Raiders looking to challenge for honours

Coach Gavin Love has assembled a team this season with legitimate championship potential. Smart recruitment this summer has seen Love load up on versatile and experienced players, signing only one professional rookie.

This year’s team may well boast one of strongest front-courts in the league, which in previous seasons gone by has been a recipe for championship success. The Newcastle Eagles previous dominance can be attributed to the luxury of having multiple players who can legitimately command the paint at both ends of the floor. The Raiders go into the new season having that same luxury, and if the potential is realised early on they will be in the hunt for multiple championship honours.

New signing Ben Smith will be Love’s starting play-maker, the diminutive point guard enjoyed an outstanding collegiate career with the University of Jacksonville averaging 19.8 points per game to go along with 4.4 assists per game. Smith certainly has the ability to create his own shot, but needs to show he has the tools to run the team and control the game. Too many times throughout pre-season it appeared Smith was looking for his own offence too much, to compensate for a lack of natural play making qualities. Smith will be backed up by veteran point guard Anthony Martin, Martin’s experience and ability to see the floor gives Love a great option for a pure point guard to close out games down the stretch.

Perhaps one of the most intriguing signing this summer is Michael Ojo from NCAA Division 1 school Leigh University, where he averaged 11 points per game in his senior year, shooting 40% from the 3 point line.

Ojo has embraced his position on the team as a hard nosed defender and spot up shooter, the kind of role player every title contending team needs. Ojo will be competing for minutes with experienced Great Britain guard James Jones. Jones BBL experience and brief stint with the National team will only help to aid the development of Ojo throughout the season, and give Love two players capable of extending the defence with their outside touch.

Paul Williams, Anthony Rowe, and Lehmon Colbert have the makings of forming a devastating front-court unit. All three players are comfortable creating their own offence with their back to the basket, as well as stepping outside and making plays on the perimeter. In order for the Raiders to be successful at scoring the ball the offence has to go through these three guys. There is no Zabas or Marks to breakdown the defence this season, the run and gun game will instead have to be replaced by a slower half-court inside outside game.

Expectations defensively should be far greater than that of last years team who at times seemed uninterested in getting stops, and just hoped to out gun the opposition in games that lit the scoreboard up on a weekly basis. Back up Centre Tomas Jansaasuskas has shown a real desire to step up defensively and could prove to be the crucial x factor off the bench as the season progresses. As Tomas’s confidence grows, expect Love to ask more of him offensively.

If players can stick around long enough to survive coach Love’s axe and the guys are allowed enough time to gel, expect the club from the South West to be well on their way to pursuing championship honours.