Nope, not Plymouth fans celebrating the return of Drew Lasker for the Raiders but instead, the brightest prospect in British Basketball - none other than Devon Van Oostrum. After his stellar summer performances for England at the U16 European Division B Championships, the rangy and athletic point guard found himself catapulted into the limelight when he penned a deal with EuroLeague giants Caja Laboral. Now living in the delightful city of Vitoria in the gorgeous Basque region of Alava, Devon is playing for the youth team and that has not stopped the talent spotters around Europe from keeping a close eye on his progress to date.

 

While it is something that I might have mentioned previously, it is fantastic fact that sites such as the excellent europeanprospects.com rate him so highly as do eurohopes.com who have labelled Devon as the fourth best 1993 born prospect anywhere in Europe.

 

The reason that I bring this matter up this week is two fold really. Firstly because of some concern  expressed to me over who the long term point guard of Great Britain could be. Well,  Devon could be ready in around 4-5 years and have a good shot at playing serious minutes if he makes it in the ACB. Of course even that could be a tough timescale but it is time to track his progress folks and cross our fingers he is everything we hope for. Not that we want to put pressure on his young shoulders but he not only has the talent and is now getting the coaching to give him the best possible chance of making it as a big time player. Comparisons have been made with a young French international PG called Antoine Diot who some of you might know from EuroBasket 2009 and if Devon can reach that kind of level then that would be superb. 

 

Secondly I mention it because a handful of young guys who have played against him have expressed some surprise that he has been scouted by and signed to a major Eureopean club. Four times from four separate players they have told me “He’s good but not that good.” It was at that point that I spent about ten minutes hopelessly trying to explain that at the top level of the sport, clubs with extensive scouting networks are looking for totally different characteristics and attributes to what others might think -in fact they are looking at it with completely different eyes altogether.

 

I explained that in Europe you probably need to be 6ft 3in minimum to be a serious point guard prospect and give yourself an edge. You also need to be able to seriously look after the ball and have an aptitude for making smart decisions. These clubs are after potential that they can build and nurture. They are not after someone who can just drop 50 points and pull a raft of individual moves in U14 and U15’s categories. Despite my explanation, this concept was still lost on a couple of the younger players I spoke to but hey – it made them pass the ball a little bit more and instil some control into their next session so maybe they did take note.

 

It also made me think about the mentality that we teach our young players and whether enough is done on drilling home the fundamentals of the game not just physically but also mentally. I am enjoying getting the inside track and reading a lot of coaching philosophies coming out of Serbia and Lithuania at the moment and it is fascinating stuff – both of those teams historically rock solid in the conveyor belt of talent that they produce despite their relatively small size.

 

While we are on the topic of both GB point guards and Spain, my weekly Gigantes basketball magazine never fails to disappoint me and it was terrific to see a third BBL connection in as many months. After features on Essex Pirates forward Pablo Rodrigo and Everton Tigers Assistant coach Diego Fernandez, there was a feature last week on former Leicester guard and possible Newcastle Eagles target Flinder Boyd! A nice piece although predominantly about the time Flinder spent in the Spanish second division before he came to the BBL.

 

Having spoken about the potential of Devon, it was also interesting to see that in Greece, the record was broken last week for the youngest player to turn out in the A1 League! Alexandros Aggelakos stepped onto the floor at the tender age of 15 years and 2 months for Rhodes and I tell you that is one seriously big and physical league for any boy to be playing in! I take my hat off to going up against those beasts!   I can’t wait to tell some of the young guys about this one! Still not young enough of course to beat the incredible Ricky Rubio who was 14 when he played in the ACB!

 

Cup Magic

Finally I must pass on my sincere congratulations to Cheshire Jets for reaching the BBL Cup Final! Last year I remember writing a piece about a lack of commitment by players and of course going further back beyond that, there was the time when there was no certainty the club would survive. It has been a rocky road at times but an appearance in a major final is just reward for Peter Hawkins, the staff, Paul Smith and of course some of the loyalist and most friendly fans in the BBL !