Setback for the Lions....

Is this the thread that everyone on teitter talks about giving lions negativity? If so wow.

Everyone is mostly spot on in my opinion. If they have the budget why not go and sign the likes of mba or Ashley Hamilton? Plus suggesting it to the bbl when the majority of teams have their roster basically confirmed based on the salary cap and eligibility rules is almost selfish.

Lions ahould have enough talent with 14 players to rotate with zero issues. Im guessing 90%+ off bbl fans will be backing them to succeed in europe and hopefully that success trickles into the other teams.

That’s fair but in my opinion they are two separate things;
1) From a perspective of managing minutes and a squad I don’t think they have the right balance and am unsure Vince will be able to manage this but as I said previously I want to proven wrong and do hope they are successful in Europe.

2) The league is pro- as long as they stay within the playing rules on game day I’d like to think they can spend their money how they want. I agree that there should be a limit on Americans used over a season but within that don’t see why they would be stopped from rotating them if they think it will enhance their chances in europe.

If I was building the roster as a coach OR investing as an owner I wouldn’t go this way but I’d like to see them being allowed to do it on whatever way they feel will ensure they compete in Europe whilst sticking to the game day rules the BBL have in place. I do see the argument that this request comes very late in the day and therefore is tougher to change but I’d like to see them having What they see as their best shot in Europe over any of the other arguments posed.

Hopefully this makes sense and it’s only my opinion and I certainly don’t expect people to nor do I think my opinion is more valid than any other. I really do hope it works, my view of Vince as a coach has improved massively over the past two years and I hope I’m wrong about him not being good enough again in this case. I also really don’t care about salary caps or limits on number of Americans signed as long as the number in the playing squad on game day is limited as it’s imperative Brits are given opportunities, but the higher the standard of the bbl, and the higher the reputation of the bbl, the better those opportunities are for our players.

I'm clearly going to be biased on this discussion so I've read the comments with interest.
Perhaps most importantly for me is the question of timing. People saying if he'd asked 12 months ago it'd have been fine but not now! Seriously,does anyone think 12 months ago Lions, or any other club would be in the position to recruit like this? Who would ask for changes to a position that would seem like completely pie in the sky?
Lions have asked when it became obvious that there was the ability to do what they're asking, I don't see that as ridiculous timing, I'd say it was necessary timing.
Lions want the best opportunity to be competitive in Europe & the BBL, they asked for a rule change, not so they could play more Americans in the BBL, simply that they could rotate them in & out of the squad more easily.
I don't see that as a major issue but others, including a majority of clubs do, although apparently it's not an issue if Lions had asked 12 months ago when no one knew this scenario was likely to exist!!
Apparently it creates an unfair playing field as other clubs haven't had the same opportunity, which I do understand. However, who else is entering Europe? Who else has the budget to consider having 6 Americans and rotating 2 out on a constant basis? And more importantly, unless you were playing in Europe with the additional games involved, why would you even consider throwing money at 2 Americans you can't use?

Then we get to the American v British player scenario. I know Vince, I know he would like nothing more than to put a wholly British team into Europe & win some games but it's not possible. Lions may have more money than has been seen in the BBL for a very long time but it's not limitless & he has paymasters he has to account to.
FACT- Mullens & Liggins signings have created far more media attention than signing any GB stand out player( I know Mullens is GB eligible but he's never played) due to the NBA connection. It gives the club more sponsorship opportunities.
FACT- Signing a quality GB international will be very expensive compared to an American of equivalent quality.
Again, Vince has paymasters to answer to, he would have to justify paying £8k - £12k month for a British player where he can get an American for less than half that. How many times can he justify that outlay?
That's without looking at the effect on the salary cap!

Could the overall recruitment been better? Possibly, but no-one knows the ins & outs of that, it's also a completely different discussion to being allowed to rotate 6 Americans or not.

What is without doubt, is that Lions whole European adventure has so far created more media interest in the BBL than we've seen before, it's created more talk on social media & pod-casts than we've ever seen before.
All this helps ALL BBL clubs not just Lions, so perhaps it would be a good idea for everyone who cares about British basketball to celebrate what's happening.

Aye, not a lot to discuss locally apart from the Man City of British Basketball.

I would have thought the Lions would have had a larger salary cap seeing as they are a London company.

I'm pretty sure that was resolved and all euroleague sides play in their domestic league. I imagine a lot of rotating goes on for euroleague sides when they play lower sides but the big names will rherr come play-off time.
Ultimately teams need success and by competing domestically euroleague sides can all keep winning games at the weekend evem they're struggling in Europe.