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BBP: London Lions: 'Copper Box increases everything!'

The London Lions are perhaps the most intriguing of all of the BBL clubs with the arrival at the Olympic Copper Box.

The massive arena will be one of the premium basketball venues in the BBL and is the home to the capital's largest club.

One person whose job will be made slightly more difficult in a larger stadium will be commentator Steven Edwards, who thinks last season can be a building block.

He said: "I think it was very much a success [last season], gradually as the season went on the crowds got bigger and bigger as word got around."

"London did extremely well in their home games and now it is a spring board into this season, can they now in a bigger arena, go to that next level to try and get past the first round of the play-offs."

"If you can have a successful home team, the crowd can feed off it and make it a fortress, I think people will be looking at that trip to London and be a bit more weary."

"The biggest challenge will be selling out the arena, we sold out a pre-season game which shows there is a thirst for the product, the games are very reasonably priced."

There have been a few departures from the Lions and a few new faces, with Orlan Jackman - who was called up to Joe Prunty's original GB squad - and Tayo Ogedengbe departing, but Steven believes that it's a new age for the team.

"It's very hard as the Lions have lost their top two scorers from last season, but the good thing is we've retained Rod Brown who made an impact when he signed mid-season and we've got Adrien Sturt back and the additions of Nick Freer, Ben Smith and Jo Ikhinmwin."

"These players will help the Lions get to a good level in this country, and Vince has spoken highly of the new players."

"Anytime you've got a coach who has [Vince's] level of experience he will teach the new guys coming in and help them adjust to the system."

"The belief has now got to be to get past that play-off quarter-final round and do well in the Cup and Trophy and attract a consistent home crowd."

The Lions kick off their home campaign on September 27th with Manchester Giants visiting the Copper Box.

You can buy tickets for Lions game via Ticketmaster or visit their website.

Two of the first four BBL TV games are featuring the London Lions, click here for more info.
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