Team GB need to impress to keep Olympic dream alive

With Eurobasket starting this September the Great Britain basketball team will need to impress if they hope to make the London 2012 Olympics.

Eurobasket is the European Championships for basketball that the top 16 international teams fight for the title of European Champions.The Great Britain teams success in this tournament is vital to their ambition to play in the 2012 Olympics.

The team were asked by The International Basketball Association (FIBA) to prove that they were competitive enough to play in 2012.

Last week the 24 man British training squad was released and included three NBAplayers, Luol Deng and Ben Gordon of the Chicargo Bulls and Pops Mensah-Bonsu  of the Toronto Raptors.

Pops Mensah-Bonsu said:

“To have three players representing Great Britain in the NBA just shows us how far British basketball has come. I know for sure this summer we will open a few eyes and raise a few eyebrows.”

If fit those three will be key to team GB’s hopes when they travel to the tournament which is been played in Poland.

The squad also includes many players who have vast European experience playing in the top leagues in Spain and Greece.

Although they have been drawn in a tough group which includes the runners-up from two years ago, Spain, as well as Slovenia and Serbia.

All three of those teams have played in Eurobasket in previous years but GB have never reached this stage before.

Eurobasket is a great opportunity for this new look GB squad to prove themselves and make it on the world stage.

Full 24 Man Squad: Kieron Achara (Fortitudo Bologna, ITA), Rob Archibald (Malaga, ESP), Andy Betts (Aris Thessaloniki, GRE), Eric Boateng (Arizona State Univ, USA), Flinder Boyd (Leicester), Matthew Bryan-Amaning (University of Washington, USA), Dan Clark (Estudiantes Madrid, ESP), Daryl Corletto (Melbourne Tigers, AUS), Luol Deng (Chicago Bulls, USA), Germayne Forbes (Nyon, SWI), Joel Freeland (Gran Canaria, ESP), Nick George (Gravelines, FRA), Ben Gordon (Chicago Bulls, USA), Randall Hanke (Providence College, USA), Jarrett Hart (Keravnos Nicosia, CYP), Dzaflo Larkai (L’Hospitalet, ESP), Mike Lenzly (Scafati, ITA), Steve Leven (West Brabant, NED), Pops Mensah-Bonsu (Toronto Raptors), Richard Midgley (Everton), Nate Reinking (Mons, BEL), Justin Robinson (Rider Univ, USA), Andrew Sullivan (Samara, RUS), Tafari Toney (Newcastle)