The UK Basketball Hub

Worcester Wolves have signed Great Britain star Robert Gilchrist on a temporary contract. The 6ft 9in power forward made his debut in yesterday's fixture against Plymouth Raiders, as the Wolves climbed above their opponents in the BBL standings. Gilchrist scored 14 points, with 8 rebounds on his first outing. Paul James, Wolves Head Coach, said: “We are delighted to have secured the services of such a high quality player as Robert Gilchrist. Even though this is a short term solution, we have a very hectic December schedule and this will bolster our squad while we look for a permanent fixture.” Gilchrist joins the Wolves after playing at Spanish side Araberri last season in the Liga Española de Baloncesto Oro, the second basketball division of the Spanish basketball league, where he averaged 6.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. He played for his country at under 18 and under 20 level and made his senior debut against New Zealand during 2015, scoring 12 point...

Portland Trailblazers' forward Joel Freeland has committed to the Great Britain national team and is hoping to make a return to international duty sooner rather than later. Freeland held a conference call with various members of the British basketball media in the midst of a reasonably successful start to the season for him personally. He said: "I'm always committed to helping the national squad, I only took time off last season for personal reasons, from here on out I'm fully committed, I just hope I can continue as I am at the moment to be involved with the team." "Last year I struggled a lot as I thought I had to play in the same way I played in Europe but this league is completely different, I took the summer and realised who I was in this league and who I wanted to be.' ​'There is always going to be a responsibility to promote British basketball, during the summer I am interested in promoting the game, people have been tryin...

The women's wheelchair basketball team appointed a new coach recently, hoping to build on recent successes and challenge at the next Paralympic games. Miles Thompson comes into the fold having worked with the US national team and will be hoping to lead GB to medals at the Paralympics in Brazil. British Wheelchair Basketball's Performance Director Paul Davies believes that the sport is moving in the right direction under the new coach. He said: "London was very, very big, the crowd, the level of support, not just in the park but across the country the profile of the sport is higher as it has ever been." "We only came 7th in London and we were disappointed with the results but not the performance, we've retained the gold medal at the Europeans." "We've got a couple of young girls in the squad and they are motivated not just to go to Rio but to come home with a medal around their necks." Davies believes that Thompson w...

People from all over the country came together, to celebrate National Paralympic Day 2013. A showcase of Paralympic sport, a tribute to the success of London 2012 and a chance for people who haven't been involved in Paralympic sport to join in. The Olympic and Paralympic spirit from London's successful games around 12 months ago was evidently on display with a large crowd coming to contribute to and feed off the spirit of the games. There were various events throughout the day, with Bocia, Table Tennis and Sitting Volleyball all on display to a packed out Copper Box. The final event of the day was the Wheelchair Basketball - an exhibition women's match between GB and Spain, which saw a near capacity crowd and brought people from all over - from Spain to Surrey. The Mayor Of London Boris Johnson received a Paralympic Order medal given to him by Rita Van Driel a member of the International Paralympic Committee. Both described the Paralympic games as 'the great...

Former GB star Nick George is currently running his Pro Performance, but is also hoping to finish his career in England by joining a BBL team. As a Manchester lad, George is keen to join up with the team he played with for part of last season and help them achieve the play-off spot they just missed out on. But he also admits that if the situation suited he would be more than happy to join another BBL team or at least discuss it. He said: "I would possibly [sign for a different club], Manchester is perfect for me, It's my hometown, my family is here but I wouldn't be opposed to signing for another team." "I've said that I want to end my career playing in England,  I've played in Europe and I've done everything I wanted to do." "I enjoyed last season, it was a good experience in a tough situation - the team had just joined the league, it was good for the team to be competitive." He isn't convinced that the BBL is better t...

GB 75-71 Israel

GB Basketball are back! The Copper Box will be hosting a pre-tournament friendly against Puerto Rico ahead of Eurobasket 2013. It hasn't been a straight forward journey into the fixture with NBA stars Joel Freeland and Luol Deng unavailable, Byron Mullens and Ben Gordon once again failing to show and Pops Mensah-Bonsu also becoming unavailable. This will leave GB's squad heavily reliant on Andrew Sullivan, who is the most experienced member of the squad. New coach Joe Prunty has been thrown into the deep end with many household names not in the squad he must cope with what he has. The likes of Orlan Jackman - who recently departed the London Lions, Liam Potter, Jamell Anderson and Ali Fraser will be looking to impress. There will be a lot riding on the fixture with funding for the sport over the next few years up in the air and based on performance. Puerto Rico has a strong team and are currently ranked 4 places above GB in the FIBA World Rankings. The game takes...

Team GB have announced Matthew Harber as the new U15 girls' Development Squad Head Coach. We recently spoke to the Loughborough Student Riders Head coach just before the start of Women's Eurobasket and he predicts big things in the future: *This audio has been partially edited with questions removed, the answers that were given were not edited themselves.

Johannah leedham is one of her idols Harriet Ottewill-Soulsby is no ordinary teenager. A Team GB hopeful, with a dream of playing the in the big time. Coached by Matt Harber at Loughborough University, the 17-year-old will be moving to America to pursue her dream - after playing for Team GB at youth level in August. Harriet has been speaking to us ahead of the Women's Eurobasket and while she just missed the cut this time, she will almost certainly be representing Great Britain in Olympics and Eurobasket in the near-future. She said: 'The highlight of my year was receiving a call-up to the GB first team, we played against Greece and I scored two points in front of our home crowd - it was amazing.' 'At the moment I'm focusing on moving from Loughborough to America where I'm to play basketball, in the long term I'm hoping to represent Britain at the Olympics.' 'I'm working on staying in shape and developing my skills even further, ...

Luol Deng, Joel Freeland, Ben Gordon* and Byron Mullens* were in action as the NBA resumed last night following the All Star Break. Deng was the top scorer as Chicago Bulls beat the New Orleans Hornets 96-87 with 20 points. Deng was impressive as the Bulls in fifth in the Eastern Conference. Joel Freeland didn't participate for the Portland Trailblazers who lost 102-98 at the Pheonix Suns - leaving them ninth in the West. Byron Mullens started and Ben Gordon came on for the Charlotte Bobcats who managed a surprise win over Orlando Magic. Mullens scored an impressive 20 points and got 12 rebounds for a double-double while Gordon managed a solid 10 points. The Bobcats remain at the foot of the East. *Gordon and Mullens haven't made their GB debuts but are eligible to play for GB in future tournaments. Deng and Freeland both represented Team GB at London 2012.  

Orlando where Deng made his All Star debut. Team GB International Basketballer Luol Deng is set for his second appearance as a reserve at the 2013 NBA All Star Game. Deng made on assist from the bench in 2012 and will be looking to get involved more this year after his East side lost 152-149 to the West. The 27-year-old forward has had a good season so far averaging 16.7 points per game for the Chicago Bulls as they lay fifth in the Eastern Conference. Deng leads the Bulls in terms of total rebounds this season and has the best rebound percentage also. The NBA All Star game is available to fans in the UK on Sky Sports 2 from 1am or you can order a special NBA League Pass for the game.

Team GB women's basketballer Jo Leedham has spoken FIBA about female British basketball and believes there is no pressure on the team. Leedham said: 'I believe we have created a culture that people respect and now people don't look forward to playing against us.' 'We have to keep this brand alive and if we keep doing what we are doing we should be able to keep moving forward.' 'Pressure is only on us if we put it there, I don't think there is any need for us to worry about pressure to succeed.'

The 2012 Olympics' Basketball stadium's outer shell is being sold by Barr Construction after they failed to find a use for the temporary building. The arena is one of the biggest ever temporary buildings for any games and the 12,000 seater stadium does not come with the shell. There are rumours that it could be transported to Rio for the 2016 Olympic games and used potentially for different sports. Barclay Chalmers the managing director of Barr Construction said: 'The basketball arena was one of the showpiece structures for the games, but it was clear there would be no legacy use for a permanent basketball venue, hence the use of the temporary building'. He continued: 'It could be used to hold conferences or events, perhaps like The O2 in Greenwich'. Formal bids for the frame are due on the 30th April this year.

NBA star Luol Deng has admitted today that he doesn't think he will be taking part in the Eurobasket tournament this year due to tiredness. The Chicago Bulls man was influential in getting the decision to not fund GB Basketball overturned and this could be a blow to the chances of future funding. The funding is based on the success of the national team and the loss of their best player could be a hammer blow to the chances of progression. Deng told BBC Sport  at the All-Star Game Deng said: 'I haven't made the decision 100% [but] most likely I'm not [playing]'. Since Deng's GB debut in 2007 he has been extremely busy with NBA games, Eurobaskets, friendlies and of course the Olympics so the rest would be well-earned, however it could jeopardise Team GB's hopes.  

This is an EXCLUSIVE short radio package created featuring the Head of Performance for Team GB Warwick Cann and Simeon Esprit and young GB hopeful who has moved to America. Cann speaks about why he thinks Basketball in this country is not as popular as other sports whilst Esprit explains how he first got involved in the sport.