THE FINCH TAPES - PART II
06/20/2008

GB coach Chris Finch recently met with a group of top-level GB journos - a sure sign that interest is growing in the national team programme.

The fact most of the media were not basketball experts is reflected in some of the questions although it is an interesting read none the less ....

Here is a full transcript of how Part II of that interview went:

Q. How has Luol helped the programme?

A. Luol has been instrumental in making sure players turn up, he's wiling to make phone calls and he has had a couple of younger players working out with him in the summer with his private fitness guys. Pretty much every young kid in that programme has had some relationship with him in some way. Right now, Ryan Richards is working out with him at IMG in Florida.

He's been a great, great spokesman for the programme, really professional in every capacity, in terms of recruiting guys, making them aware of what is required of them. He is a unique individual. He is a high-level sportsman committed to an overall effort yet he is no effort for us at all.

Q. Is there a big focus on grass roots basketball moving forward?

A. I really believe grass roots basketball is up to the home country federations. They have spent the last few months putting together a development plan, a performance beam, if you will, a direction all the way from point zero through to the national team.

All the home federations signed off on that which is a big step. Now, for the first time, we have an orchestrated, co-ordinated development programme throughout the entire sport.

The professional clubs in the BBL have been into grass roots development for years now. They are introducing the sport, teaching it to a lot of kids. The players, over the past 10 years, have been the best marketing tool the teams have had because their players are very approachable and very adept at going into schools and working with kids.

Q. How do you rate our chances of qualifying this summer?

A. Israel have got a young squad but, as always, they're talented. They're coming off a surprise campaign last year where they had to qualify as a wild card team. They're always a tricky team, they always seem to beat teams with more talent and they're always a difficult team to play on the road., they have very passionate home court support.

In many ways, that's the key game of the whole group, the first game on the road. If we can steal that game it puts us in a really good position, coming home for three games.

The Czech Republic have a lot of experience around Europe, they're another strong team. It just depends on what kind of turn out they get. I believe it's going to be one of their stronger teams.

Bosnia come from that great tradition, the old Yugoslavia, They are similar to us. They have a lot of good players but they need their best players to play every year to qualify. I've heard mixed things about whether certain guys are playing or not.

From our point of view, we are going to be underdogs against all those teams simply because they have a collective experience we just don't have yet.

I feel confident if we get our best players to turn out and come together we have a chance to qualify this summer.

Q. Do you think we can medal at 2012?

A. We haven't put anything like that on paper. Certainly, as far as 2012, our goal this summer if we want to qualify for Poland by finishing top of the group or being one of the best second place finishers in the group, then keep building up the programme from there.

Q. Do you want to see the O2 become something of a fortress for your national team in the build-up to 2012?

A. Absolutely. If we could get 18,000 people filling up the O2 every time GB plays, we know that basketball has arrived in the UK. But we also believe that we are not a million miles away from that. I was at the NBA event and it was fantastic, they had a big turn out for that, the people knew about basketball and there was no rooting interest at that game. People were just going for the event.

If we could create a similar buzz around the GB team we will know we have arrived in style. There is a long way to go but it is definitely possible.

Read Part I of the interview here..