Worthing Thunder 2010-11.

And so it begins, and my humble apologies, because I know you don't care.

Today Worthing Thunder have announced their first three signings of the season, and before I give you a detailed breakdown on those signings, a little bit of context is important.

Basketball teams play with 5 players on the court at one time, and in general, at a professional level, a full squad should consist of 12 players. In the BBL its probably quite rare to find a squad that is 12 players strong, most teams peak at around 9 or 10, and from those, its likely that a maximum of 7-8 are used regularly on the court (the other players usually being younger players with potential, or older veterans who are more important in the community aspect of basketball).

Nwo, BBL teams are allowed a maximum of 3 "permit players". A permit player is somebody from outside Europe, and therefore almost always means American. Most of the best players in the BBL will be permit players (although in recent years a lot more of the better players from Great Britain have started playing in the BBL).

Last year, for example, Worthing Thunder's three best players arguably were their three permit players. I doubt that any of them will return to the team.

There is no limit to how many Europeans a team can sign. Last season Worthing's main team was made up of:
3 Americans
1 Finn
1 Latvian
1 Lithuanian
4 Brits (only 1 of whom played a lot of minutes)

Generally speaking, that is quite a lot of non-British players, the majority of teams will have the standard 3 permit players, then perhaps 1 non-British European, and the rest will be British.

And it looks like this season we will be primarily a British team, and that is something I am very excited about.

The players we have signed are:

Shaun Durant a 6'9'' centre who is built like a tank. He played for Leicester last year. He's a great rebounder and a big powerful player. Not much of a shooter though.

Adam Williams, a 6'4'' Welsh shooting guard who has never played for Wales despite probably being the best Welsh player currently playing. He played for Mersey Tigers last season, one of the best teams. He is a very underrated guy, a solid defender and a great shooter.

John Nottley, a 6'11'' centre who has been playing in Europe. He is a really interesting signing, because it looks like Nottley and Durant will share minutes at the centre position. They are both talent British big-men with lots of different skills, making us look already very dangerous in the paint.

I am very pleased to see us picking up so much British talent, especially the two centres, they provide us with a lot of depth and ability that we were really lacking last year. All three are solid players at this level, and capable of playing big minutes. They provide the foundation for a very good team.