London Capital will not play in the British Basketball League next season, leaving the domestic competition without a team in the UK’s largest city.
The decision, which came following an internal review of the troubled club’s operations, was ratified by the BBL’s board.
The move comes as little surprise following widespread criticism of the Capital’s set-up, poor crowds and the performances last season that saw the Willesden-based outfit finish last despite a promising crop of young British players.
12 months ago, it was decided to handed London a reprieve but they will feature next term in the EBL instead.
“The decision follows a season-long review process which evaluated the performance of the franchise both on and off the playing court,” said the BBL, in a statement.
“The BBL remains committed to the development of a successful franchise in London and is continuing to progress the establishment of a BBL franchise connected to the Olympic Boroughs Basketball Legacy plan.”
No replacement franchise is expected to be promoted into the league for next season.
"It's really disappointing," said Milek Jivens, the Capital's player-coach. "We knew it was on the cards and that there was a chance we wouldn't be in the league next year.
"But we've not had a chance to sit down and talk about it yet."
Jivens admits he is undecided whether to remain at the helm but he would like to play or coach in the BBL again.
"I feel I can compete at this level," the American insisted. "I was one of the youngest coaches in the league and I have a lot to learn. But I also feel I have a lot to give with the experience I've gained."
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Showing posts with label London capital. Show all posts
Showing posts with label London capital. Show all posts
Tuesday, 18 May 2010
Thursday, 11 March 2010
Jivens urges BBL to give London Capital another shot
London Capital coach Milek Jivens has urged the BBL not to eject his club from the league this summer, despite yet another campaign at the bottom of the standings.
Multiple sources within the BBL have suggested that the struggling franchise will again be put on review amid ongoing concerns over its financial viability off the court and its competitiveness on it.
That, says Jivens, would be a mistake. He believes huge strides have been made since 12 months ago when league bosses sent in a small task force to improve matters behind the scenes. Now London has three full-time players and a more settled rotation than the whoever-turns-up approach that plagued their previous campaign. While they remain a dead-cert victory for the leading teams, the American views a platform that should be developed, rather than ripped apart.
“I don’t think we play bad basketball,” said Jivens. “We’re still exciting. It’s just the consistency of it. It would be a big loss. London needs a basketball team. London needs a couple of basketball teams. But it’s expensive so it’s hard to keep a team going.
“It needs it though, not just for a business standpoint, but also for the kids so they can have something to look up to. You’ve got the Division One clubs and the D2 ones. But kids want to see players from America or elsewhere abroad.”
Counting against the Capital is the tiny crowds the club have attracted to Willesden during their top-flight existence, often amounting to three men and a small dog. With the 2012 Olympics on the horizon, BBL chiefs concede they need a shop window in the capital to attract sponsors and media – and attain credibility. That, however, may require time and money.
“It would be beneficial because the spotlight is there,” Jivens observes. “When the Towers and Leopards were here, there was a big light on them. Now they’re shying away from us a bit. They’re saying ‘that’s the dark team of the league’. It would be huge to establish us because you have so many communities in London. You can hit all kinds of targets in London.“
With less than two months of the season left, are we seeing the last embers of the Capital’s flame? Teams who finish in the bottom two have, under league rules, no protection against being voted out by a majority on the board. While it is unlikely London can haul themselves, statistically, to safety, Jivens is hoping that performances on the floor can strengthen the case for survival.
“We want to improve on last year but we already have three wins which is one more than last season,” the American said. “But I want us to play good basketball towards the end so we have something to build on. We’re learning from all our scrapping. It’s better than being blown out every time. It’s more worthwhile.”
.
Multiple sources within the BBL have suggested that the struggling franchise will again be put on review amid ongoing concerns over its financial viability off the court and its competitiveness on it.
That, says Jivens, would be a mistake. He believes huge strides have been made since 12 months ago when league bosses sent in a small task force to improve matters behind the scenes. Now London has three full-time players and a more settled rotation than the whoever-turns-up approach that plagued their previous campaign. While they remain a dead-cert victory for the leading teams, the American views a platform that should be developed, rather than ripped apart.
“I don’t think we play bad basketball,” said Jivens. “We’re still exciting. It’s just the consistency of it. It would be a big loss. London needs a basketball team. London needs a couple of basketball teams. But it’s expensive so it’s hard to keep a team going.
“It needs it though, not just for a business standpoint, but also for the kids so they can have something to look up to. You’ve got the Division One clubs and the D2 ones. But kids want to see players from America or elsewhere abroad.”
Counting against the Capital is the tiny crowds the club have attracted to Willesden during their top-flight existence, often amounting to three men and a small dog. With the 2012 Olympics on the horizon, BBL chiefs concede they need a shop window in the capital to attract sponsors and media – and attain credibility. That, however, may require time and money.
“It would be beneficial because the spotlight is there,” Jivens observes. “When the Towers and Leopards were here, there was a big light on them. Now they’re shying away from us a bit. They’re saying ‘that’s the dark team of the league’. It would be huge to establish us because you have so many communities in London. You can hit all kinds of targets in London.“
With less than two months of the season left, are we seeing the last embers of the Capital’s flame? Teams who finish in the bottom two have, under league rules, no protection against being voted out by a majority on the board. While it is unlikely London can haul themselves, statistically, to safety, Jivens is hoping that performances on the floor can strengthen the case for survival.
“We want to improve on last year but we already have three wins which is one more than last season,” the American said. “But I want us to play good basketball towards the end so we have something to build on. We’re learning from all our scrapping. It’s better than being blown out every time. It’s more worthwhile.”
.
Thursday, 31 December 2009
The 10 Best Basketball Stories of 2009
1. The Win That Almost Was. September 8 2009. Warsaw. 3:27 left in the fourth quarter. Spain – reigning world champions, Olympic silver medallists – are staring a most improbable defeat in the face to Great Britain after leading by 16 points at one stage. Mike Lenzly puts the underdogs 73-69 ahead. The sound of pins dropping.
It was not to be. The Spaniards put up a 15-3 finish to avoid an early exit before going on to lift the title. GB went home but with some face saved.
2. Phil Jackson’s Supremacy. Sure, the legends of MJ, Scottie, Kobe and Shaq will live on in history. But Phil’s NBA title number 10 affirmed his place in the pantheon, if any additional evidence were required. The late Red Auerbach, ceding his throne atop the rankings, would have hated that the Lakers won another crown but you can’t begrudge Jackson his dues.
3. And likewise Kobe… All the talk about who is better: Kobe Bryant or LeBron James, has been settled. For everyone who thought the young pretender had assumed the crown (myself included), the Lakers guard provided the answers with a string of stellar showings and his fourth championship ring. LBJ, at 25, still has it all to do.
4. Capital Calamities. We were promised that London Capital wouldn’t remain the laughing stock of the BBL after last season. They were wrong. London lost 110-38 to Leicester in December, equalling a league-record of infamy. There have been claims of bills unpaid. Their only consolation is that Essex are bottom on loss difference headed into 2010. As one BBL director said recently: “I think the time is coming where no matter how much we want a team in London, it’s not doing us any good to have them in the league.”
5. Worcester-isms. It says a lot about basketball’s decline in the UK that the claims of racism made against former Wolves coach Chuck Evans received scant attention in the mainstream media. Or perhaps, it says something about our culture that while white-on-black racism is (thankfully) spotlit and decried, the inverse provoked little comment. Throw striking players, sackings and the welcome return of Paul James to the BBL into the mix, and what a bizarre tale it all was.
6. AI or not AI? Is Allen Iverson done or about to do something improbable? His meek exit from Memphis hinted at the mortality of a once-omnipotent star who could not accept his slide into the realms of lowly back-up. As anticipated, , he made a swift, unlikely, return in the colours of the Philadelphia 76ers. In the last chance saloon, this will either be AI’s time to cement his legacy or the ignominious final chapter in his riveting journey.
7. The enigma that was Andre Smith. Two weeks after arriving in the BBL, Everton’s expensive capture admitted the league “wasn’t as good as I thought it would be.” It was one thing to accomplish the astonishing feat of regularly putting up 30 points and 20 rebounds while, at the same time, appearing utterly disinterested. It was quite another when he was alleged to have told an opposing player that he hoped the Tigers would lose the game so he could go home early for the summer. One of the best performers in BBL history, it spoke volumes when the ballot of coaches declined to vote him as MVP.
8. The Ups and Downs of the NBA Brit-Pack. Luol Deng will surely be glad to see the back of 2009, having been sidelined for six months with a fractured tibia and watching the mixed messages surrounding his return to the Bulls damage his stock – and his reputation. With coach Vinnie Del Negro on the verge of being sacked, and Deng no longer considered an potential All Star, where does Lu go from here?
Credit, at least, to Pops Mensah-Bonsu for sticking to his pursuit of his personal NBA dream. Cut by San Antonio, dropped by Toronto, jettisoned in Houston, the popular Londoner is back in Raptor-land, hoping to stick through the end of the season. Coming back to Europe may have been his best bet. But who would argue with his persistence?
9. Joel stays in Spain. In an unrelated move, Great Britain forward Joel Freeland turned down a three-year rookie deal with the Portland Trailblazers in the summer, in favour of a (slightly) more lucrative move from Gran Canaria to ACB rivals Unicaja Malaga. "I would prefer to go (to the NBA) when I feel I am ready,” he said. “I don't want to sit on the bench for a couple of years.”
Ironically, with Portland’s injury problems, playing time wouldn’t have been an issue. Those of us who have followed the progression of Aldershot’s finest would argue he is ready as he’ll ever be – right now.
10. Two steps forward, two steps back. For basketball in the UK, this was a year of minimal progress. Great Britain’s men and women did not produce the results needed to advance their cause sufficiently to get FIBA to end their damaging Olympic dithering. The BBL went an entire year without any TV coverage and the trend toward smaller venues continues.
The NBA sold out the 02 Arena but, for all the noise it made, it otherwise flirted with obscurity on these shores at a time when the NFL is solidifying its own position. And for all the extra cash arriving in the lead-in to 2012, there are still too many familiar tales of volunteers not getting the support they need at a grassroots level.
There is a coherent strategy on paper for British hoops but no real evidence of delivery or results. Must do better in 2010.
.
It was not to be. The Spaniards put up a 15-3 finish to avoid an early exit before going on to lift the title. GB went home but with some face saved.
2. Phil Jackson’s Supremacy. Sure, the legends of MJ, Scottie, Kobe and Shaq will live on in history. But Phil’s NBA title number 10 affirmed his place in the pantheon, if any additional evidence were required. The late Red Auerbach, ceding his throne atop the rankings, would have hated that the Lakers won another crown but you can’t begrudge Jackson his dues.
3. And likewise Kobe… All the talk about who is better: Kobe Bryant or LeBron James, has been settled. For everyone who thought the young pretender had assumed the crown (myself included), the Lakers guard provided the answers with a string of stellar showings and his fourth championship ring. LBJ, at 25, still has it all to do.
4. Capital Calamities. We were promised that London Capital wouldn’t remain the laughing stock of the BBL after last season. They were wrong. London lost 110-38 to Leicester in December, equalling a league-record of infamy. There have been claims of bills unpaid. Their only consolation is that Essex are bottom on loss difference headed into 2010. As one BBL director said recently: “I think the time is coming where no matter how much we want a team in London, it’s not doing us any good to have them in the league.”
5. Worcester-isms. It says a lot about basketball’s decline in the UK that the claims of racism made against former Wolves coach Chuck Evans received scant attention in the mainstream media. Or perhaps, it says something about our culture that while white-on-black racism is (thankfully) spotlit and decried, the inverse provoked little comment. Throw striking players, sackings and the welcome return of Paul James to the BBL into the mix, and what a bizarre tale it all was.
6. AI or not AI? Is Allen Iverson done or about to do something improbable? His meek exit from Memphis hinted at the mortality of a once-omnipotent star who could not accept his slide into the realms of lowly back-up. As anticipated, , he made a swift, unlikely, return in the colours of the Philadelphia 76ers. In the last chance saloon, this will either be AI’s time to cement his legacy or the ignominious final chapter in his riveting journey.
7. The enigma that was Andre Smith. Two weeks after arriving in the BBL, Everton’s expensive capture admitted the league “wasn’t as good as I thought it would be.” It was one thing to accomplish the astonishing feat of regularly putting up 30 points and 20 rebounds while, at the same time, appearing utterly disinterested. It was quite another when he was alleged to have told an opposing player that he hoped the Tigers would lose the game so he could go home early for the summer. One of the best performers in BBL history, it spoke volumes when the ballot of coaches declined to vote him as MVP.
8. The Ups and Downs of the NBA Brit-Pack. Luol Deng will surely be glad to see the back of 2009, having been sidelined for six months with a fractured tibia and watching the mixed messages surrounding his return to the Bulls damage his stock – and his reputation. With coach Vinnie Del Negro on the verge of being sacked, and Deng no longer considered an potential All Star, where does Lu go from here?
Credit, at least, to Pops Mensah-Bonsu for sticking to his pursuit of his personal NBA dream. Cut by San Antonio, dropped by Toronto, jettisoned in Houston, the popular Londoner is back in Raptor-land, hoping to stick through the end of the season. Coming back to Europe may have been his best bet. But who would argue with his persistence?
9. Joel stays in Spain. In an unrelated move, Great Britain forward Joel Freeland turned down a three-year rookie deal with the Portland Trailblazers in the summer, in favour of a (slightly) more lucrative move from Gran Canaria to ACB rivals Unicaja Malaga. "I would prefer to go (to the NBA) when I feel I am ready,” he said. “I don't want to sit on the bench for a couple of years.”
Ironically, with Portland’s injury problems, playing time wouldn’t have been an issue. Those of us who have followed the progression of Aldershot’s finest would argue he is ready as he’ll ever be – right now.
10. Two steps forward, two steps back. For basketball in the UK, this was a year of minimal progress. Great Britain’s men and women did not produce the results needed to advance their cause sufficiently to get FIBA to end their damaging Olympic dithering. The BBL went an entire year without any TV coverage and the trend toward smaller venues continues.
The NBA sold out the 02 Arena but, for all the noise it made, it otherwise flirted with obscurity on these shores at a time when the NFL is solidifying its own position. And for all the extra cash arriving in the lead-in to 2012, there are still too many familiar tales of volunteers not getting the support they need at a grassroots level.
There is a coherent strategy on paper for British hoops but no real evidence of delivery or results. Must do better in 2010.
.
Sunday, 20 December 2009
Capital calamities continue
Had a visit to London Capital's website today for news on just why their game against Milton Keynes was postponed - only to be greeted with this bizarre message.
"LONDONCAPITAL BASKETBALL TEAM
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS SITE AND THE DOMAIN NAME HAVE BEEN SUSPENDED DUE TO NON PAYMENT OF BILLS.
PLEASE DIRECT ALL INQUIRIES TO BRANDON BETHEL ON 07841 580983
OR EMAIL BBETHEL@CAPITALCITYACADEMY.ORG"
According to Milton Keynes, it was off due to "health and safety issues".
Only in London.
.
"LONDONCAPITAL BASKETBALL TEAM
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS SITE AND THE DOMAIN NAME HAVE BEEN SUSPENDED DUE TO NON PAYMENT OF BILLS.
PLEASE DIRECT ALL INQUIRIES TO BRANDON BETHEL ON 07841 580983
OR EMAIL BBETHEL@CAPITALCITYACADEMY.ORG"
According to Milton Keynes, it was off due to "health and safety issues".
Only in London.
.
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