COMMENT: British NBA talent must not be wasted
IT'S eleven years and counting since the duty manager of Worthing Leisure Centre - the sort of guy that would give Gordon Brittas a bad name - threw me out of his esteemed establishment.
NON BELIEVER: Leisure centre manager Gordon Brittas never saw the potential in British Basketball (BBC Publicity)
If I'd been covered in verrucas, dive-bombing or even worse heavy-petting in the shallow end, I'd have understood his red-faced irritation.
Instead I was attempting to grab some players after a Worthing Thunder match, having persuaded my less than convinced sports editor that basketball was about to be the ‘next big thing'.
Mr Brittas, it seems, wasn't pleased I was in a ‘restricted area' - citing my presence with a notebook and biro as a both menace and health and safety risk.
More than a decade on and I feel ready to declare myself a visionary - British Basketball is finally the next big thing.
This week, at Chicago's United Centre, a sports venue so cavernous that you'll get a nose bleed from the top row, three British players will come together as the Chicago Bulls and Toronto Raptors play their final regular season game.
Chicago's crocked captain - and British Basketball's star name - Luol Deng will be watching from the stands but team-mate Ben Gordon will face fellow Londoner Pops Mensah-Bonsu.
Mensah-Bonsu - who played a critical role in Great Britain's qualification for this summer's EuroBasket in Poland - is playing his last game for Toronto, having been picked up a short-term contract last month.
RAVE REVIEWS: Great Britain's Ben Gordon has been earning the praise with play-off chasing Chicago Bulls this season (Getty Images)
And while his own future is uncertain, he believes the same cannot be said of British Basketball.
"It shows just how far the game has come in Great Britain that in Chicago we will have two players involved - myself and Ben - with Luol looking on," he said.
"You have to say that's pretty good and hopefully the start of something. I believe there are other British players with the ability to play NBA. If you get a few of us making a breakthrough perhaps others will follow.
"It will be great to see Luol there and hopefully there will be time for a proper catch up.
"Ben is a stand-out player and has been really strong for the Bulls as they have closed in on their play-off place. He is going to contribute so much to British Basketball over the next few years."
Chris Finch, British Basketball's head coach, is equally upbeat about the talented charges he has inherited.
"Over the years with guys like John Amaechi we have had a representative here and there but this is the first time we can see some guys there for the long haul," said Finch.
"Luol, Ben and Pops will stick while guys like Joel Freeland will hopefully get a chance too.
"More and more we are producing guys who are NBA athletes with NBA bodies first and foremost who develop quickly. With the way the NBA game has changed they are turning more to unfinished products whom they can develop."
BRITISH BORN: Luol Deng played for England juniors as 13-year old before moving to the USA one year later (Getty Images)
However, it seems only right to point out that British Basketball can claim little credit for the players in the NBA this week.
Gordon, despite cutely professing a love of drinking tea, moved from London aged ten months - the only thing he was slum-dunking then was his rattle.
Mensah-Bonsu moved to the United States at age 15 and only started playing basketball regularly a few years later during his junior year at St. Augustine Prep in New Jersey.
Deng did play some games in the British junior system, representing England juniors aged 13 before moving to New Jersey one year later.
However, if the presence of these three can inspire more homegrown players at the 2020 Olympics, then basketball won't just be the next big thing - it will be a big thing.
The success of Deng, Gordon and Mensah-Bonsu means British Basketball is now awash with lottery funding - £8,751,800 to fund the current Olympic cycle.
It's cash that went to them at the expense of other sports with much longer-established elite programmes.
It's a huge responsibility and they must use it wisely.
MORE BLOGS BY JAMES TONEY
Rio's 2016 Olympic bid gets a big bucks backer
East German coaches are too slow to admit their guilt
Rogge angers sports vying for their Olympic place
OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY: Week one from Land's End to Cardiff
London 2012 /
London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay
LONDON 2012: 2012 torch relay a far cry from what happened in 1948
London 2012 /
London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay
Working...
Comments
professional cv services
I am certainly liking coming back again and again to your website and it has certainly been a long time since you have had this going. I simply envy the way you are able to mix and match so many facets of life and business all into your posts and lead the reader up a path that is bound to get them the results that they need.
professional cv services
pandora charms
It had been a while since I visited web site with such quality information. Thansk so much for the useful info
ugg boot original name
ugg boot
original name whosoever ugly boots (called mean ugly shoes). Later australians nickname for ugg boot. Also refers to a body round head fur boots until 1994 by an American registered trademark, and manufacturers UGG Australia by Australian slowly into China. America's first ugg boot Australia, brand promotion into mainland do hai. Recently, Yale's also came to the mainland to expand the market, also of its own brand - Yellow Earth, but both in ugg boot of trademark, after snap last preemptive events, australians also begin to value on brand protection. This is a ugg bootwith the floorboard of the legendary boots, first saw her person will be the odd ugly and cumbersome appearance could not understand, and it is a style boots sweep the Eurasian land, now it all over the world to blow a popular wind gusts, this is the mainstream of euramerican star people brings. ugg boot
so popular mainly comes from its high-quality warmth retention property. ugg boot
warmth retention property of auto-heating raw material is qualitative, the current domestic market of various versions of a variety of materials ugg boot chaotic, but basically divide the following kinds: 1, shammy suede + man-made in this material is add a layer of chemical fiber by flannelette, material qualitative difference made MAO, permeability is poor. 2, cowhide surface + blended YangMaoLi on the market at present more qualitative, blended mauri mix up to 70 percent above the chemical fiber, reduced the warmth and permeability. 3, domestic domestic 2-3 grade abb one such although use a "fur integration" is qualitative, already close to copyrighted material, but use is unable to achieve the export standards of 2-3 grade sheep, coriaceous comparative soft fur without wearing thin, wool sparse shorter than 1.8 MM standards.
Basketball should self-fund,
Basketball should self-fund, or preferably not fund at all. The last thing we need is money and support diverted from sports with a real base in the UK into the coffers of the NBA.
Money not well spent
how british are thse guys? it makes me mad that sports like shooting which has a solid record of success at the olympics, we won a gold in sydney, have had their money cut to accomodate 8 million to fund players like deng, who is himself a multi-millionaire. Deng could fund the olympic team out of his small change. its not right
Post new comment