TEN OBSERVATIONS FROM CAZIN
09/22/2008
Ian Whittell gives us his thoughts from GB's basketball game against Bosina, featuring Luol Deng, Pops Mensa Bonsu and Chris Finch amongst others.
Ian Whittell gives us his thoughts from GB's final game against Bosina.
1. SO we lost a game in Cazin that we could, maybe even should have won, but in the overall scheme of things it did not matter one jot.
In fact, without Luol Deng it was a pretty useful exercise. Andy Betts had an extended run for the first time in 2008 and showed how invaluable he will be next summer in Poland and Joel Freeland continued his impressive summer with an extended outing.
Those two, Pops Mensah-Bonsu and Robert Archibald represents a pretty useful rotation at the four and five for Eurobasket
In any case, a lot of coaches will tell you that you learn more in defeat than victory so we can chalk this one up to experience.
And reflect upon the greatest summer in the history of British basketball.
2. £60,000 a win for Luol Deng? Cheap at twice the price if, as it surely does, this summer means we are now a lock to be awarded a place in our own Olympic tournament.
On Wednesday, the FIBA Europe website even echoed those sentiments, hopefully in an attempt to apply some internal pressure on the overall FIBA masters to go ahead and announce that we are in.
I said after the battling showing in Tel Aviv in the opening game, that I believed we had shown we are competitive enough to be assured of a place.
After winning the group - and becoming, by a matter of a couple of hours - the first team to qualify for Eurobasket through group play, those thoughts are worth repeating.
While on the subject of Luol, credit also has to go to British Basketball, and their performance guy Ron Wuotila, for steering us and Deng through that nightmare period where it looked unlikely we would be able to use him.
I'm quick to call out administrators when they mess up, so credit where credit is due.
All sorts of NBA people were telling me there was no way Deng would negotiate the insurance minefield he had been thrown into. Luckily, Ron and BB (they've got to come up with a better acronym for their name, by the way) refused to take that lying down.
Now the fun part starts of working out what we need to do to get his release NEXT summer.
3. Cazin was ... let's put this diplomatically ... an interesting place.
Hosting the fixture seven hours from the capital city Sarajevo was a good old school Eastern Euro tactic designed to create maximum discomfort to the visiting team.
It meant flying into Zagreb in Croatia and busing four hours south into neighbouring Bosnia-Herzegovina.
It was actually like a throwback to the old England Basketball days when the national team would routinely be flown into the wrong country for games to save a few quid on budget airlines.
(Personal favourite was flying into Austria on Easy Jet for a game in Slovenia and the team, including Andy Betts, cramming into a mini-bus for an unbearably long drive to the right country).
Cazin was situated in beautiful, mountainous countryside but facilities were, to say the least, basic.
The crowd was also intense and pretty hostile - in a non-threatening way, if there is such a thing. A packed gym, soccer-style chanting, the odd firework and the hardcore staying behind after the game to demand a curtain call from their winning team.
All of the above are another reason why Saturday was such a good learning experience for a largely young GB roster.
4. Talk of the countryside, and the beautiful River Una, that flows through Cazin leads to a confession from your Basketball 24/7 correspondent.
Discussing the merits of white-water rafting in the Grand Canyon, I made the fatal mistake of asking the entire GB coaching staff whether there was the option to negotiate the river north to south or south to north,
Of course, the queue of people jumping down my throat to point out the Colorado River only flows north to south was long and enthusiastic.
It was the dumbest quote of the week ... until former Sheffield Sharks sharpshooter Chris Finch shot approximately 1 for 25 from three-point in a pre-practice warm-up ... and blamed his shooting on "depth perception" problems in the Cazin gym!
5. So, what's YOUR GB 12-man roster for 2009?
The fun part of GB now being a proper, big-time national team programme is that we can indulge in the sort of discussions football, rugby and cricket fans have done for generations.
There are plenty of months in which we can play this particular game but a quick update is probably in order as far as three potentially crucial additions are concerned - Ben Gordon, Kelenna Azubuike and Sean Banks.
I believe Gordon is still far from certain to play next summer because all indications are that he will face another close season of contract uncertainty in the NBA. Our main hope is that he bridges the obvious gulf that exists with the Bulls and signs long-term in Chicago or that he is traded before the February deadline and then signs a deal with his new team early in the summer, freeing him to join GB in August.
It's still probably no better than 50-50.
BB (I really don't like that acronym!) have made passport inquiries on behalf of Azubuike and Banks and, frankly, early signs are not encouraging.
Who knows how government departments work and whether they will look kindly on the requests once they realise the ramifications for GB at an international sporting level.
But there is no doubt, the pair would be a welcome addition to an already decent GB squad.
I appreciate the delicacy of immigration issues in modern Britain but you have to say it is frustrating when we have to compete with nations (Russia and Bosnia are two that leap to mind) who give away passports as if they were giving away tumblers with a gallon of four star.
6. The Eurobasket draw is November 8 which I think is great news. Gives us ten months to prepare for who we're facing in the first round.
Everyone will have their own views on what is and isn't an ideal draw for GB but I honestly don't think there are too many nations outside the real elite that we need fear.
For example, Germany won't have Dirk Nowitzki next summer. Without Dirk, Germany are nowhere near as good as GB, in my opinion, and they will (probably) be a two seed in Poland.
If we wind up in a group with, say, Spain, Germany and Israel, do you not think we can go 2-1 and reach the second stage?
After what I've seen this summer, I am certain we could do that.
7. GB fans - and staff - have been so focused on Poland 2009 that little attention has been paid to the next major tournament on the landscape, the 2010 World Championships.
I don't think qualifying formats have been set for the tournament yet - aside from the fact that the USA and hosts Turkey are already in. (And I think I'm correct in saying that the defending champs are no longer guaranteed a place, so Spain will have to qualify like everyone else).
But what we do know is that the tournament will feature 24 teams and, if the 2006 tournament is anything to go by, nine of them will be European.
And that should mean the top eight finishers in Poland (plus Turkey) will represent Europe at the Worlds.
Can we do that? Can we reach the quarter-finals in Poland? In theory, a couple of wins definitely takes you through to the second stage (and two groups of six where you play three more games). Another couple of wins will be enough to take you through to the quarters, maybe one does it.
It's a tall order but after what we have seen over the past two summers, I for one am not betting against that.
8. It became something of a joke with our friends at BB but it certainly would be great if GB could make a bid to host the 2011 Eurobasket!
I fully accept there are a dozen good reasons why this is not practical or advisable, not least because BB seem to have to run four international programmes with a full-time staff of approximately three people (the Turkish federation, apparently, employs well over 100!)
But there is no doubt that at least trying to bid to stage the tournament makes a lot of sense, not least because we would be guaranteed a place as hosts!
That would leave GB in Eurobasket 2009, in 2011 as hosts and assured a place in Eurobasket 2013 because of our participation in the 2012 Olympics.
That sort of legacy - three straight Euros, an Olympics, maybe even a Worlds if we get stronger and lucky - is the sort of legacy that could establish us on the world stage once and for all.
And, while two of our three home crowds this summer were disappointing, the crowds at the O2 lead me to believe that with the clout of someone like AEG behind it, a GB Eurobasket could success.
Games at the O2 and Wembley, the MEN and Liverpool, the NEC and NIA, Newcastle and Sheffield.
The venues, undoubtedly, are there. Given the amount of money sloshing around Olympic sports in Britain just now, it would be nice to think enough could be found to make a real bid to stage a Eurobasket.
9. Which leads us on to next summer's international programme.
We know what we're doing for two weeks in September but what will Chris Finch and his squad do for the four weeks leading up to that?
There will be no shortage of invitations to tournaments, like the ones we attended in Italy and Turkey this summer. But BB, quite rightly, are of the mind that we need to play some home games to try and generate some interest in the programme at home.
We're an attractive team to play just now - we're good, because of Luol, but, in theory for the better teams, beatable. On the road, again because of Deng, we're also a draw.
But let's hope we can play two or three warm-up games at the O2 next summer because, with the Olympics taking place there, we should be making that superb venue the "Wembley Stadium" of the GB national team.
A game against a team that would attract a lot of London-based ex-pats - nations like Poland or Russia leap to mind - or against Italy or France who will be warming up for the last chance play-in tournie, would be perfect.
10. Last thoughts before we wind up GB matters for 11 months?
There is probably little to say that hasn't already been said on this site over the past few weeks. It's been an A-plus effort in 2008 from everyone concerned, management, coaching staff, players.
Personally, the one impression that will stick with me from 2008 is the effort from the GB coaching staff - not just Chris Finch but also his assistants Nick Nurse, Tony Garbelotto and Tim Lewis.
In years gone by, when British teams took on Euros at any level of the game, I never felt we had coaches who could compete with their opposite numbers.
Now? Finch will be the first to tell you how important his three assistants are and, between them, they have outcoached every team they have come up against. Israel's Zvi Sherf was coaching in a Euroleague Final three months ago. In Tel Aviv and Liverpool, he had his ass kicked by our coaches.
Of course it helps when, in Luol Deng, you have someone who is, by head and shoulders, the best player in the group.
But our coaching team has been nothing short of superb.
Going forward, it is hard to imagine the sport, and OUR team, being in better hands.
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