BBL Diaries

In a series called ‘BBL Diaries’, UKAmericanSportsFans.com gave one BBL player an opportunity to keep a diary throughout the 2012/13 season; that player was Manchester Giants’ Devan Bailey.

Bailey has spent the season keeping fans abreast of everything going on with his team, the league and himself and today, he signs off by explaining his highs and lows from the Giants’ first season back in the BBL, as well as looking ahead to his future.

Highlights – the few games where we put together a tough 40 minutes, such as the double OT game vs. Plymouth away, the Surrey home games and our battles with Leicester.

Lowlights – Not making the playoffs with such a talented team. I believe we should have really made a push earlier in the season but things typically just didn’t go our way. I think we were a quick run-and-gun team and we didn’t play that way until the end of the season. We should have been playing this way all year rather than playing like a complete 1-5 team. We should have taken advantage of the fact that we were a 1-4 team and made teams pay for being slower.

The team that gave us the most difficulty in 2012/13 was Newcastle but the full strength Leicester team proved very difficult to beat. Also, Glasgow was very strong all year.

MVP – I’d give my vote to Donald Robinson. I think he was a highly skilled guard that could do it all, extremely athletic and difficult to keep in front of.

Next season – I’m a free agent as of now, just looking for the best fit. I’m not sure if the BBL is the league I want to stay in or if I’m going to put everything into making a career elsewhere in Europe.