Talent Identification in England Basketball - Where is it going wrong?

"Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard" 

As a basketball player that didn't exactly turn any heads when it came to physical stature, these words gave me great hope when trying to ascend the GB basketball ladder. I was repeatedly told by coach after coach that hard work was the way to get to the top. 

But what they didn't tell me, is that these words are utter bull****. 

As the 42nd ranked nation in the FIBA world rankings, Team GB itself has become something of a laughing stock in the basketball world. On paper, it's athlete's should rank among the best in Europe and a chosen few have proven this by going on to American colleges and the NBA. However, it's not the players that are to blame. Good basketball coaches are few and far between in the UK and for one reason or another, the very worst of them have ended up in charge of identifying British talent.

As a player and as a coach, I fully understand the thinking that is behind selecting one athlete over another. Potential is a great equalizer against hard work as almost anyone can possess it. If you walk into any gym or leisure centre in the UK, you are more than likely to find an athlete that could 'theoretically' be a great basketball player. Tall. Strong. Athletic. Talented.  These are known as 'upside' athletes who possess attributes that are transferrable between many sports and therefore are very valuable. In the hands of a good coach, these athletes would be taught basic fundamentals and then built upon to become a 'theoretically' great basketball player. 

But, there is one tiny problem. Unlike the 41 other countries in front of GB, British coaches are not to a standard high enough to convert potential into greatness. Like a maths teacher teaching algebra, UK basketball coaches teach upside players fundamentals that are inapplicable to the modern basketball world. Therefore when they face players from higher-ranked nations such as Belgium (37th) or Montenegro (26th), they are left flailing. 

As a nation, we Brits love to complain and has therefore turned into a very stereotyped English tradition and it's not something that is lost when talking about British basketball. 

"There is no funding". 

"There is no support". 

"There is no structure". 

These statements have been tossed around every ranting social media post I've read during my time as a basketball player/coach and whilst they do hold some truth, it's no real excuse. No matter how you phrase it, our national basketball structure is still superior to nations such as Finland (34th) or Israel (39th), but these countries still produce a higher-ranked national team. 

The saddest part of this heinously broken system is that it may be past the point of no return. Coaches are more interested in what a player can do for them rather than what they can do for a player. In order for a hardworking player to even have a chance, they are forced to network and grovel for places in teams that are taken up by limitless numbers of 'upside' players that are led to slaughter by clueless coaching staff and inept England basketball hierarchy. 

It's a "who you know" over "what you know" world and whilst English coaches are staring at the stat column and scratching their heads as to why their down 30 against Angola (32nd), GB's international ranking will continue to move further and further backwards.