Leicester Riders have finally got their man.
Great Britain captain Andrew Sullivan committed pen to paper to sign for the duration of the BBL season with the Riders, after being on a week by week contract with the Riders since mid October.
During that time the Riders are undefeated, and Sullivan has been averaging 15 points and 7 rebounds a game.
But he brings much more to the Riders, as Head Coach Rob Paternostro was quick to acknowledge, “Drew is hugely experienced and is a winner, and he knows the BBL. We have a relatively young team with 3 BBL rookies in key positions, and I know they all appreciate the experience and insights Sullivan provides. He is very unselfish and makes big contributions at both ends of the court. We were very fortunate to pick him up.”
Riders fans have had to be patient though, as the Riders needed to find a package to keep Sullivan in the BBL.
That was the job of General Manager Russell Levenston, with a little help from the Chairman of Leicester Rider’s Community Interest Company, Steve White.
“We needed to find support from Leicester’s business community, and we are really pleased with how they responded. I have had a lot of support from a number of people, and the Club is very appreciative of all the help and support we are getting,” said Levenston.
“So the Club would like to give thanks and recognition to Jamie Lewis of Jamie Lewis Residential, Vic Sethi of Anand Daewoo International, Romail Gulzar of Pukaar News and Paul Levenston of Laurick Jewellery for stepping forward and helping make this signing happen. And the continued support of Jelson Homes. It has taken time, but it is definitely worth the effort. I know all the Riders fans will be particularly pleased – they talked to me about nothing else since mid October!” said Levenston.
Sullivan and the Riders have a big weekend on the road – first to Newcastle tomorrow (Friday) for the second leg of the BBL Cup Semi-final, with the tie nicely poised at 90 points all, and then off to Plymouth to take on the Raiders on Sunday afternoon in the BBL Championship.
