The import-ance of being consistent

Once again Worcester’s import players led the way in the game against Guildford on Wednesday night in Surrey.

In what was a dead rubber, the Wolves continued good early season momentum to take in to the important cup game against the Heat this coming Saturday. It was Tommy Freeman’s second appearance against Raftopoulos’ outfit and his second time leading the scoring for his new side this season. The three-man posted a season high 29 against the Heat on debut and 22 points in the last game between the two sides in midweek.

Despite numbers that will please the former Bobcat, he would be the first to admit that he has had a mixed start to his time in the BBL; with two quiet performances in amongst some stellar play. From what he has shown though the expectations will be high for what is to come from a very talented shooter. Expectations can be exceeded or can weigh heavy, and in the game of basketball sharing the load is key if a player is able to deliver on his potential.

For Freeman to fulfill his promise he needs his fellow squad members to put in game winning performances when things aren’t going right for him. And that is exactly what they have been able to do so far this season when for one reason or another Tommy has not been on his game.  In the two quiet games I referred to (Raiders at home and Rocks away) fellow imports Richie Gordon and Sherrad Prezzie-Blue had big nights for Worcester. Between them they make up the one, two and three of the highest scoring players in a Wolves shirt this season and all three have had a game where they led their team on points.

So a very happy Coach James knows that his new imports are getting the job done so far, and has been vindicated at this early stage for the talent he has brought in this summer. But for the Director of Basketball to be vindicated at the end of the season he needs more to be able to achieve a top eight finish.

And with an 80 per cent win ratio, he has been getting more from the other talented players in his squad, particularly those returning for a second season in Jones, Watts and Zimnickas. Captain Jones put up excellent numbers in a big performance against Glasgow in their first Championship outing last Friday and both Watts and Zimnickas have made good contributions at the net and on the boards.

Fernandez and Kaslauskas have shown why they have been brought to the BBL by the Worcester boss; and with more minutes on the court and more time playing along side their new colleagues they may yet have a lot to say in the push for honours in 2012. We haven’t seen a great deal of Van Beest, Dover or Belgrave but Van Beest has had the biggest impact and looks a very capable player at this level.

The BBL Cup format provides the Wolves with the opportunity to register another four wins and to take their place in the final.