Author: Joe Whitehead


  • One Extra Guard Changed Surrey’s Season

    One Extra Guard Changed Surrey’s Season

    Surrey’s season has a clear dividing line. Before Tyrin Lawrence arrived, they looked like a bottom-two team. Since then, they have played like one of the league’s best. Lawrence’s arrival at the start of the year has let Surrey pick a new identity. They can go small — three guards, with Lawrence as a de-facto

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  • Funds Can’t Play Basketball

    Funds Can’t Play Basketball

    The day after the NBA brought a regular-season game to the O2, a different room in London hosted a different kind of audience. 250 invite-only guests gathered at the Raffles Hotel for private briefings on the NBA’s plans for Europe. In one sense, the event worked. Not because a league was announced, or because clubs

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  • The Missing Years in British Basketball

    The Missing Years in British Basketball

    Ages 18 to 22 are a decisive phase in a basketball player’s development. This is when players begin the transition from prospect to contributor, completing their physical growth and learning to survive possessions at higher levels rather than dominate them at lower ones. At this stage, development comes from minutes, not just training. Playing through

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  • Court Vision MVP Race: 2025–26

    Court Vision MVP Race: 2025–26

    For the first two months of the season, the MVP conversation looked to be settling before it had fully formed. Joel Scott’s early performances stood out, quickly establishing him as the standard everyone else was measured against. His hamstring injury in early December reopened the race. The players below have shaped the league since, each

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  • Don Carey Jr and RaeQuan Battle Fit Together

    Don Carey Jr and RaeQuan Battle Fit Together

    Don Carey Jr leads the league in assists per game. RayQuan Battle leads it in points per game. That alone would make Leicester’s backcourt stand out. What elevates it is how cleanly those roles are defined – and how little they compete with one another. Carey organises and shapes possessions. Battle finishes them. Together, they

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  • How Europe Helps Young Players Find Minutes

    How Europe Helps Young Players Find Minutes

    The years after junior basketball are not self-sustaining. Without structure, they break down. Across Europe, leagues respond by building explicit mechanisms for this phase. The examples below show how different rules organise these years, rather than leaving them to chance. Make It Easy To Play Down a Level Lithuania addresses a familiar problem. A young

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