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.

Comments

Kendal Johnson wants to ball in the BBL

Kendal Johnson is an American who wants to play in England in a busy week where he is likely to find out where he will be playing and when. Johnson is the cousin of NBA star Marcus Camby and is looking to be a player/coach in the British Basketball League or English Basketball League. He admits he doesn't know too much about the current state of British basketball but has heard good things. He said: 'I've always wanted to go to England but I don't know a lot about the basketball league, I have a friend at the Worcester Wolves and he has told me there is lot's of positives.' 'I've played basketball since I was little obviously having Marcus Camby as a cousin I was always in that sort of environment.' Johnson revealed he had been in talks with various BBL and EBL clubs and is hoping a move can be agreed in the coming days. He also thinks that it is important to get young people involved in sport. He added: 'One thing I would like to ...

Johnson bringing HoopsAid the American Dream Team.

Kendal Johnson recently spoke to us about the possibility of playing in England and while he may not be playing full-time he is set to play at least one game. Johnson will be representing America at HoopsAid, a charity basketball match in the style of soccer aid - featuring players, celebrities and in this case battle back players. Kendal is looking forward to the opportunity to compete in the Copper Box with some of the stars Britain and HoopsAid have to offer. He said: 'This HoopsAid event is going to be very exciting, this will be my first time in London and I'm nervous and exciting at the same time, I'm just ready to play.' 'Giving back to the community is very important to me and I think HoopsAid gives my the opportunity which is good for me and good for them.' 'I'm excited to be playing in the Copper Box arena, It's where they had some of the Olympics so I'm looking forward to that.' Johnson won't be taking it lightly ...

The history making British sportswomen...that no one is talking about.

This summer has so far been an incredible one for women’s football, with huge audiences for England women’s fixtures as the lionesses roared to the semi-finals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Coverage of the finals has been unprecedented, with back page stories in British newspapers across the tournament and a record peak of 7.6 million people watching England destroy Norway 3-0 in the quarter-finals live on BBC One. One tournament that hasn’t even made it onto the red button this summer is the FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2019. In fact, I imagine when you have read your newspaper of choice this morning, there may have been just a short Twitter-length article on GB Basketball creating history by reaching the quarter-finals of Women’s EuroBasket for the first time. No one is talking about how Temi Fagbenle managed a 29-point haul in a comprehensive 92-71 win against Montenegro. Nothing about the quarter-final tie against Hungary later this week. No real mention of poten...

The UK Basketball Hub

Search This Blog