Great Britain National Team

[Lietuvis]

I hope you are wrong. Having a C grade team play is going to be ridiculous and of course will take a spot from european teams.

England should stick to their version of basketball which is called netball. I am sorry but I hate netball with a passion, voted worst sport in the world..

[Dtown]

I hope you are wrong. Having a C grade team play is going to be ridiculous and of course will take a spot from european teams.

England should stick to their version of basketball which is called netball. I am sorry but I hate netball with a passion, voted worst sport in the world..

Actually that's what I meant, is that Britain has to advance up from their C grade level to be granted their spot in the olympics, and that means at least qualifying for Eurobasket. Of course I'm getting this all second hand, someone who actually follows British basketball could give a better answer.

[Juan Carlos Nadal]

The host country automaticly qualifies for the Olympics

Not necessarily. They first have to meet some standards and the one set by the IOC is for the to get to the first division of Eurobasket and qualify for one of the final tournaments.

[usausa]

Not necessarily. They first have to meet some standards and the one set by the IOC is for the to get to the first division of Eurobasket and qualify for one of the final tournaments.

Yes that is true from what i read. on britains website, there is a search for players who have like british decent or something like that. they are desperate for good players. i forget what they have to meet, but i believe its to qualifytfor euro, which means deng might can miss the tournamenht because gb is so damn good. i mean, when i first heard they were hosts, i was scared for their bball team and the massacre that would oocur. i am scared of this because that might ruin their olympic exper.

From http://www.british-basketball.co.uk/...e/default.aspx
"Great Britain Senior Men will take part in the Division A qualifiers for Eurobasket 2009. To ensure qualification for the tournament in Poland, they will need to win their group. ".
"The major goal of the BBF is to gain entry to the London Olympics in 2012 for Great Britain Men’s and Women’s teams by proving our competitiveness in European competition. "
Check this http://www.british-basketball.co.uk/apply/default.aspx

From FIBA Europe
"Great Britain expect to have Chicago Bulls star Luol Deng in their lineup again this year when they play EuroBasket 2009 qualifying games but the country has yet to gain clearance from the NBA.

Deng signed a lucrative contract extension earlier this summer but he needs to have his insurance in place before running onto the court to begin training with the national team."Read more here

[Khalid80]

Great Britian is going to need to work their asses off to assemble and prepare a decent competitive team if they are to qualify to the Olympics through advancing to the later stages of Eurobasket.

[damelo]

I think they will do it with Luol Deng.

Last year, he turned this middle B-Div team into a plane in this second division. Thabo Sefolosha wasn't able to do that all, with Swiss, which may have better backcourt already.

I think they can be a nice team, they have size, muscles, an good-minded superstar. Now, they have to play seriously, but it may remember me a little Germany.

[Khalid80]

I think they will do it with Luol Deng.

Last year, he turned this middle B-Div team into a plane in this second division. Thabo Sefolosha wasn't able to do that all, with Swiss, which may have better backcourt already.

I think they can be a nice team, they have size, muscles, an good-minded superstar. Now, they have to play seriously, but it may remember me a little Germany.

Yeah Deng (like Dirk) is like 50% of the whole team so without him GB will definitely suffer big time. Is Olowakandi still playing for GB NT these days?

[damelo]

Yeah Deng (like Dirk) is like 50% of the whole team so without him GB will definitely suffer big time. Is Olowakandi still playing for GB NT these days?

I thought he was Nigerian...

[Khalid80]

I thought he was Nigerian...

Just like Deng is Sudanese . Olowakandi was born in Nigeria but he was raised in England. I don't know when he got the British citizenship but I do remember when he was drafted in the NBA in 1998 they were saying that he was the first British to be drafted as a first pick.
I don't think we should be surprised to see that the GB NT will mostly be made up of non-UK born players.

[damelo]

Just like Deng is Sudanese . Olowakandi was born in Nigeria but he was raised in England. I don't know when he got the British citizenship but I do remember when he was drafted in the NBA in 1998 they were saying that he was the first British to be drafted as a first pick.
I don't think we should be surprised to see that the GB NT will mostly be made up of non-UK born players.

Yep, but, I think he played for Nigeria. I never heard about him playing for NT, unlike Mbenga for example.
I think best player born in England was John Amaechi. First one to make a coming out too^^.

[Khalid80]

Yep, but, I think he played for Nigeria. I never heard about him playing for NT, unlike Mbenga for example.
I think best player born in England was John Amaechi. First one to make a coming out too^^.

I don't think he played for the Nigeria NT (anyways I have attached the link for your info. http://www.nba.com/uk/british_players.html )
As for Amaechi yeah u can say that "he came out of the closet" after leaving the NBA and it made a big deal especially when Tim Hardaway said very harsh words about him.

[Saskibaloia]

I still remember Steven Leven playing in the Australian league however, due to his "Bad Boy/ Dennis Rodman" type attitude on and off the court the clubs were reluctant to sign him up. Having grown up in the rough side of Sydney (Campbelltown) his style of game was always more leaning towards the "And1/ streetball" style of play.

[JGX]

If Britain can assemble all their potential players they should at least have a respectable team. If they're going to be allowed to compete in sports like volleyball and handball where they are really going to be overmatched they ought to be able to field a basketball team as well.

Steve Bucknall was probably the first British-born player to make an impact.

[Dtown]

I hope the British are successful, might do wonders for expanding the game there.

[JGX]

Kieron Achara walks out on the team to sign with Fortitudo Bologna:

http://www.basketball247.co.uk/news/archives/00000170.shtml