Great Britain - NBA duo given GB training places
NBA stars Luol Deng and Ben Gordon have both been named in the 27-man Great Britain squad for the team's selection camp in August.
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NBA stars Luol Deng and Ben Gordon have both been named in the 27-man Great Britain squad for the team's selection camp in August.
With Great Britain not represented at the Beijing Olympics, coach Chris Finch will pick his squad ahead of the qualification campaign for 2012.
Several British Under-20 players, including Dan Clark and Ryan Richards, have also been called up.
Qualifying begins against the Czech Republic in September at the 02 Arena.
Deng, 23, has played NBA basketball since 2005 and won the All-NBA Sportsmanship award in 2007.
Although Britain's young talent can take inspiration from Deng and Ben Gordon, who both made the NBA All-Star Game All-Rookies Team in 2005, Finch is hoping his European-based players will provide the core of his team.
"It is by far the strongest list of names put out in the history of any of the home countries or GB, we're really fortunate to have such a quality group," said Finch.
Britain missed out on the qualifying competition for the 2008 Olympic basketball tournament, having restarted the national team programme too late.
GB women's squad will also train together in July at the Welsh Institute of Sport in Cardiff under coach Mark Clark.