british basketball.How poor is it?

[la bomba]

I was in Guildford to see DKV Joventud against Guildford Heat.I have never ever seen such a poor team in european competition.Joventud won by well over 30 points without ever getting beyond 2nd gear.Their starters played about 14 mins each,most of the game was played by players who haven't featured atall like Flis and Popovic,Ribas etc.In England they blame the vast gap in the budgets,but DKV is not the richest club in Spain by any means!They play a lot of young players who are probably getting paid less than some of these Guildford players.Pau Ribas is 17 or 18,Ricky Rubio 17 , Rudy Fernandez is only about 22,Jagla 22 or 21,Sonseca is early 20s too.I read their forums and they also claimed that they lost to the best team in the second best league in the world,its this ignorance of european basketball in Britain that is the problem.If DKV where the best team in spain they'd be in th euroleague not the ULEB!Any British fans out there who can comment?I think there is a lot of work to do if they want to save themselves from being ridiculed in the 2012 olympics!if luol Deng gets injured they are screwed!Anyway i have always maintained that the problem is exposure.you can't see a european basketball game in uk tv!they only show occassional nba games and thats why they play one on one basketball,I don't think i remember any guildford player setting a screen!!!!!!

[simasu01]

Britain has work to do, I remember a team called the London Towers and they were like in the Northern European division or NBL or something like that, and they were always, always blown out. Lietuvos Rytas used to win left and right, and they weren't THAT good back then. I don't think Britain would be this bad if they showed some games and actually invested some money into clubs. I think it would be pretty good as a second or third sport in UK. And someone before a while ago had a question if Britain should automatically qualify. I would definetly say NO, without Deng they really would be nothing as mentioned above. And they are lucky enough that Deng even plays for them, maybe if they get Ben Gordon, they will be a little something, probably not top 16 Euro but should be in top 20.

[la bomba]

To automatically qualify for the olympics if you are a european team you need to be in the A division and Great Britain qualified this summer against the likes of holland and albania!! Only because of Deng and Archibald.Earlier in the qualification matches they lost to albania and some other teams like slovakia without Deng!So because they are now in the A division they will automatically qualify as hosts.Siauliai play Guildford Heat at some point,they are in the same group!

[simasu01]

But there still are 2 more EuroBasket's until the London Olympics. And if they get relegated back to B, won't they still have a chance to get back to the Olympics is 2011's EuroBasket?
Siauliai aren't special, but against the Guildfort Heat, I think they might be.

[la bomba]

But there still are 2 more EuroBasket's until the London Olympics. And if they get relegated back to B, won't they still have a chance to get back to the Olympics is 2011's EuroBasket?
Siauliai aren't special, but against the Guildfort Heat, I think they might be.
They will hammer guildford!.I think it is whether they are in DIV A as from now,I think its because all the teams have already been decided for 2008 olympics except a few who have to play a pre-qualification tourny.
2010 is the istanbul world championship i think.2009 and 2011 i think are eurobaskets.Is 2009 in Lithuania?

[simasu01]

2009 is in Poland and 2011 is in Lithuania. For 2008 Olympics, Lithuania has qualified along with Spain, Argentina, USA, Iran, Australia, China, Angola and Russia qualified already. There still are 3 spots remaining and Italy and France have no chance to get them. The candidates from Europe are Greece, Germany, Slovenia, and I think Croatia, and in America, Brazil and Canada and Puerto Rico still have a chance. I don't know about other continents though.

[la bomba]

Siauliai beat Guildford easily.87 72. a better performance from guildford 15 points is the closest they have been.However if you look at the fact that they were 20 points down so early on again it only means that teams are blowing them away to start with and then remaining in second gear as guildford put a bit of make up .If there are any british fans here please discuss,though I doubt it as the fan base for this sport in the uk is equivalent to the afghan netball fan base!

[simasu01]

Well at least Britain has a team, and they're not just sitting there doing ABSOLUTELY nothing, there are many other countries that aren't doing a thing, but Britain is nowhere close to being Great, they are not performing good in any sport.

[berraco]

they still have rugby :)

[simasu01]

england is 4th and scotland and wales are in top 10 as well, but none are at the top. i was also wondering, why do they play as great britain in basketball, but then just about all other sports are scotland, england, wales and northern ireland. either they are united kingdom or not i dont get it. i myself think it should be separate.

[20 Dimes A Game]

British basketball is in fact improving.
I will explain later because i gotta go to school now.

[ukballer]

British baller here, and I have to pretty much agree with every post here unfortunately.

While right now it is still extremely poor in this country, it has a growing popularity, especially with the success of Luol Deng, who basically spends his whole Summer in the UK. He is one of the faces for the London 2012 Olympics and also with the match between Celtics and T'Wolves that was held in London (O2 Arena) in pre-season certainly put basketball in the publics eye, at least for an evening lol. I went to that game by the way, first ever NBA game, and not my last now! Ray Allen went off, think he got 27 or something. Anyway..

Its crucial that now the GB team are in Division A that we stay there for the foreseeable future. We have some players that aren't anywhere near the required standard for Division A Ball, but have some pretty good players who can come in if they decide to.

Obviously we have Luol Deng, and he is in the process of trying to persuade Ben Gordon to play thanks to his British passport, though I won't raise my hopes of that until its confirmed. We could also have Kelenna Azubuike from the Warriors, Joel Freeland from the Blazers, Pops Mensah Bonsu formerly of the Mavs (I think Pops has confirmed this) and a few college players (can't remember names). Now I know they are hardly world beaters, but this time just 2-3 years ago we couldn't scrape a team like this at all, so I think it has really come on. During this summer I think only 2 of the players in the GB squad were based in the British Basketball League, which shows how important it is to get our guys good enough to play in America and the big Euro clubs.

Also talking of Guildford Heat, although they would still lose badly anyway, their star player PG Brian Dux has been in a coma since near the beginning of the month after a car crash, and is now semi conscious. Like I said its obvious they would lose anyway but still it has affected them.

[ukballer]

england is 4th and scotland and wales are in top 10 as well, but none are at the top. i was also wondering, why do they play as great britain in basketball, but then just about all other sports are scotland, england, wales and northern ireland. either they are united kingdom or not i dont get it. i myself think it should be separate.

It will be a bit silly then if we seperate them. It would mean none of the teams would have any hope of qualifying. But we will be seperated at the Commonwealth games whenever they are. We can't enter as England in the Olympics, it's Great Britain or nothing. There is a big difference in standards between our football (soccer) and basketball National teams. We just don't have the players to be able to make a solid England team.

Also if we have the BRITISH Basketball League, why would we have to seperate out?

[ukballer]

I doubt it as the fan base for this sport in the uk is equivalent to the afghan netball fan base!

Bit of an over-exaggeration there. ;) It is certainly growing each year. All thanks to Luol Deng :rockon:

Mods sorry for the 3 posts in a row, just as a Great Britain baller I wish to defend my country hehe.

[simasu01]

It will be a bit silly then if we seperate them. It would mean none of the teams would have any hope of qualifying. But we will be seperated at the Commonwealth games whenever they are. We can't enter as England in the Olympics, it's Great Britain or nothing. There is a big difference in standards between our football (soccer) and basketball National teams. We just don't have the players to be able to make a solid England team.

Also if we have the BRITISH Basketball League, why would we have to seperate out?

i think if they play separate football they should play separately but as of right now maybe they are better off playing together. about the british league there is a baltic league formed of 3 countries and then there are the 3 nations separate leagues as well. but its a different story since those countries are independent

[la bomba]

Bit of an over-exaggeration there. ;) It is certainly growing each year. All thanks to Luol Deng :rockon:

Mods sorry for the 3 posts in a row, just as a Great Britain baller I wish to defend my country hehe.
Great Britain is also my country,as is Scotland.I stand by my words fan base is small.I went to see guildford against DKV just after the Dux accident,from here all the best to him and his family.what I saw although probably affected by that incident was not good,the basketball played by Guildford was very poor.This is the first time great britain are playing together,basically cause for the olympics,the olympic commitee will only accept great britain.Plus this way they have Archibald who is a good inside player with nba and good european experience.
I have to say the biggest problem in this country is the lack of awareness of how global the game is!that match between minesota and celtics was everything that is wrong in this country.look at all the other games in europe played by this teams.they were played against european teams,very competitive,crowd more into it,no showbiz but just biz!I suppose in the uk they were worried that if they billed it as celtics V cska or panathinaikos they wouldn't get more than 5000 people.but I bet it would attract more doubters,than a game between two nba teams playing for nothing and boy did it show!as a basketball game it was awful.This country needs to start getting into european basketball if they want to improve and all credit for Guildford for realising that.

[simasu01]

i agree with this but i think the fan base for football is too strong, but some interest in basketball would be just fine, look at smaller countries like croatia and serbia and they are great at both sports, even though none of these countries qualified for the world cup in 2010 in turkey, they still are at a really high level at both things. and now every country in great britain should be aware that none of these nations ever really did anything in the world cup in football and should take a serious look at other sports. if not for foreigners the premier league would be at a pretty low level, i think la liga passed them and serie a is right there too

[ukballer]

i agree with this but i think the fan base for football is too strong, but some interest in basketball would be just fine, look at smaller countries like croatia and serbia and they are great at both sports, even though none of these countries qualified for the world cup in 2010 in turkey, they still are at a really high level at both things. and now every country in great britain should be aware that none of these nations ever really did anything in the world cup in football and should take a serious look at other sports. if not for foreigners the premier league would be at a pretty low level, i think la liga passed them and serie a is right there too

You've basically made my point right there. If our footballs nations aren't able to qualify for a European tournament, how would seperate nations have a hope in hell of qualifying for any international tournaments in basketball? Even if we wanted to seperate our nations, we wouldn't be allowed to enter the Olympics in 2012, as its Great Britain or nothing. Which I don't mind at all.

[la bomba]

You've basically made my point right there. If our footballs nations aren't able to qualify for a European tournament, how would seperate nations have a hope in hell of qualifying for any international tournaments in basketball? Even if we wanted to seperate our nations, we wouldn't be allowed to enter the Olympics in 2012, as its Great Britain or nothing. Which I don't mind at all.
The football fan base here is too large and to attract them to basketball,basketball needs to be more like football in terms of competitiveness,fans atmosphere,etc.hence why bringing two nba teams to play in the o2 is not going to help.basketball fans in this country will love watching two nba teams but, would- be fans who are into football would put it down as showbiz!If instead they go to see teams with already familiar names to them like barca or madrid,olympiacos,cska,pana etc and see them play with grit,competitiveness and fans that sing and shout like in football matches they would get in to it a lot more.unicaja malaga and madrid beat nba teams in the summer by 1 point the atmosphere and the games where great the type that attracts fans,the game in the o2 was terrible in terms of recruiting fans.

[ukballer]

The football fan base here is too large and to attract them to basketball,basketball needs to be more like football in terms of competitiveness,fans atmosphere,etc.hence why bringing two nba teams to play in the o2 is not going to help.basketball fans in this country will love watching two nba teams but, would- be fans who are into football would put it down as showbiz!If instead they go to see teams with already familiar names to them like barca or madrid,olympiacos,cska,pana etc and see them play with grit,competitiveness and fans that sing and shout like in football matches they would get in to it a lot more.unicaja malaga and madrid beat nba teams in the summer by 1 point the atmosphere and the games where great the type that attracts fans,the game in the o2 was terrible in terms of recruiting fans.

It all goes back to acessibility to particular sports at school age. I mean you can find a park to play football anywhere, but I know where I live I would have to drive 10 miles to get to my nearest outdoor basketball court. Football will always be our national sport, no doubt about that. To be honest even though we messed up the Euro qualifying, we are still one of the better football nations in the world so the fan base for football won't be taken by any other sport, never mind basketball. Basketball is really played at secondary school level and isn't on the school curriculum, while netball is :wtf: .

I have to agree with you that the Celtics-T'wolves match wasn't particularly good. I went to the match and I can only remember a couple of fairly memorable plays. I think it was Telfair made a good drive, Ray got a few 3s (whats new?) and Ryan Gomes hitting a 3. That was about it. KG and Pierce weren't great, and it wasn't the best advertisement for basketball in general.

Television coverage is another problem. We used to have a match shown on Saturday mornings on our biggest sports channel Sky Sports, but now they only show NFL, and the only basketball on our terrestrial TV is a match in the middle of the night on Channel 5 (which for people not in the UK, is like our least viewed free channel). This is NBA of course. As for BBL coverage, its non existent except for the big final which is shown on our 2nd choice BBC channel.

[simasu01]

How about EuroLeague? Do they show that or the ULEB cup at all? They show NFL??? Haha do they show baseball too? That's really bad does anyone even watch nfl there? England and Scotland are good n football as is N Ireland and Wales is there too, i like Scotland they most out of them and i cannot stand English football, and honestly I dont think the English are that good they never really did anything in football to show that they are in the elite level, i think those teams would be france italy and spain. no doubt that they are one of the better teams, but people claiming it to be elite are wrong. the english league is made up of all foreigners, i read that there are 15-16 foreigners average on each premier team. thats starting 11 and 5 subs. none of them could be english

[ukballer]

How about EuroLeague? Do they show that or the ULEB cup at all? They show NFL??? Haha do they show baseball too? That's really bad does anyone even watch nfl there? England and Scotland are good n football as is N Ireland and Wales is there too, i like Scotland they most out of them and i cannot stand English football, and honestly I dont think the English are that good they never really did anything in football to show that they are in the elite level, i think those teams would be france italy and spain. no doubt that they are one of the better teams, but people claiming it to be elite are wrong. the english league is made up of all foreigners, i read that there are 15-16 foreigners average on each premier team. thats starting 11 and 5 subs. none of them could be english

Well England have beaten some big teams in the World Cup and regularly get to the quarters finals, and are far more successful than the other home nations. You say Spain are elite, but England have been more succesful in International tournaments the last few years. You seem to over exaggerate on the foreigners problem though lol. We have some fantastic young players who will be coming into the England team, and they are world class already and have youth on their side. I could name many right now, but I won't as this is a british basketball topic! :lol:

No Euroleague is shown anywhere, but ULEB Cup is on Eurosport a digital channel every tuesday, but not many watch Eurosport anyway, especially basketball. NFL is given a lot of coverage on Sky Sports. I think its 2 live matches, with highlights of the other matches and 2 roundup shows, all in 1 week. I think baseball is on Channel 5 once a week like basketball.

[simasu01]

I never thoughtthey would show AMERICAN football in UK. About the team foreigners, I'm serious I read it in a magazine in the library a couple days ago. I think it was called World Soccer, since it is american. Oh yeah I know England has good young players, Wayne Rooney is one of my favorites. I'm sure they will be back in a few years, sooner rather than later. Back to basketball, is Guildfort the only team that's actually participating in out of Britain tournaments? And what do you think needs to be done to populatize basketball? I think Joel Freeland will be a great player, and if you get Ben Gordon on the team, I believe we will see some basketball from Britain.

[la bomba]

I never thoughtthey would show AMERICAN football in UK. About the team foreigners, I'm serious I read it in a magazine in the library a couple days ago. I think it was called World Soccer, since it is american. Oh yeah I know England has good young players, Wayne Rooney is one of my favorites. I'm sure they will be back in a few years, sooner rather than later. Back to basketball, is Guildfort the only team that's actually participating in out of Britain tournaments? And what do you think needs to be done to populatize basketball? I think Joel Freeland will be a great player, and if you get Ben Gordon on the team, I believe we will see some basketball from Britain.
Guildford's best player,point guard Brian Dux(american) was involved in a serious car accident of which it is doubtful whether he will fully recover,his playing career is probably over as he is fighting for his life at moment.So they are struggling without him.Unfortunately yes Guildford are the only british team in europe,however, they are the first team in over a decade!!so good on them.what happens is their budjets are small and teams are afraid of going into europe and getting bankrupt because of all the expenses.I always feel the problem here is the lack of awarenes about european basketball,everyone thinks its all nba or ncaa.You tell anyone in the uk that basketball in europe,especially in the baltics and mediterrenean ,is huge and they kind of look at you in bewilderment.Eurosport show lots of ULEB games which is good,but they need to show loads of euroleague where all the big clubs play!
It is played in schools but it is coached poorly in many.Football is huge in spain,greece,the balkans,and pretty much everywhere,yet that doesn't stop basketball from being huge!In Lithuania and Slovenia I think its the number 1 sport.

[simasu01]

Latvia's number one sport is also basketball, and they have a team growing up. Give them time, they will be in top 8 of Europe. Slovenia is a tiny country, even smaller then Lithuania, and they are very good at both sports, my favorite Slovenes are Jaka Lakovic, Rasho Nesterovic and Beno Udrih. Basketball is getting a little more popular in Portugal and Poland, and both participated in EuroBasket. Sweden applied to join the Baltic League, that's another country, and if Sweden joins, then I think Finland, Denmark and Norway will want to join as well.

[simasu01]

And they had an article on Brian Dux before on Yahoo sports, I think that's horrible that the one of the brightest spots in British basketball goes down like this, it's a shame and hopefully he will recover and be able to walk and do things he could do before.

[la bomba]

Latvia's number one sport is also basketball, and they have a team growing up. Give them time, they will be in top 8 of Europe. Slovenia is a tiny country, even smaller then Lithuania, and they are very good at both sports, my favorite Slovenes are Jaka Lakovic, Rasho Nesterovic and Beno Udrih. Basketball is getting a little more popular in Portugal and Poland, and both participated in EuroBasket. Sweden applied to join the Baltic League, that's another country, and if Sweden joins, then I think Finland, Denmark and Norway will want to join as well.
Of course Jaka is one of my favourites as he plays for the team i support,amazing 3pt shooter!but I think the best slovene basketball player is matiaz smodis.and of course they have uros slokar,bostjan nachbar,primoz brezec,sani becirovic,marko milic ,goran dragic,ozsbalt etc etc amazing country,its a factory of good players.

[simasu01]

And probably there is a lot more good Slovenes that we wouldnt even think of. It's amazing how small countries are really good at sports, being so much better than countries that are at least 10million but usually a lot more like UK or France.

[la bomba]

And probably there is a lot more good Slovenes that we wouldnt even think of. It's amazing how small countries are really good at sports, being so much better than countries that are at least 10million but usually a lot more like UK or France.
It has to do with culture,facilities and coaching.The U.K is a wealthy country but for all its wealth the facilities are awful!especially for sports that don't have a big support.I play basketball in schools and the courts haven't changed since they were built in the 70s most of them.coaching in schools is done by P.E teacher that have a basic understanding of the game etc.Too many kids stay at home and play playstations and get fat,there is a lot of armchair sports fans.

[dnyk1337]

It has to do with culture,facilities and coaching.The U.K is a wealthy country but for all its wealth the facilities are awful!especially for sports that don't have a big support.I play basketball in schools and the courts haven't changed since they were built in the 70s most of them.coaching in schools is done by P.E teacher that have a basic understanding of the game etc.Too many kids stay at home and play playstations and get fat,there is a lot of armchair sports fans.


I hate armchair sports fans. You might know the game, but you don't KNOW the game 'cause you never played it. That's how I look at it.

[OlDeRaDo_64]

I play for a team, in the England Basketball league (its a minor team) U14's. We arent good but are the 2nd best in our league (after preston) I enjoy playing in Tournies, friendlies, rallies etc but i mean us, Preston and Rossendale are the only teams that show up out of our 7 team league... that to me shows lack of devotion for the game. I dont think basketball will ever take off, but its gradualy rising.

[simasu01]

Well Slovenia has always been the richest out of former Yugo countries, I don't think they ever had problems besides the war years. Lithuania on the other hand, is poor, as is Latvia. We, Lithuanians and Latvians, are probably the poorest out of Euro Union countries, besides obviously Romania and Bulgaria, and Poland and Hungary probably. But nobody sponsors anything in Lithuania with basketball unless they have connections, so kids just play by themselves and then there are interclass tournaments, meaning let's say all 10th graders are split up into classes which are usually a, b, c, d, e, and sometimes f. They have tournaments between themselves, so if a class only has 7 or 8 boys, then thats the way it is. Obviously, the most important thing that keeps this basketball tradition going is the pride that we have some of the best players from such a small nation and it is also one of our only ways where we could resist to russia during the soviet times.
UK I think doesn't think it needs another sport, and kids grow up playing football like kids grow up playing basketball in Lithuania.

[la bomba]

Well Slovenia has always been the richest out of former Yugo countries, I don't think they ever had problems besides the war years. Lithuania on the other hand, is poor, as is Latvia. We, Lithuanians and Latvians, are probably the poorest out of Euro Union countries, besides obviously Romania and Bulgaria, and Poland and Hungary probably. But nobody sponsors anything in Lithuania with basketball unless they have connections, so kids just play by themselves and then there are interclass tournaments, meaning let's say all 10th graders are split up into classes which are usually a, b, c, d, e, and sometimes f. They have tournaments between themselves, so if a class only has 7 or 8 boys, then thats the way it is. Obviously, the most important thing that keeps this basketball tradition going is the pride that we have some of the best players from such a small nation and it is also one of our only ways where we could resist to russia during the soviet times.
UK I think doesn't think it needs another sport, and kids grow up playing football like kids grow up playing basketball in Lithuania.
yes,quite frankly I think basketball in the UK is a utopia.I really don't think it will ever be a watched and understood sport nevermind a popular one!

[simasu01]

So do you people have any ideas of what to do to increase popularity? Do you think that the Olympics will help?

[stax]

the olympics in 2012 maybe! as for beijing, i wouldn't count on it :D

the original Dream Team increased the popularity of the sport in this country but looking back it seems to have only been a phase. i'd say basketball was more popular than ever here from 1992 to around 1998, although i might be wrong. you could pick up magazines like SLAM in almost every newsagent, most sports shops stocked NBA jerseys, Reebok and Nike ran Shaq and MJ ads on terrestrial british TV, and at one point in 95/96 Channel 4 broadcast four NBA shows a week, including a full live game and an hour-long show at 10.30 on saturday mornings(!)
however i think the most important thing to happen during this period was this (http://www.basketballengland.org.uk). NBA on telly is one thing, but having places for kids to play is definitely more important in the long run.

these days ball is not in the public eye as much as it used to be, but the EBL seems to be more popular than ever. i can't speak for scotland or northern ireland because i'm not familiar with their leagues. and in the last few years british players have been making decent contributions in the BBL, rather than coming off the bench to replace american journeymen. theres also a few rec leagues around the country now too, something that was almost unheard of 15 years ago.

still, don't ask me how its going to grow into a genuinely 'big' british sport... if it didn't happen in the Jordan era, it probably never will.

[la bomba]

the olympics in 2012 maybe! as for beijing, i wouldn't count on it :D

the original Dream Team increased the popularity of the sport in this country but looking back it seems to have only been a phase. i'd say basketball was more popular than ever here from 1992 to around 1998, although i might be wrong. you could pick up magazines like SLAM in almost every newsagent, most sports shops stocked NBA jerseys, Reebok and Nike ran Shaq and MJ ads on terrestrial british TV, and at one point in 95/96 Channel 4 broadcast four NBA shows a week, including a full live game and an hour-long show at 10.30 on saturday mornings(!)
however i think the most important thing to happen during this period was this (http://www.basketballengland.org.uk). NBA on telly is one thing, but having places for kids to play is definitely more important in the long run.

these days ball is not in the public eye as much as it used to be, but the EBL seems to be more popular than ever. i can't speak for scotland or northern ireland because i'm not familiar with their leagues. and in the last few years british players have been making decent contributions in the BBL, rather than coming off the bench to replace american journeymen. theres also a few rec leagues around the country now too, something that was almost unheard of 15 years ago.

still, don't ask me how its going to grow into a genuinely 'big' british sport... if it didn't happen in the Jordan era, it probably never will.totally agree with everything you've said,I play in scotland and its no better up here.there are a few people as usual who give a lot of time and put a lot of effort but they just don't have the support or the finances to make things much better.Plus the organisation is sometimes poor,I coach an under-18 team a couple of my players are in scotland under 16 and under 17 squads,because we are not in edinburgh or glasgow,they get shafted time and time again by getting told about a training camp like 3 days before the event.There is a massive bias to edinburgh and glasgow players,its very cliquey.like you my prospects for the future are gloomy.there will be a slight boom before,during and a year or two after the 2012 olympics but it won't amount to anything.it will die away quietly.

[stax]

like you my prospects for the future are gloomy.there will be a slight boom before,during and a year or two after the 2012 olympics but it won't amount to anything.it will die away quietly.

i'm pretty optimistic about 2012 because for the first time ever (fingers crossed) we have a british NBA star who the average 9 year old kid will be able to identify. its a blessing that we qualify as hosts too.
if it all goes well maybe there will be more interest from TV & newspapers in the tough campaign to qualify for the 2016 games. and by then we'll all be going to work in hovercars and our dinner will be downloaded from the internet to our plates, i'm looking forward to that! haha

[simasu01]

Good luck with basketball UK. I think basketball has nowhere to go but up in England and Scotland. I have no idea about if it will effect Wales, which is a lot of times considered England by many people, and Northern Ireland which I think is really a part of Ireland that just belongs to Britain. But if it effects them, then maybe it will effect Ireland too.

[la bomba]

Good luck with basketball UK. I think basketball has nowhere to go but up in England and Scotland. I have no idea about if it will effect Wales, which is a lot of times considered England by many people, and Northern Ireland which I think is really a part of Ireland that just belongs to Britain. But if it effects them, then maybe it will effect Ireland too.
Thanks for the optimism,I am not so optimistic.I still think most people in this country have no idea who Luol Deng is.I was speaking to someone a couple of years ago who said apart from schummacher whoelse do the germans have who is a world sports star?I said well they have Nowitski.evryone laughed and said exactly!!who is nowitzki?They didn't have a clue,there must have been 6 people in the room,all allegedly sports fans.

[simasu01]

I think basketball is only going to go up because it doesnt really have anywhere lower to go plus the UK natl team got into division A and London 2012 Olympics are coming. I'm sure there are people who have never heard of Luol Deng, but honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if German sports fans havent ever heard of Nowitzki which is unlikely, but he is the only bright spot in German basketball, and if Germany doesn't go to Beijing then Nowitzki is done and Germany will be at level zero. I think you could compare Deng and Nowitzki in a way, both are good basketball players, even though Nowitzki is on a totally different level, and both play for countries that have no interest in basketball. I think as long as Deng plays, then UK will be fine, and people will look up to him, just like people look up to Nowitzki in Germany. I think if Ben Gordon joins, UK basketball will jump extremely high, and it will be written in the papers, and people will read about it, and see that they arent bad and could be interested in it

[la bomba]

I think basketball is only going to go up because it doesnt really have anywhere lower to go plus the UK natl team got into division A and London 2012 Olympics are coming. I'm sure there are people who have never heard of Luol Deng, but honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if German sports fans havent ever heard of Nowitzki which is unlikely, but he is the only bright spot in German basketball, and if Germany doesn't go to Beijing then Nowitzki is done and Germany will be at level zero. I think you could compare Deng and Nowitzki in a way, both are good basketball players, even though Nowitzki is on a totally different level, and both play for countries that have no interest in basketball. I think as long as Deng plays, then UK will be fine, and people will look up to him, just like people look up to Nowitzki in Germany. I think if Ben Gordon joins, UK basketball will jump extremely high, and it will be written in the papers, and people will read about it, and see that they arent bad and could be interested in it
This time I can't agree,though germany is not a basketball crazy country you can't put it at a level with the Uk,you don't seem to understand how low it is.Alba berlin,brose baskets,skyliners etc,none particularly good but all far better than any uk team.Alba berlin is in the ULEB and atleast crowd attendance is 5000+,as is brose baskets and frankfurt skyliners.the uk has guildford in the ULEB ,first team in a decade in europe,has lost every match by a hammering,against turk telecom there were 500 fans and a lot of them were turks!even in the season opener against dkv,with Ricky Rubio in town,it wasn't full I think there were about 1500 to 2000 the hall they played in which is not their own had capacity of 2500.Germany were european champions without Nowitzki,and have always been in european A div,if not always strong.Scotland is only uk team ever to take part in a european cup and never won a match.that was back in the 50s or 60s.so briefly yes the germans aren't a basketball nation but compared to the uk germany is basketball mad!

[simasu01]

I guess your right you people live there and know how it is. I cant even imagine walking through cities and not seeing basketball courts. And Germany did win it in the early 90s, that means they do have someone once in a while. Germany does have role players like Okulaja and Brown. Is there a Scottish basketball league? I have never heard of basketball in Scotland. What do people play there as a secondary sport? Do any teams in Scotland or Wales or N Ireland play for the British League?

[la bomba]

I guess your right you people live there and know how it is. I cant even imagine walking through cities and not seeing basketball courts. And Germany did win it in the early 90s, that means they do have someone once in a while. Germany does have role players like Okulaja and Brown. Is there a Scottish basketball league? I have never heard of basketball in Scotland. What do people play there as a secondary sport? Do any teams in Scotland or Wales or N Ireland play for the British League?
Yes there is a scottish league.www.basketball-scotland.com
The national league has 8 teams.
Scottish Rocks play in the BBL(british basketball league ,(the only non-english team)Then its regional leagues.I play in a regional league and we are in the last 8 of the scottish cup,thats all club including the national league teams,so it doesn't say much for it really.In Scotland everyone plays golf,there are golf courses in almost every village!but most of all its football ,people who play sports for recrational reasons all play football,5 a side or whatever.Rugby,squash,hockey but I know very few people that for recreation play any other sport that isn't football.If you mention handball,they think your joking its totally unheard of,as for basketball,yes its played in schools but no one knows how big the game is in most parts of europe especially in the mediterrenean and the baltic states.

[simasu01]

So basketball is more like a game than a sport sort of like playing horse or shooting 3 pointers? I know that people play football, Scotland is at an unbelievably high level in it. Do they play Gaelic football or is that only Ireland? Football is the most popular sport in the world, I'm not THAT surprised they don't know it is at a high level in other Euro countries, but I just can't imagine countries without basketball, it is a part of our culture, and, well football is the second sport, still, when you are in Glasgow or Edinburgh or other big cities, I just couldn't imagine walking through and not seeing basketball courts and people playing, I've been to every major city in Lithuania, also in New York, Philadelphia, and some other places on the East Coast of USA and everywhere people were playing basketball. I've seen may videos of street football which I think is better than street basketball though.

[la bomba]

So basketball is more like a game than a sport sort of like playing horse or shooting 3 pointers? I know that people play football, Scotland is at an unbelievably high level in it. Do they play Gaelic football or is that only Ireland? Football is the most popular sport in the world, I'm not THAT surprised they don't know it is at a high level in other Euro countries, but I just can't imagine countries without basketball, it is a part of our culture, and, well football is the second sport, still, when you are in Glasgow or Edinburgh or other big cities, I just couldn't imagine walking through and not seeing basketball courts and people playing, I've been to every major city in Lithuania, also in New York, Philadelphia, and some other places on the East Coast of USA and everywhere people were playing basketball. I've seen may videos of street football which I think is better than street basketball though.
Its def a sport , just not played by many. Those who do play really are into it and give a lot of time to the sport,just not many of us.as for basketball courts,nah you won't see many of them and if you do see the odd one,there won't be anyone playing!

[simasu01]

how about the school gyms? i cant even imagine one without a basketball court and at least 2 baskets. I read what you said earlier about it being played in school. But people don't go any farther than school hoops?

[stax]

hmm yeah... school gyms can be hired by kids. at my school when i was 14 it was only

[simasu01]

At least its moving. Your right thank God, it's ahead of baseball and Nascar. and American football, which is better than the 2 above, but nowhere near basketball. I think

[stax]

by the way, for any british folks here who try to follow euroleague ball but don't have satellite tv, bet365.com do live streams of games. you have to sign up first but you DON'T have to give any credit card details or place a bet...

http://www.bet365.com/home/LiveStreaming/LiveStreaming.asp?LangID=1&lgdin=1

and no i don't work for them so please don't think i'm 'soliciting' or anything like that :)

[la bomba]

by the way, for any british folks here who try to follow euroleague ball but don't have satellite tv, bet365.com do live streams of games. you have to sign up first but you DON'T have to give any credit card details or place a bet...

http://www.bet365.com/home/LiveStreaming/LiveStreaming.asp?LangID=1&lgdin=1

and no i don't work for them so please don't think i'm 'soliciting' or anything like that :)
Euroleague.net show live games prices aren't bad for the packages

[simasu01]

I was going to buy the Euroleague pass, how is the quality?

[la bomba]

I was going to buy the Euroleague pass, how is the quality?
if u have broadband of 2meg or greater its well fine.I have the barca package and watch all their games.their last game against fenerbache was a really good game to watch far better than any of the irrelevant nba games i have watched of late!!

[simasu01]

I will definetely check it out. I need to watch some good quality basketball. Where I live, in New Jersey, it's horrible because I get the Sixers, Knicks and Nets. I can't even decide which one is worse to watch.

[la bomba]

I will definetely check it out. I need to watch some good quality basketball. Where I live, in New Jersey, it's horrible because I get the Sixers, Knicks and Nets. I can't even decide which one is worse to watch.
Every game I have watched so far in the euroleague and even the uleb(to a lesser degree) have been very good.

[simasu01]

I'm not surprised, the level of basketball in Europe, especially the weaker division teams, like the ones in the ULEB Cup, has skyrocketed. Plus the excitement and fans, I think it's awesome.

[flightlasvegas]

Yes we do not play much basketball in Britain

[stax]

we're pretty good at tiddlywinks though, as far as i know.

[ukballer]

we're pretty good at tiddlywinks though, as far as i know.

:oldlol:

We also pretty good at wheelchair basketball, we came 2nd at the European Championships held in Germany during the summer, losing out in the final to Sweden.

We came 3rd at the Paralympics in 04, and hopefully can win it this year.

[simasu01]

At least there is some basketball to be proud of. How about womens basketball?

[riley15]

Im a fan of basketball in the UK and im afraid the sport is extrememly small at a professional level. Its a shame because so many people play the sport at a young age but barely any people pursue it as a career because the BBL is so bad. Also La Bomba I think another reason that basketball is not as big in the UK is because the other indoor sport in the UK which is Ice Hockey is alot more succesful. The standard is a thousand times better than the basketball and it attracts thousands of people unlike basketball, but then again Im afraid its not only the UK who has this problem its the majority of europe. I recently found out that Ice Hockey is the 2nd most popular sport in europe which really surprised me

[inaminute23]

Definately on the up! GB qualified in style to reach Eurobasket 2009. Although we lost 3 games we held our heads high. We had to contend with not have Deng, an unfit Boyd and Betts, Pop's only arriving a few days before the tournament started. So to run Spain close we should be proud! Looking ahead the squad we have just announce is exciting, DENG, GORDON, POPS, FREELAND, AND BOYD is some line up, and we should now expect to qualify and be rubbing shoulders with the best. More good news is that the BBL will return to Sky sports next year. The league is starting to improve and more British players are getting to see significant court time. What we do need isa headline sponsor to inject some cash into the game to take it to the next level. The next level for me is competing well in the Euro cup.

[la bomba]

Definately on the up! GB qualified in style to reach Eurobasket 2009. Although we lost 3 games we held our heads high. We had to contend with not have Deng, an unfit Boyd and Betts, Pop's only arriving a few days before the tournament started. So to run Spain close we should be proud! Looking ahead the squad we have just announce is exciting, DENG, GORDON, POPS, FREELAND, AND BOYD is some line up, and we should now expect to qualify and be rubbing shoulders with the best. More good news is that the BBL will return to Sky sports next year. The league is starting to improve and more British players are getting to see significant court time. What we do need isa headline sponsor to inject some cash into the game to take it to the next level. The next level for me is competing well in the Euro cup.
I agree that GB did well in the eurobasket. What I am referring though is the standard of basketball in the U.K. the awareness people have about it is 0! I didnt see a mention of not even the score of the euroleague final 4 in any newspapers. If the final four is held in London, 95% of the population wouldn't have a clue it's going on. How many of the team GB players play in the BBL? most have to leave to Spain if they are good enough to improve, like Clark,Freeland,Archibald etc. Gordon is hardly a homemade product(I think he has only been to the UK once!) Deng is Sudanese. Ask anyone in the streets if they know who luol Deng is and the chances are they don't know!! even though he is one of britain's best paid sportsman.

[inaminute23]

I agree that GB did well in the eurobasket. What I am referring though is the standard of basketball in the U.K. the awareness people have about it is 0! I didnt see a mention of not even the score of the euroleague final 4 in any newspapers. If the final four is held in London, 95% of the population wouldn't have a clue it's going on. How many of the team GB players play in the BBL? most have to leave to Spain if they are good enough to improve, like Clark,Freeland,Archibald etc. Gordon is hardly a homemade product(I think he has only been to the UK once!) Deng is Sudanese. Ask anyone in the streets if they know who luol Deng is and the chances are they don't know!! even though he is one of britain's best paid sportsman.


I agree, media attention must improve. It seems that it is only the national team attracting attention. If you wern't aware The daily mirror are their media partner, and give decent coverage in the paper and online. Bit unfair to say Ben has only been back once, according to him he came back every year to visit his family wembly up until he started college i think.

[la bomba]

I agree, media attention must improve. It seems that it is only the national team attracting attention. If you wern't aware The daily mirror are their media partner, and give decent coverage in the paper and online. Bit unfair to say Ben has only been back once, according to him he came back every year to visit his family wembly up until he started college i think.
was exagerrating about Gordon, but still if he had had the chance to play for USA, he would have. plus my point was that they weren't home grown. Deng def was ,but Clark and Freeland left early in their development stage because otherwise they'd had been wasted in the U.K. Robert Archibald could wonder about the streets of Edinburgh and very few would recognise him! Apart from Andy Murray what other Scottish sportsman has his salary? maybe a couple of footballers. Euroleague had an agreement to hold the final four in the o2 in 2010 or 2011, as it happens 2010 was in Paris and I believe 2011 is in Turin, so they keep postponing it, I really think it would be bad business at the moment too. there was a survey done in the UK around the time the olympics were awarded to london and basketball was the 18th most popular sport in the UK. 18th!! hard trying to think of 17 others!

[Lakas Fan Yo]

The new BBA league will increase basketball a lot in the UK. That league will have a larger operating budget than the ACB and the VTB leagues.

[riley15]

The new BBA league will increase basketball a lot in the UK. That league will have a larger operating budget than the ACB and the VTB leagues.

That league is never going to happen, I know peope who have been involved in it and they say their is 0 chance of it ever happening, its a real shame

[la bomba]

That league is never going to happen, I know peope who have been involved in it and they say their is 0 chance of it ever happening, its a real shame
why does it not suprise me?

[jbot]

< cue piano >
where Ben Gordon is a superstar happens.

[stax]

where eel pie happens...

[stax]

'Dirty Work' is a 14 minute film about the state of basketball in Britain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL3aXvvf5EQ