GB coach Chris Finch looks to Futures as senior shake-up begins

Great Britain Chris Finch will set his young guns the target of winning a spot in his senior squad when he takes charge of his new Futures squad for the first time on Friday in a friendly against France in Lille.

With injury concerns hanging over several first-choice players for this summer’s Eurobasket qualifiers, the American admits that there are some places up for grabs.

And he will look to the Under-23 ranks for fill any gaps that arise when he puts the group through its paces over three games this weekend.

“There are three things I’m looking for,” he said. “This is a chance to work with some guys I haven’t worked with before so I want to see if I can improve them. I also want to see if there are people we can bring into the senior camp.

“And I’d like us to start getting some success at an age-group level which we haven’t really had with either Scotland, England or GB.”
Finch will hand the reigns to point guard Justin Robinson, the only Futures squad member with a full cap to his name. “We want to keep pushing him to grow into a point guard with the confidence and assurance we need at the highest level,” he added.

The reigning NBA D-League Coach of the Year has already begun the process of trimming his senior squad to 16 with BJA British Player of the Year, Tafari Toney of Sheffield Sharks, suffering the axe.

“We have a lot of depth and experience at his position,” he confirmed. “Tafari just isn’t projected to get into the final 12.”

Finch also confirmed that he will have a shorter bench staff this summer with Nick Nurse and Paul Mokesky as his only two assistants. Everton’s Tony Garbelotto and Essex’s Tim Lewis, who were previously assistants, have been assigned scouting roles to spy on GB’s qualifying opponents.

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