VALENCIA (Jeff Taylor's Eurovision) - ​A day doesn't go by at FIBA EuroBasket 2017 when the competition fails to get some sort of jolt.

There have been plenty on the court, courtesy of Kristaps Porzingis slams and Daniel Theis jams.

Coming up with the Top 5 Plays each and every day is an onerous task because there are so many good ones to choose from.

There have even been jolts from those that did not make it out of the Group Phase, from players like Gabe Olaseni of Great Britain.

Olaseni had the highest efficiency rating per game through the Group Phase of 26.8 after shining in all five contests for Great Britain, including against hosts Turkey.

More impactful than his play, however, was a speech that he delivered in a press conference after his team's 82-70 defeat to Russia. Great Britain had thrown a big scare into the Russians and only trailed 68-67 with 3:24 remaining but faded at the end.

"I'd always been hesitant about joining the GB program," Olaseni said. "When I was younger, I think under-18s, they cut me. They cut a lot of the guys in the locker room."

For a lot of years, I didn't want to play for the national team. I was angry, I was upset and I was confused why it happened. And then Coach Prunty came along and we developed a very good relationship.OlaseniOlaseni

Olaseni says that setback started a fire burning inside him.

"That definitely inspired me," he said. 

It also made him bitter.

"For a lot of years, I didn't want to play for the national team," he said. "I was angry, I was upset and I was confused why it had happened. And then Coach Prunty came along and we developed a very good relationship."

Prunty, a long-time assistant coach in the NBA who is currently with the Milwaukee Bucks, took over the British team after its appearance at the London Games.

He got to work with an unheralded group of players, one that did not have Luol Deng and Joel Freeland, yet one that had some potential.

Prunty steered the Brits to wins over Israel and Germany at FIBA EuroBasket 2013, yet a 76-71 defeat to Belgium prevented the team from advancing. The Brits then came up short of qualification for FIBA EuroBasket 2015.

Last summer, Prunty brought Olaseni into the fold and Britain secured a second-place finish in their qualification group behind Hungary for FIBA EuroBasket 2017. Back in Europe's flagship event and with Prunty coaching for the last time, they had good spells of play in Istanbul but lost all five games.

Even with an 0-5 record, Olaseni was a talking point because of his persistence, his determination and overall excellence on the court.

When he continued with his story after the Russia game, you liked him and the British program even more.

"I'm not sure if you guys know but in my first two years as a professional, I had basically been fired from my first two teams - my first year in Germany and my second year in Italy," he said. "I was essentially fired from both."

Olaseni's voice then cracked. He started to get emotional. He paused.

The man who had taken on the best players in Group D and never backed down, stars like Porzingis, Timofey Mozgov (Russia) and Boban Marjanovic (Serbia), held it together and explained that he'd benefitted in a big way from a national team program that he'd once wanted no part of.

"My time with the GB team is definitely the best of my short career and I give it (credit) to coach Prunty, to Nate (Reinking) and to all the other guys in the locker room," he said. "I'm just going to use this (EuroBasket) as a confidence builder.

"It's definitely been my best experience as a professional and one of the best experiences of my short career. I can't thank all the guys in the locker room and the coaches enough."

Great Britain will now turn their attention to the FIBA Basketball World Cup European Qualifiers, which tip off in November. A new coach will take the helm and when he does, he will know that heading into games against Estonia, Greece and Israel, he'll be able to count on a hard-working and inspirational player named Gabe Olaseni.

Jeff Taylor

FIBA

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