Great Britain Senior Men’s team has been further reduced in size, as five players were released from the squad today.
Justin Robinson, Devan Bailey, and GB under-20 Alex Marcotullio were all cut, along with tested veterans Kieron Achara and Flinder Boyd.
The 15 players remaining, including Andrew Lawrence, Kyle Johnson, and GB under-20 teammates Ryan Richards and Devon van Oostrum, will all compete at the London International Basketball Invitational next week.
Head coach Chris Finch believes preparations have gone well ahead of the test event tournament next week and he anticipates the presence of Luol Deng and Rob Archibald, who are expected to join the team in the coming days, will boost things further:
“The first phase of training camp was very productive. The addition of Luol and Rob over the next few days will obviously help.
“The test event provides us with an opportunity to see our guys versus outstanding competition. The final 12 players will have earned their spot once we head to Lithuania for the EuroBasket finals at the end of the month.”
Finch explained that it was no easy task to make today’s cut after a number of standout performaners from the team’s warm-up games in Cobham:
“Cutting this group to 15 was very difficult. The guys who have been released today are part of the GB family and have committed multiple summers to our cause – I respect and appreciate their commitment. It was hard to let them go.”
The remaining fifteen players are as follows:
Ogo Adegboye
Robert Archibald
Eric Boateng
Matthew Bryan-Amaning
Dan Clark
Luol Deng
Laurence Ekperigin
Joel Freeland
Kyle Johnson
Andrew Lawrence
Mike Lenzly
Nate Reinking
Ryan Richards
Andrew Sullivan
Devon Van Oostrum
During the London International Basketball Invitational next week GB will take on France (16 Aug), Croatia (17 Aug), Serbia (18 Aug), China (20 Aug) and Australia (21 Aug) in the Basketball Arena on the Olympic Park.
Thoughts on the team as it stands? Surprised by the younger players surviving? Drop a comment!
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