Great Britain men's national basketball team

The Great Britain men's national basketball team, known as Great Britain or GB, is the national team for Great Britain in basketball. The current governing body for the Great Britain team was formed by the national basketball organisations of England (England Basketball), Scotland (basketballscotland) and Wales (Basketball Wales) on 1 December 2005 in order to provide a competitive team for international competition. This structure does not include the basketball association of Northern Ireland; Northern Irish players normally represent the Ireland national basketball team, though they are also eligible to compete for Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Olympic Games.

Great Britain's head coach is Chris Finch of Rio Grande Valley Vipers, assisted by Tony Garbelotto, Tim Lewis, Nick Nurse and Paul Mokeski. Its best-known player is NBA small forward Luol Deng.

History

British teams have rarely made an impact on the international scene, only featuring in one Olympics in 1948, which was hosted in London. The team at that tournament won none of its five games. However, the England national basketball team did qualify for EuroBasket 1981, winning just one game, against Greece.

After London won the right to host the 2012 Summer Olympics, the organisers wanted competitive teams at every sport, including basketball. The new Great Britain side was formed on 1 December 2005 from the existing teams from the UK. The new team secured the help of NBA's Chicago Bulls' star Luol Deng,...
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