GB improve with past experience, increasing depth

Great Britain may not have had to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics but the tournament hosts definitely want to show all comers that they do belong in the field.

Chris Finch’s team has the talent to surprise a team or two especially after the experience of the last two EuroBaskets. Those two European competitions did not exactly provide the best of results, but it show Team GB where it stands in the world game while building a team core and giving young exciting players a first taste of international ball.

At EuroBasket 2009 in Poland, Great Britain lost all three first round games. But all three of those opponents – winners Spain, finalists Serbia as well as Slovenia – reached the semi-finals of the tournament. So, British basketball fans did not necessarily have the biggest reason for disappointment.

For EuroBasket 2011, the previous core of Joel Freeland, Nate Reinking, Mike Lenzly, Robert Archibald, Andrew Sullivan was joined by NBA star Luol Deng as well as young stars Devon Van Oostrum, Andrew Lawrence and Ogooluwa Adegboye. The latter two are among a new generation of talented young Brit players who are getting their basketball education in the United States college system.

In Lithuania, Great Britain were steam-rolled in their first three matches, losing by 11 points to hosts Lithuania, 19 points against Turkey and then 17 points versus eventual champions Spain. The Britons however bounced back and won their final two group matches, handling Portugal by 12 points and then beating a Polish team which was still trying to advance to the second round.

GB forward Daniel Clark told fibaeurope.com at EuroBasket 2011 that the team is only getting better by playing against world powers such as Spain, Lithuania, Turkey, Serbia and Slovenia.

“The more we compete with the best teams in the world, the better we will be once the Olympics come around. The Olympics is what everybody is talking about back home, so we have to be ready for that,” said Clark.

“Every year we are taking a huge step forward. We could be a lot better and I think we are on our way to being a lot better. If we keep doing like this, I think in a few years we could be up there with the best of them."

There were actually two big stars missing from EuroBasket who could line up at the 2012 Games – Ben Gordon and Pops Mensah-Bonsu.

Some in Britain were disappointed that Gordon did not play at EuroBasket 2011. But Finch would not turn down having the NBA guard in his ranks in London. Mensah-Bonsu meanwhile missed Lithuania with a shoulder problem.

Having Gordon and Mensah-Bonsu on the team will give Great Britain even more firepower and strength under the basket to go along with Deng’s all-around game and Freeland, who is continuing to emerge more and more in the Spanish ACB.

Finch is slowly but surely seeing a depth of strong talent which takes teams from good to great. And there are more youngsters trying to press their way into the team, including San Antonio Spurs draft pick Ryan Richards and 23-year-old Matthew Bryan-Amaning.

Great Britain will not be favored to win a medal, but calling upon their recent experience could lead Finch’s team to a surprising result. The Olympic hosts though are definitely on their way up.