British Basketball Respond To Amaechi Comments

By Sam Neter on February 19, 2011

British Basketball have responded to comments by John Amaechi last week of their inadequacies as an organisation and alleged neglect for developing young talent.

Amaechi’s comments came in an interview with the Global Sports Forum where he was posed the question, does he believe GB should receive automatic qualification to the London 2012 Olympics. He responded:

“I think the organisers of Team GB are absurdly poor. We have a team that had an average age of something about 35 when most of the teams at the Olympics have an average age of 25. The way we are developing basketball in this team is wrong … but they deserve to be at the Olympics.”

With the average age of the team that qualified for Eurobasket 2011 last summer in fact being 25.5 years old, Amaechi’s answer has not been well received by members of the Great Britain organisation. Talking to Fanhouse’s Ian Whittell, British Basketball Performance Director Chris Spice (left) said:

“Our results speak for themselves, we don’t have to go on the record to defend ourselves. The reality is our performances have been nothing short of outstanding the last four or five years and that has been recognised around the world.

“I’m disappointed about these comments, obviously, because we would like people in the UK to support us but, in the end, I am comfortable with our performances.”

Amaechi’s comments also have not gone down well with the players, with recently retired Great Britain big man Andy Betts tweeting:

“Just saw on YouTube a ex England and NBA players opinion on the current GB program. He’s so confused it’s not even worth discussing.”

GB captain Drew Sullivan is also disappointed with the ex-NBA player’s comments, talking to MVP, Sullivan said:

“He’s one of the few guys who have had a decent career in Europe and in the NBA. He’s the kind of person who should be backing what we’re doing. And it looks like he’s 100% against it. I’m upset but I’m also upset for him because we’re doing it without him.”

“Maybe it’s better that way but someone with as much experience as he has should be at the camps, talking to the younger guys and giving them pointers.”

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