Previewing the return of the British Basketball League
Damian – This Friday heralds the return of the BBL and here at ukamericansportsfans we will bring you even more news, views and features in the 2012/13 season. Our podcast will be returning with a regular review show including a look ahead to the following weekend’s games.
We’ll also be catching up with some of last year’s stars as our BBL Class of 2011/12 feature brings you the latest from those we have loved and lost to pastures new.
Our team of beat writers has grown in the off season and we welcome Matthew Baldwin (Surrey) and Juma Ngqobongwana (Manchester).
Here are the thoughts of some of our beat writers on the eve of the new season. Please do comment on our posts throughout the season to help build the BBL community on the site – we also welcome your feedback on features you’d like to see or any comments you have – so please e-mail your thoughts to info@ukamericansportsfans.com
Dave Bell (Sheffield) – From the Sharks point of view, it surely must be a case of stealing from Tony Blair and New Labour (and D:ream). Things can indeed only get better.
The club lurched from one unfortunate set of circumstances to the next in ’11/’12 and with this in mind, Atiba Lyons and the staff at the Sharks will want to do everything to eradicate those memories in ’12/’13. The summer recruitment appears to have kept what was solid about last year and added further solidity still. The physical presence of Babalola and Tuck has been retained, supplemented by the experienced Nashid Beard. All three have a deftness of touch that will bode well on offence. Big changes occur in the backcourt. In come Gage Daye and Micah Williams, with height that was lacking last season. Improved defence, improved solidity, improved results appears to be the watchword. Zac Gachette and Colin Sing continue their development in the side and the addition of Andrew Bridge, Nick George or both (neither signed at time of going to press) would be an undoubted asset to the roster. The club further strengthens it’s ties with Sheffield Hallam University by giving bench time to George Brownell and Steve Howard and it’s fair to say there is an air of optimism blowing round the EIS in the run up to September 21st.
Nate Reinking and Jimmy Langhurst currently remain clubless and one wonders where shooting ability of their ilk will come from but Atiba clearly has a focus this season and the new signings have generated a significant amount of interest. Newcastle set down an incredible benchmark last year and few would deny their position as favourites in every competition once again. The Sharks have a fondness for the cup competitions and at very least I would hope that they could mount a challenge for some silverware once again. The BBL is an-ever changing beast to the extent that anyone could come to the party (Worcester last year?). Early wins against the Riders, Giants and Heat and it could again be the Sharks that are circling menacingly around the upper-reaches of the table. The Olympics were my warm-up, the BBL is where my undivided attention lays from Friday!
OleDJ (Newcastle) – How do you follow a clean sweep? By doing what the Eagles do best, retaining the core of the team, Fab Flournoy, Charles Smith, Joe Chapman and Darius Defoe, and adding some talented new faces, in Damon Huffman, Kareem Maddox and Anthony Martin, who leave the club in great shape to challenge for honours once more. It’s an extremely difficult task getting to the top but it’s an even bigger challenge staying there, but the will is there to win as much as possible once more, particularly in what is almost certain to be reining MVP Joe Chapman’s last season at the club.
In the highly unstable, unpredictable environment of the British Basketball League, the Newcastle Eagles stand as a benchmark that the majority of other franchises should aspire to. New challenges loom with the addition of the ambitious Manchester Giants and the competitive Plymouth Raiders stockpiling BBL veterans but I can’t see past the Eagles to win at least a couple of trophies once again. In fact with no genuine standout rivals like the 2010/11 Mersey Tigers, I don’t believe it to be too much of a leap of faith to consider a repeat of last year’s clean sweep a genuine possibility.
Keith Firmin (Leicester) – With teams filling their final roster spots and one teams return to the BBL confirmed (temporary R.I.P to the East London Royals) ahead of the September 21st tip-off, the 2012/13 BBL season is shaping up to be yet another exciting one.
The Manchester Giants excite me with the capture of ex-Mersey Tigers Forward, David Aliu, a nice addition to the strong nucleus of former Magic players. As the Newcastle Eagles have shown, chemistry in the BBL is important and with the Jeff Jones connection running throughout the Giants, I wouldn’t be surprised if they made the play-offs and claimed some scalps along the way.
I’m also fascinated by Coach Love’s seven-man rotation experiment down in Plymouth.
With Captain, Anthony Rowe’s knee injury potentially ruling him out of the first six weeks of the season, Love’s plan is facing being tested from the very beginning. Whether an uber talented roster like Plymouth’s can cope with the demands of a BBL season is something I can’t wait to find out.
Juma Ngqobongwana (Manchester) – The upcoming BBL season should be an exciting one for fans of the Manchester Giants as we have been starved of top-flight basketball in the city for just over 10 years. During that time we have seen the Manchester Magic have plenty of success in the EBL and it will be great to see several of those players plying their trade in the professional ranks for a team that most of them will have supported throughout their teenage years.
The fact that the team will be coached by Jeff Jones is a great plus point as he is a highly respected coach (not just in Manchester but nationwide) with a great track-record for winning games and silverware. Most if not all of the guys have played under him at some point in their careers and they will be well aware what he expects from them and as a coach he will know how to get the best out of his players. Coach Jones has assembled a team of mostly home-grown players, many of whom have come through the ranks playing National League basketball together. This should enable them to have a high level of team chemistry right from the word go and hopefully they can hit the ground running.
Since most of the team were born and bred in Manchester they will understand what the brand means to the city and will feel an enormous sense of pride at being able to play professional basketball in this great city. Many of them will have attended Giants games when they were younger and often dreamt about the opportunity to play for their home-town team so I’m sure they can’t wait for the season to start.
Damian (Worcester) – Where do you pitch your expectations as a BBL and particularly a Worcester Wolves fan? It’s hard to look past Newcastle and it’s no coincidence that familiarity breeds success. Other rosters around the league are incomparable from those that fans watched the last time their franchises were in competitive action.
For the Wolves though, there is consistency, and the constant of Paul James is a big plus as they look to match their league form of last season. I say match and not improve as Worcester took big strides last season and two big reasons for that success were Tommy Freeman and and Richie Gordon. With these two now playing in Switzerland, the club and its fans would be delighted with a repeat performance and a top four finish.
Returning are Sherrad Prezzie-Blue who was voted in to the BBL Fans’ Team of the Year at the one spot, small forward Carlos Fernandez and forward Arnas Kaslauskas. Paul James took a brand new starting five last term and turned them in to a top four side. He will see the return of these three as a luxury and a chance for them to build on what they achieved last time around. Freeman and Gordon have very big sneakers to fill but James would have been well aware of that when recruiting this summer. Something else James will be aware of is that at times last season when Freeman and in particular Gordon were off the court, his side’s dominance in games was weakened and they were often pegged back or ran on during these spells. In bringing in Owumi, Ocitti, Masiulis and Thomson the Wolves should now have more strength in depth in the rotation. The proof of that however, will be the first few games of their campaign.
Paul James set his team the challenge of making the semi-final of a cup competition last season and this was a target they met. With the return of three of his starting five, I would be expecting the England coach to be telling his charges that they can go one step further this term in knockout competitions.
Another luxury in Worcester is the purpose built arena that becomes the Wolves new home at the turn of the year. A change that will see Worceter home games moved from Saturday to Friday nights.