BBL needs to make more of the Olympics – Creon

Guildford coach Creon Raftopoulos believes BBL clubs aren’t doing enough to maximise the exposure offered to them by London hosting the Olympics next summer.

Team GB will feature in the Olympic basketball for the first time, and their roster should include Drew Sullivan and Nate Reinking, both plying their trade in the BBL with Leicester and Sheffield respectively.

And Raftopoulos thinks clubs should be shouting from the rooftops about its star men, as the world’s attention will be on this country in 2012.

He told John Hobbs on the TalkBasket podcast: “Not enough is being done (to promote the Olympics). There are no guarantees on who’s going to make the GB squad, but we’ve still got the likes of Drew and Nate playing in the BBL, and I don’t think we highlight enough that we’ve got players of that calibre.

“More things need to be done at games. We’re not taking any games to arenas. There’s not much to say that Olympic basketball is going to be played in this country.

“There’s definitely a lot more that can be done that isn’t being done at the moment.”

Raftopoulos, who has seen his Guildford side suffer a nightmare start to the 2011/12 campaign, also believes that the quality of the BBL in general is improving.

He added: “The BBL is getting stronger and stronger every single year. Take in to account the European players that are being brought in, by ourselves and the likes of Gavin Love at Plymouth, and the league isn’t getting as much respect as it warrants in terms of Europe.

“Maybe people don’t like how we have player-coaches, I don’t know, but I certainly think we’re in a very tough league now, and that’s credit to the coaching and the other things that have been going on.”

To listen to John Hobbs’ full interview with Creon Raftopoulos, click here.