Hey,

Yes, we're fashionably late on the newsletter; I left my hotel in Latvia at 2:30am yesterday (after going to bed at 1am) to return to the UK, and in all the madness of a travel day, completely forgot to get this done. Gutted to not be there for the quarter-finals onwards, but we move!

This week's 3-pointer:

🤩 U19 World Cup musings

There's a bunch of stuff to discuss re: the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup and how it pertains to British basketball, but the two main ones: 1) There were two players at the event with British links - Serbia's Nikola Jovic - a likely first round NBA draft pick next year, who was born in Leicester and lived here until he was 9, and Canada's Khalfani Hill - who was born in Gillingham, Kent and here until he was 6. Would these players be where they are if they stayed in the UK? Probably not. Is it a glaring example that we could regularly produce elite level talent if players were given the right environment to develop? Probably. 2) I was in Daugavpils, a town of 100,000 people about 3 hours drive from Riga, and the venue was still better than anything we have in the UK. Can't understate how big the facilities piece is to get this British basketball thing working - and we are still so far behind everywhere else (genuinely feels like pretty much *every* other country in the world - the UK has such a unique sporting culture unlike anywhere else it seems).

❌ Plymouth Out

There have been murmurs of trouble in Plymouth for months, but I definitely didn't actually think it was a real possibility they pull out from the BBL this coming season, joining Worcester as the second franchise to pull the plug in almost as many weeks. Absolute shocker - and does seem to be more going on than meets the eye...

🌍Lions draw Treviso for BCL campaign

Excitement for next season builds, as London Lions will take on Italian side Treviso as they make a second attempt to qualify for the Basketball Champions League Regular Season - and announced their first signing, American Julian Washburn, earlier today. They will of course have their work cut out, but it would be great for the game here to see a British team have success on the continent!

That wraps up another week, as always, hit reply with any thoughts, questions or anything else,

With gratitude,

Sam

P.S. Do you know any female software developers with even a slight interest in basketball? If so, let me know!