New Nigerian national basketball team head coach Mike Brown, currently an associate head coach for the Warriors, notes that there is a silver lining to the coronavirus pandemic delaying the Tokyo Olympics for a year, according to The Undefeated’s Marc J. Spears: more time to develop the talent on his club.
“To have another year to grasp, not only the talent level of the team, but the direction the team needs to go and making sure we are able to put the best Nigerian team out there, it’s a welcomed advantage to have a little bit more time for a new guy like myself,” Brown told Spears.
Current NBA players Al-Farouq Aminu, Chimezie Metu and Josh Okogie all suited up for the 2019 Nigerian World Cup roster.
There’s more from the international basketball world:
- Germany’s EasyCredit BBL basketball league has been suspended until at least April 30 as a result of the rampant coronavirus spread throughout that country, per Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia.
- The top basketball league in Italy, LBA Serie A, hopes to resume team practices by May 16 if its 2019/20 season is to be completed, according to Sportando’s Dario Skerletic. The coronavirus pandemic has hit Italy particularly hard.
- Following a league-wide conference call, the VTB League (comprising teams from Kazakhstan, Estonia, Belarus, Poland, and Russia) has canceled its season, according to Jonathan Givony of Draft Express (Twitter link).