The new campaign is almost here, and we know you’re just as
excited as we are for the new season!
The summer has been epic for British Basketball, and with
the return of the BBL comes a new level of anticipation, as we’re set for
another epic campaign with a tonne of incredible talent taking to the court to
compete for glory.
We asked Kieron Achara MBE which names BBL fans needed to know in terms of the coaches you need to watch, and although Achara – being the lovely, friendly giant that he is – would have happily picked all 10 play-callers if we’d allowed him to, we pushed him to select just four, and you can find his picks below!
Vince Macaulay
Vince does a really good job of recruiting players who are
tried and tested in the BBL, so I’m excited to see how he gets the best out of
Rahmon Fletcher, allowing him to be the Rahmon of old and empowering him with
the freedom to be the player we all know and love on the floor. It will be
great to see how he gets his players playing with a spring in their step as
well and a lot of belief, so I think he is certainly going to be a coach to
watch.
Gareth Murray
Gareth is going into his first full season solely as a Head
Coach, which is a new step for him, but he is a very knowledgeable person, very
system-driven and a great with the X’s and O’s. This is going to be his sole
focus now and I am really interested to see how he is going to take this to the
next level now that he won’t have to give any focus to the playing side of
things.
Lloyd Gardner
Lloyd being in Surrey this year is really exciting. The
Scorchers are going to have a different look, and Lloyd’s teams tend to be
really good at scoring the ball, moving the ball well, with multiple guys
putting up double-digits scoring numbers, so it will be interesting to see if
he can keep that up from his days with the Manchester Giants and London City
Royals. He’s also bringing the likes of Josh Steel with him from Manchester,
and he’s working with a lot of players that he already knows, so it’ll make for
a smoother transition for him to his new club as well, I’m sure.
Paul James
To pick a fourth Coach is really hard, actually, because
every Coach in this league is fantastic, but if I have to pick one in
particular then I’ll go with PJ (Paul James). Seeing him returning a lot of
players to the Patriots this season is a real positive for him, and he did a
great job holding down the fort and making a big play-off push last year in the
first year for the Patriots, and now with a big returning group I’m excited to how
PJ works to take a very talented group to the next level.
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Do you agree with Kieron’s picks!? Let us know on our social media channels who are your four coaches to watch!
