Ben Gordon has been confirmed out of this year’s Great Britain Olympic side yet again as they returned to London from their Houston training camp earlier today.
It puts an end to the ongoing saga which has seen Gordon named on preliminary squads since 2008 but not take part in a single practice session. He was recently traded to the Charlotte Bobcats from Detroit.
Talking to Sportsbeat, British Basketball Performance Director Chris Spice said:
“We are moving on without Ben.
“We’ve had a lot of dialogue with him but, unfortunately, he was not in a position to commit and we have to focus on building our team. We could not afford to wait anymore.
“It’s disappointing because we thought this was the year he would definitely play. He had a lot of chances to reach out and I think we wanted to but there were lots of changes going on in his life, he’s just got traded and has a big season coming up.
“We need to focus on the guys that are here now. Integrating players is always difficult and integrating extremely talented players can be even trickier. That is why we needed Ben in early to give ourselves the best chance of the best preparation period.”
British Basketball have submitted their final Olympic roster, which will be officially announced on July 5, to the BOA this weekend. It is understood Matthew Bryan-Amaning, Myles Hesson and perhaps most surprisingly, Devon van Oostrum, have all been released.
DVO, one of GB’s rising young stars, took to Twitter to express his frustration, saying:
End of a dream… Didn’t get no opportunities… Been a rough year, going to rethink my approach to life and basketball…
— Devon Van Oostrum (@DevonVanOostrum) June 30, 2012
Matthew Bryan-Amaning also took to the micro-blogging service to tweet:
When 1 door closes another opens..dreams shut down..b4 i was even a sleep..next step in my career..got a journey and nowhere near the end!!
— Matthew Bryan (@MBALIVE11) June 30, 2012
All three players did not dress for the team’s final game against Lithuania, and/or played limited minutes/did not dress in the side’s other four games.
Thoughts on Ben Gordon and the cuts? Let us know in the comments!
Image Credit: Getty Images
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I totally think they have dropped the wrong players. DVO is slightly understandable as he still young, and learning, but it would have been a fantastic opportunity for him to mature and really develop. Hesson had a lot to prove and has stepped up to the mark at Futures vs Lithuania, and this season for Mersey. Matthew Ammaning is a very energizing player someone GB really could do with in the current squad put forward. I understand it would have been a very tough choice for management and I am not in that position, however I feel I do not agree
I too would have liked to see DVO and MBA in the squad. There will be future opportunities for them as they are both young and quite talented. Keep you heads up, guys.
Very annoying that MBA got cut. He has shown some real potential. Maybe we should focus on players that want to be there rather than pipe dreams like Gordon. Team GB is really coming under fire lately. They really need some decent management.
It is an astounding decision to cut Devon Van Oostrum from the GB squad and aptly demonstrates just how much GB and the coach (who, apparently, is on a £150,000 salary !!) is interested in the future development of our very talented players.
Here we have an extremely talented young player who has worked trmendously hard to achieve what he has achieved. Additionally he has played in England and been a true representative of English basketball; as opposed to those players who are in the GB squad yet have never set foot in the country and will never, ever, represent either GB or England again. (This arguably might also apply to the coaching staff)
I wonder if he was given any constructive feedback as to why he was cut – my guess would be none whatsoever.
To cut a player such as Devon in an effort to arguably come 10th instead of 11th, or 8th instead of 9th, or wherever, is the sign of a very misguided coach who has only got self interest at heart rather than the interest of GB/English basketball.
In your opinion. I’m on the fence, as we don’t know the exact reasons. DVO is highly talented, we can all agree on that. Why can’t we just trust Finch? What would he gain from cutting him? If i was to guess, then it was because he under performed in camp.
“Here we have an extremely talented young player who has worked trmendously hard to achieve what he has achieved. Additionally he has played in England and been a true representative of English basketball; as opposed to those players who are in the GB squad yet have never set foot in the country and will never, ever, represent either GB or England again. (This arguably might also apply to the coaching staff)”
But who are these mythical players? Gordon and Mullens arent coming.
Would it less disgraceful to cut Andrew Lawrence or Ogo Adegboye (both young brits in similar situations to DVO) because in effect they are who he was competing with.
If you want to say that finch has made a mistake thats fine. Certainly in maybe not giving Devon sufficient opportunity to prove himself. But to run out the tired old plastic Brits, American coaches line is just lazy.
The GB team will not win a medal and most certainly DVO as an up and coming guard should definitely have been given a spot. I believe he did have ankle problems which may have limited his performance, but, one would assume, that would have been taken into account.
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