah-Bonsu
Archibald / Freeland / Betts

Is not such a bad team. I agree with you completely about exprience and even with the NBA guys it would still be tough, that is what I was saying, we only had a chance.

Now I fear that chance is gone. Maybe in a different group the chance would be a little better, for example with a Dirk Nowitzki-less Germany and Kirilenko-less Russia

But, we have already won something and that is respect for reaching Division A so quickly and also qualifying for a major tournament at the very first time of asking