Bulls to lead Brits

Posted April 3, 2008 at 01:00 PM by Os Davis

Section: London 2012, Events, Basketball, Featured Writers, Os Davis

The British experiment to create a (temporary) basketball power in Europe began officially yesterday, with Ben Gordon and Luol Deng of the Chicago Bulls listed on Team Britain’s 33-man roster for Eurobasket qualifiers in Poland in 2009.

Gordon was born in London but has lived most of his life in the ‘States. Deng was born in Sudan, but spent most of his childhood in London; Deng played for Team Britain in August 2007 on a squad that also included Nana Papa Yaw Dwene “Pops” Mensah-Bonsu, then with the Dallas Mavericks and now with Benetton Treviso. Pops’ll again be flying the Union Jack in 2008-2009.

In what British Performance Basketball chairman Alistair Gray last year called “another important milestone in the development of British basketball” and “a clear mandate, a clear goal,” FIBA has levied pressure on Britain to perform to a certain level before given the customary automatic Olympic qualification for host teams.

FIBA has ruled that Team Britain must at least make the championship round of Eurobasket 2009 or 2011 to receive an automatic bid for London 2012. Said performance manager Ron Wuotila, “The prospects are bright for our senior teams this summer due to the talent included on these squad lists. There are a number of younger players on the list who can contribute in the near term and are embarking on a 10- to 15-year career that will ideally include years of British representation.”

Britain’s current 33-man roster includes:

Guards: Flinder Boyd (Beirasar Rosalia); Germayne Forbes (Boulazac Basket Dordogne); Ben Gordon (Chicago Bulls); Paul Guede (Tallahassee Community College); Matt Guymon (Oklahoma City University); Steven Hansell (Aspis Apoel Nicosia); Jarrett Hart (Keravnos); James Jones (Guildford Heat); Mike Lenzly (Mons Hainaut); Steve Leven (Newcastle Eagles); Richard Midgley (Everton Tigers); Nate Reinking (Mons Hainaut); Justin Robinson (Rider University); and “Alas Poor” Yorick Williams (Marshall MK Lions).

Forwards: Kieron Achara (Duquesne University); Robert Archibald (Azovmash Mariupol); Matthew Bryan-Amaning (University of Washington); Dante Cunningham (Villanova University); Luol Deng (Chicago Bulls); Ben Eaves (University of Rhode Island); Joel Freeland (Gran Canaria); Nick George (Lucentum Alicante); Ashley Hamilton (Gran Canaria); Pops Mensah-Bonsu (Benetton Treviso); Ryan Richards (Gran Canaria); Chris Sanders (Gothia Basket); Andrew Sullivan (Mons Hainaut); and Shane Walker (University of Maryland).

Centers (or, for the Brits and Canadians out there, Centres): Mike Bernard (Eldo Basket Napoli); Andy Betts (Cajasol Sevilla); Eric Boateng (Arizona State University); Daniel Clark (Leche Rio); and Chris Haslam (Everton Tigers).

Sources: International Herald-Tribune online, British Performance Basketball