BETTS ON THE BIGS
08/17/2008 BEFORE the Luol Deng crisis, Robert Archibald was the big loss of the summer as he pulled out of the GB squad, apparently hurting the Brits in the big man department.

BEFORE the Luol Deng crisis, Robert Archibald was the big loss of the summer as he pulled out of the GB squad, apparently hurting the Brits in the big man department.

But, according to 7'1" veteran Andy Betts, the opening days of training camp has shown it is not all doom and gloom.

The form of Joel Freeland, Eric Boateng, newcomer Dzarflo Larkai and, in particular, Pops Mensah-Bonsu - along with Betts himself, of course - means GB may not been too severely weakened in that department.

"Obviously you take away a player of Robert's level and it hurts," said Betts. "It would be useful to have him here.

"But he's not here and we have to deal with it and I think players like Joel and Eric are ready to step up. They, and Pops, can make up for the loss of Arch. Yes, we're going to miss his experience but with youngsters comes enthusiasm and that quality is really important, as well."

Betts has only seen the other big men in the squad on a limited basis and has been pleasantly surprised by what he has seen.

He added: "I haven't seen that much of Joel because, even though I've been in Spain, he doesn't play much for Gran Canaria.

"I'm really impressed with him, he has athleticism, strength and the basics. He has everything really.

"He's already at a good level for how young he is and the sky is the limit. I think he'll be an NBA player, for sure.

"Eric has improved, even in the last year. He really goes hard and you can see the year in college has done him good, he's improved a lot.

"And 'Flo' has been one of the finds of camp. It's the first time I've seen him and he looks a good player. He's strong, athletic, has some good moves and really works hard as well. He has a bright future."

A lot will depend, however, on Mensah-Bonsu who has looked in ominous form during the early stages of the summer campaign.

And Betts said: "You can see Pops is on a different level. Having him is going to be an enormous help going forward."