Talent: GB basketball coach Chris Finch will be heartened by the young players coming through (Photo: GETTY IMAGES)
It was a bitter sweet summer’s evening for British Basketball down at the American International School in Cobham on Sunday night as coach Chris Frinch began to crank up his preparations for a busy summer of basketball that includes next week’s demanding test event on the Olympic Park followed by Eurobasket 2011 – the European Championships.
On the one hand the disappointing news was filtering through that the NBA lock-out and the subsequent insurance issues were almost certain to prevent Ben Gordon making his GB debut, but on the other hand was the evidence of our own eyes during a friendly against Holland that Great Britain is beginning to nurture and develop some exciting home grown talent of its own.
Finch, who needs to trim his Standard Life GB squad from 18 to 14 for the test event and then to 12 for Eurobasket, managed to give in excess of 10 minutes playing time to no less 14 players which takes some doing, not least logistically, when you are trying to also ensure a confidence boosting win over useful opponents.
To the credit of all involved everybody tried to impress within the team context as GB swept to a 96-70 win and although it was essentially a behind closed doors exercise with just a few invited guests and itinerant media there was an exciting buzz around the place at what we were seeing.
Suddenly you could see not only new potential 2012 squad members step forward but genuine stars heading for 2016 which will delight FIBA – their big issue when they belatedly gave GB an automatic ‘host’ place next year was that that they didn’t want GB Basketball to ‘disappear’ afterwards, they wanted concrete evidence of a vibrant team and development system going forward.
They, as well as Locog, wanted legacy and on this evidence both are going to get it.
It’s very early days of course, GB are still very new to the international scene and inevitably raw and inexperienced, but here’s a few names to keep a very close eye on for the future.
Ryan Richards is a powerhouse 6ft 11 athlete from Cheltenham who has already been drafted by San Antonio Spurs in the NBA. Just 20, he contributed 16 points against the Dutch in just under 11 minutes of Basketball showing a delicacy of touch with his left handed shooting that is unusual in such a big man. Needs to work hard on his defence, in fact that’s a constructive criticism that can be levelled at most of GB’s young guns who are all attack minded, but Richards a massive talent who is just beginning to believe that fact himself.
Matthew Bryan-Amaning is 23 and just missed out on being drafted this year but has a big future if he can remain focused. Another extremely athletic big man – GB has an abundance of big guys in the pipeline – MBA shows wonderfully deft touches around the board, somehow always finding a way to get his shot in or off-load. He also gives the impression of a player who might explode with something special at any moment, if given his head.
Kyle Johnson, 22, was a totally new new name to me but the Long Island University guard made an immediate impression with 14 points and four rebounds in 13 minutes. This guy can shoot and has the confidence to make things happen while another newcomer was Laurence Ekperigin, 23, an explosive 6ft 7inch athlete who has recently come to the notice of the GB management.
Then there were the three members of the GB U20 team that coach Finch decided to have a look at and was well rewarded for his efforts.
Devon van Oostrum – just 18 from Sheffield - has been a stand-out in various GB age group teams and on Sunday in his brief cameo appearances you could see why. He is one of those guards who can shoot and drives very hard for the basket – one lay-up on Sunday had more than a touch of Derrick Rose about it as he homed in on an inevitable two points. A precocious talent, he will try the adventurous and occasionally it won’t come off and coaches might be left shaking their heads but van Oostrum is a player who will make things happen. He is “box office”and when the hype and excitement of London 2012 dies down GB will need a few like him.
Andrew Lawrence, just 20, is another young guard and a ‘duracell’ player of unlimited energy and intensity. He landed a couple of three pointers during his stint but it was the five assists that took the eye, a facilitator who brings other talents into play.
And then there was 19 year old Alex Marcotullio who drained three three pointers from downtown. Long range shooters don’t grow on trees anywhere in the Basketball world and that area has definitely been a weakness for Great Britain in recent years. There is a vacancy waiting to be filled.
None of the above have yet been tested in the white heat of say Eurobasket which is as tough as any basketball competition in the world.
Some very tough days lay in wait and one or two may fall by the wayside but marry the talent and potential of these “young guns” with the more established talents of Joel Freeland, Dan Clark and Eric Boeteng – who are no age themselves – and there is a generation coming through around which GB can begin to plan the future.
And there’s a sentence nobody concerned with GB Basketball could have penned just five years ago.
No comments:
Post a Comment