Lewis - Pirates plan to plunder BBL

Tim Lewis doesn’t want to limit the aspirations of the BBL’s newest franchise, Essex Pirates, when they tip off their inaugural campaign in the league this Saturday evening.

“We want to win it all,” he declares. He’s kidding surely? A little. But, unlike many (self included), he believes the Southend-based club are not destined to challenge London – their inaugural opponents - for the wooden spoon despite an almost exclusively domestic cast.

“I’ll be happy if we’re competitive every night,” he adds. “And if we make the top eight. We’re going to play a different style of basketball to the rest of the BBL and that might surprise a few teams. But I want to make the play-offs.”

Essex will be different, certainly. The average age of their squad is just 22, the eldest just 26.

Only two recruits, Dean Williams and Alan Metcalfe, have prior form in the BBL. Only one player, Spanish guard Pablo Rodrigo, hails from outside these shores. It has been a while since a team adopted a homegrown policy. Eventually, Chester – marooned at the foot of the table – had to import extra help to avoid embarrassment.

“I’m not sure experience is the most important thing,” Lewis counters. “If you look at a team like Milton Keynes, with a lot of veterans, they’re not fast-paced and there may be an advantage for us there in the right system.

“We have a good bunch of guys. There are players who have been in the GB Under 20s who can still improve and some young players who I’m excited about working with.

“I’ve said all along that we want to do this with a mainly British team and I think that can be a positive for the league.”

- Lewis will interview this week for the post of GB Under 20 coaching post which was re-advertised following a disappointing summer campaign.

“It was always a two-year deal,” he confirmed, “so I had to re-apply whatever.”

ESPN tie up NBA deal for UK/Ireland

ESPN are to screen around 100 live NBA games next season in a widely-anticipated deal confirmed today.

The channel will tip off its coverage next Tuesday when the Utah Jazz take on the Chicago Bulls as part of NBA Europe Live.

ESPN’s full NBA games package has up to three games a week, including a weekly game on Sunday in primetime, the NBA All-Star Game, the Playoffs and The Finals in standard and high definition. 

The ESPN produced studio show, NBA Fastbreak, will air on both ESPN and ESPN America. 

“We are thrilled to be expanding our global relationship with ESPN and bringing fans increased coverage of the NBA,” said Sophie Goldschmidt, NBA EMEA Managing Director. “Through ESPN’s multiple channels, NBA games and highlights will now be available to a broader audience in the UK and Ireland.”

Jeroen Oerlemans, Vice President, TV Channels Europe, Middle East and Africa said, “The NBA is one of the world’s top sports properties, with some of the greatest athletes on the planet. This agreement allows us to deliver all of the action and excitement of the NBA to sports fans in the UK and Ireland. ”

Finch quits Mons for D-League

Great Britain coach Chris Finch is to leave Belgian club Mons after two seasons to take charge of NBA D-League side, Rio Grande Vipers - the farm team for the Houston Rockets.

The shock move, on the eve of the new campaign, comes just months after the 38-year-old American spent time on the summer league staff of the Dallas Mavericks.

The decision is not expected to affect Finch's commitments with the GB side but will see the ex-Sheffield boss depart Mons, who he took to a European final, at the end of this week.

“Chris is a young, up-and-coming coach who already has a wealth of coaching experience,” said Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey who, according to reports, had a major role in the appointment.

"Chris has been instrumental in the re-building of Great Britain's fledgling national team program and I believe he will employ that same passion and commitment to elevating the level of Vipers basketball. We will work closely with Chris to ensure that the Vipers implement the same successful philosophies employed by the Rockets."

Nurse's assistant on the British team, Nick Nurse, is coach and GM of D-League rivals, Iowa Energy.

Deng ready for comeback, and to answer questions

Luol Deng sat on the bench at the 02 Arena just six weeks ago, a cheerleader without the uniform, a spare part with only advice to contribute. Great Britain’s only genuine NBA star was part of the side but outside it. Dropping by to rally the team-mates who would carry the flag in his absence at the European Championships, he took the applause, signed autographs and offered his counsel. While everyone else was looking forward to Poland, Deng headed back to Chicago to watch on from afar.

 The Bulls forward will return to his hometown this weekend and this time he is anticipating more than a cameo role. On Tuesday night, back in the Docklands, Deng will lead his NBA club in an exhibition against Utah and for those who pay his hefty salary, the excursion is about more than spreading goodwill and the gospel of David Stern.

They want to know if the old Deng is back, the one who was expected to become an All-Star when he agreed a new long-term contract last summer. The one who was a focal point of a play-off side before a fractured tibia, sustained on February 28, cut his campaign short – and eventually ruled him out of national duty.

The rehab has been arduous. The gym. The weights room. For the past month, practice at full-tilt. But – right now – even Deng doesn’t know where – or how – he stands.

"I could say whatever I want to say, but until I'm on the floor I really don't know," Deng declared. "I'm going to go by how it feels. I'm going to try to do my best to do two practices a day. I think I'll be able to. I feel great. But if I feel anything early, I will try to monitor it."

The Bulls staff are keeping a close watch. This may have become Derrick Rose’s team. However in the absence of the departed Ben Gordon, head coach Vinny Del Negro admits he needs a nightly contribution from the former Brixton Topcat.

"He's finally healthy,” said Del Negro at the Bulls media day. “He's had a couple of injury-plagued seasons. But he's confident. He feels great. He's had a very productive summer. His weight, his body fat, all those things, he's probably in as good a condition as he's been in, and he knows how important he is to us."

Deng will do what he can to play tour guide when the Bulls land in the UK for their brief pre-season tour. “Winning,” he insists, is all that matters this term.

"One thing I do is I work very hard," Deng said. "I really don't take shortcuts. I felt like the past two years I had unfortunate injuries. There's nothing I could do about that. But I really worked hard this summer."

The Bulls are about to find out if it’s payback time for all concerned.

Archibald sidelined

Great Britain star Robert Archibald is set to be sidelined for up to two months after fracturing his eye socket in Unicaja Malaga’s first pre-season outing.

The Paisley-born centre will undergo surgery later this week to repair his orbital bone which was broken in a freak collision under the basket during a match against Grenada in last weekend’s Copa de Andalucia.

The Great Britain cap said: “The doctors say after the surgery, I’ll have to avoid contact practice for 20 days. Then we’ll see what happens.”

Harlem Globetrotter Sapp plots route out

Just seven miles separate the glistening tip of Manhattan from 105^th Street but the Woodrow Wilson Houses which tower above this forgotten corner of New York are not even on the radar of the sightseeing tours. Built almost a half-century ago, every window is shielded by iron bars from the first floor to the twentieth, a ploy that serves to deter intrusion but also to trap those within.

Jessie Sapp grew up on these mean streets. “It’s a tough place, a really tough place,” confirms the Glasgow Rocks guard. “To survive is a blessing.” Not everyone is so exalted. Alonzo Milligan, one of his best friends, was gunned down in 2005, another desperate statistic. His sister, Steveasia, was lucky. A bullet struck her mouth but she lived to fight another day. “But it teaches you how to be a better person,” he adds. “Of course, you go through the ups and the downs. It’s a struggle. But I love the place, no matter what. It’s not like everyone says it is.”

Basketball, for the American rookie, provided the escape route, via Washington DC – where Sapp earned a scholarship to Georgetown University – and now to the UK.

There will be an adjustment, he admits. At college, there were classes to combine with practice in order to complete his degree in theology. Now, sport has become full-time employment and Glasgow his home from home. But Harlem’s Globetrotter is playing for re-pay debts owed and to set an example. “You see the drugs, the killings, the bad influence. But the people there are my biggest supporters. They’ve got my back every single day.”

As painted by Sapp, the projects provided a loving embrace as well as omnipresent fear. Once, the gyms of such neighbourhoods turned out boxers by the dozen. Now the caged-in courts are the crucible of basketballers who dream of the millionaire lifestyles enjoyed by the stars of the NBA.

The Rocks newcomer was among them. The first stage was to prove in the local playground. “Every day you’re going against the best. The guys who didn’t quite make it but who come back. It’s tough but it prepares you for everything.”

It is not a place for the tentative, he concedes. “You have guys who hate your game, some people who hate your game. People screaming. It’s hard to focus. They’re so close. It’s not like you can go into a locker room and hide away at half-time or at the end. You’re stuck out there and you have to be able to cope with that and play the game.

“But it prepares you. There’s so much rivalry. You get called the worst names in the world but have to continue and keep your focus. But if you do well, they will love you for it.”

Best of all, it provided security. Included within the code of the street is that those with talent are left alone. “I’m not going to say I was the best kid in the world,” Sapp smiles. “But I changed for the better.”

His initial reward is a one-year deal with a Rocks side that has undergone a radical overhaul following last season’s seventh place calamity. Facing Newcastle, reigning champions and pre-season favourites, will provide an immediate insight into just what it will take to succeed, night after night.

However the mantra, instilled by his mother, will serve him well. “She always told me to be the best you can be and make it out,” he revealed. The window of opportunity lies wide open now.

Cheshire await Davis fate

Cheshire Jets will find out later this week how long captain Calvin Davis will be sidelined after the American-born centre injured his ankle during his team's season opener against Newcastle.

Davis is expected to see a specialist on Tuesday after an initial assessment suggested damage to his fibula - an injury that could keep him out for at least three months.

"He'll be seeing a specialist in next 48 hrs so we'll know more then," confirmed jets head coach Paul Smith. "A&E say (his knee) is not broken but there are ligaments torn from bone. It is bad but it could be worse."