Team GB: The (R)evolution

Having had a first stab at predicting who the Final 12 for Eurobasket will be a couple of weeks ago - thought it would be interesting to track the evolution of the GB team, since its inception in 2006 (the team that Chris Finch nicknamed the "Little Pioneers") through to the potential class of 2009.

2006	2007	2008	2009?
Starters	Starters	Starters	Starters
Hansell	Midgley	Boyd	Boyd
Reinking	Reinking	Reinking	Gordon
Joseph	Deng	Deng	Deng
Sullivan	Archibald	Sullivan	Archibald
Huggins	Betts	Mensah-Bonsu	Mensah-Bonsu
Rotation	Rotation	Rotation	Rotation
Johnson	Lenzley	Hart	Reinking
Williams	Sullivan	George	Sullivan
Sanders	Huggins	Freeland	Freeland
Haslam	Haslam	Betts	Betts
Bench	Bench	Bench	Bench
Lawson	Joseph	Midgley	Lenzley
Freeland	Sanders	Leven	George
Reed	Boateng	Achara	Achara

A striking point looking at that potential line-up for 2009 is to think back to where we were at the end of that 2006 campaign. In possession, a point down to Belarus with seven seconds to go in Sheffield - the possible go to men for that final shot were our two stars on that team: Nate Reinking or Dru Sullivan. In the end Reinking was closed out and Sulli missed a tough off-balance shot.

If we are in a similar position in a Eurobasket game this time around - there is a strong chance that neither of those players will be on court and our go to man will be arguably the leading "clutch player" in the world.

Full marks to all those who committed for that first team, when everything was still run by EB and very flaky, especially the likes of Sulli and Reinking - as they started that journey to Eurobasket 2009.

Nice touch would be to invite those players no longer involved to the Game On event in August to let the GB fans show their appreciation.