# Ben Gordon to Join Team Britain



## luther (Nov 2, 2007)

As has been speculated about, Ben Gordon will join the British national team in the hopes of ensuring they qualify as host nation in 2012. It's still a pretty weak team, but there are some better players than previous years, especially (obviously) with Gordon and Luol Deng. The link to ESPN's article follows.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3323606


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## Krstic All-Star (Mar 9, 2005)

Maybe they can sign a few more Bulls.


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## Porn Player (Apr 24, 2003)

Weak team? WE COMING WATCH OUT FOOOOOOOOOLZ :biggrin:


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## Krstic All-Star (Mar 9, 2005)

Now it's on, British-style!


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## Porn Player (Apr 24, 2003)

Well when you say British you mean slashed with Sudanese and American :biggrin:


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## Kekai (Jan 12, 2005)

Why does he just get to join the British team....thought you had to be a citizen or something? Am I out of it..lol


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## Porn Player (Apr 24, 2003)

He was born in London, I think :biggrin: But I think his Mother or something has British ties..


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## Krstic All-Star (Mar 9, 2005)

Porn_Player said:


> Well when you say British you mean slashed with Sudanese and American :biggrin:


But of course.


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## luther (Nov 2, 2007)

It's not like Gordon is the first American citizen to get citizenship elsewhere in order to play for some other country's national team. (Or vice versa: Hakeem Olajuwon on Dream Team II, anyone?) So I don't think it's such a big deal. Arriel McDonald used to play for Slovenia. JR Holden plays for Russia. Several African teams have used Americans of recent African descent. And on and on and on.


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## Porn Player (Apr 24, 2003)

Anyone know if Pops Mensah Bonsu is going to be playing for us aswell? 

A core with Deng, Gordon and Pops would be explosive especially with big bad Robby Archibald ready to throw down :biggrin:


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## luther (Nov 2, 2007)

Porn_Player said:


> Anyone know if Pops Mensah Bonsu is going to be playing for us aswell?
> 
> A core with Deng, Gordon and Pops would be explosive especially with big bad Robby Archibald ready to throw down :biggrin:


My understanding is that not only does Pops intend to play (as well as those you mentioned), but Kelenna Azubuike, Eric Boateng (Arizona St), Richard Midgley (ex-Cal) and Andrew Betts (longtime international professional). I know there isn't a lot of quality tradition on the British national team, but this group has quite a lot of talent.


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## Porn Player (Apr 24, 2003)

Quality tradition? Please cast your mind back to the first NBA game after the Millenium and see who drops the first bucket and enters the hall of fame by doing so. John Amaechi baby England is rich with tradition in my eyes :biggrin:

We just need to convince Nash to run the point and we would be winning Olympic gold booooooyeah!


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## Krstic All-Star (Mar 9, 2005)

I believe that John Amaechi's legacy will lie in something else...


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## luther (Nov 2, 2007)

Krstic All Star said:


> I believe that John Amaechi's legacy will lie in something else...


Maybe Zach Puchtel.


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## Porn Player (Apr 24, 2003)

Aww see I knew that was coming, you guys thats my one piece of history in Bball your ****in with have a little more care :biggrin:


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## luther (Nov 2, 2007)

Aw, I'm just ****ing around. I actually remember watching Amaechi when he was in college, and I loved what Zach Puchtel did (more recently) for the Minnesota Gophers. Really, Amaechi was a very good player for a country with the basketball profile of England.


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## Porn Player (Apr 24, 2003)

luther said:


> Aw, I'm just ****ing around. I actually remember watching Amaechi when he was in college, and I loved what Zach Puchtel did (more recently) for the Minnesota Gophers. Really, Amaechi was a very good player for a country with the basketball profile of England.


Why thankyou :afro:


There really is alot of young talent over here, its a shame all the best players I have had the pleasure of playing alongside or against float off to American highschools and usually end up forgotten :sad:


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## Krstic All-Star (Mar 9, 2005)

On that note, what is the British high school basketball scene like?


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## luther (Nov 2, 2007)

I'd guess it's like other European (and really other international, except the US and Canada) countries, in that they separate sports from school.

One thing I can say is, I went through every roster in the British pro league and didn't recognize anyone. Keep in mind, I am a serious nerd. But I didn't recognize a single player. I'm guessing that league, at least, is absolutely awful, and that any even remotely good players (as P_P hinted) are long gone by then.


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## Porn Player (Apr 24, 2003)

Krstic All Star said:


> On that note, what is the British high school basketball scene like?


Terrible, well not terrible but not great my final year of college (equivalent of high school) my team made it to the souther semi finals (basically top 4 teams in the nation) we lost but nobody was impressive and few have since earned call up to colleges and high school in USA including my good friend James Bennett who is off to florida in a few days. 

As for Luther... I wouldn't call the BBL awful it seems pretty competitive and has tons of good players and coaches.


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## luther (Nov 2, 2007)

Porn_Player said:


> As for Luther... I wouldn't call the BBL awful it seems pretty competitive and has tons of good players and coaches.


Awful was probably harsh, but I'd think if it were very good, more of its players would be snatched up by teams in higher-profile leagues. You don't really see a lot of Brits playing in Madrid, Tel Aviv, Moscow, Treviso, Athens, etc.


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## Porn Player (Apr 24, 2003)

Robert Archibald is doin' his thing overseas and Joel Freeland also although not as much...


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## luther (Nov 2, 2007)

Porn_Player said:


> Robert Archibald is doin' his thing overseas and Joel Freeland also although not as much...


Oh, I know. But that's two guys out of a combined UK population of, what, 60 million? (That's from the CIA website! Apparently, they've got their eyes on you, just as they do on us...they're watching.) I just mean that, for how many people there are, obviously basketball isn't much of a priority or leading sport, because a small nation like Serbia has hundreds of pros in various leagues, while to create a solid UK squad, you have to include guys whose ties are a little less obvious (such as Gordon). 

I'm not disrespecting it, I'm just saying it's a different level.


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## Krstic All-Star (Mar 9, 2005)

^ England's size and population definitely need to be considered in analyzing its basketball talent pool. Then there's that whole _football_ game those crazy Brits are obsessed with...


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