We asked Hannover United’s Joe Bestwick, who was part of the 2013 GB team that won the European Championship, to shortly introduce the British Wheelchair Basketball men’s squad for the Worlds in Hamburg to all our readers and fans. Here’s what he said about the lads:
Jim Palmer (1,0): One of the most promising young one pointers in Europe. A good shooter with great speed, he learned loads by playing in Germany, he just needs to learn to do this for GB now too.
Abdi Jama (1,0): The best shooter for his classification in the world. Great court awareness, an aggressive defender, a natural leader.
James MacSorley (2,0): Good speed, a good shot and a great teammate but can lack confidence in himself. Will come with experience.
Gregg Warburton (2,0): Easily the best young 2.0 in the world. Fast, great shooter, makes great decisions. Definitely a future GB captain.
Simon Brown (2,0): Calm, experienced, solid defender, good leader. Can be an inconsistent shooter but makes up for that by playing the post so effectively for GB’s big shooters
Harry Brown (2,5): Sat higher now, great speed, good rebounder, but can be too quiet on the floor. A great teammate though.
Philip Pratt (3,0): New GB captain and just learning the role but seems to do a good job so far, encouraging a good atmosphere around the players. Great all round speed, shooting and rebounding. Can play inside or outside. Needs to work on his consistency within games but that has and will keep improving.
Martin Edwards (4,0): Back on the team after a 5 year gap. Good speed, fast hands on offence and defence. A little undersized playing inside and not always the most consistent from outside, but his ability to do both is useful and gives GB another lineup with two 4.0s. Not to mention a great teammate.
Gaz Choudhry (4,0): World class shooter, as effective inside or outside, reads the floor very well, plays the two man pick and roll game as well as anyone in the world. He can let his emotions get the better of him at times but this has improved a lot over recent years.
George Bates (4,5): Developing 4.5, good straight line speed, good hands inside the key and as a rebounder. Developing a mismatch shot but still most effective playing pick and roll with Phil. Can be pushed around in his chair as he isn’t the heaviest but that’s improving.
Lee Manning (4,5): Good straight line speed, great inside presence and a huge wing span makes him effective playing space on defence and for intercepting passes. Has improved his finishing inside but needs to improve freethrow consistency still.
Terry Bywater (4,5): One of the best shot makers ever to play the game. The one person who’s hands you want the ball in if you need a last second shot to win a game. Not so effective inside the key but so good from outside it rarely matters. Can be vulnerable on defence one on one but uses his huge experience to get himself out of trouble. How he is used by the coaches with his new role could be key to GB’s success
Text: Joe Bestwick | Foto: Harald Appel