Head coach elated with Rose, James additions

ACCORDING to head coach of the National Men’s Basketball team, Junior Hercules, the arrival of captain Stanton Rose has bought some form of intensity to the ongoing training camp as they prepare for the FIBA Americas 2023 World Cup Central American and Caribbean Pre-qualifiers, set for El Salvador from April 16 – 18.

Rose was the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in Guyana’s inaugural Caribbean Basketball Championships (CBC) which was won in 2018 in Suriname. After his arrival last week from the USA, the player commenced training with the local crop of players over the weekend. The team is also to be joined by professional player, Delroy James, semi-pro Anthony Moe and college players, Kevon Wiggins and Jason Ramrattan.

Hercules disclosed, “First of all, I’m happy that Stanton Rose is home and he definitely brought with him a degree of experience, which we’ve seen being translated on the court. We’ve definitely seen an increase in the pace at which our offensive is being run. So far it’s been a positive.”

He continued: “As it relates to Delroy James, we’re excited for his arrival and it’s our hope that the level of experience and talent that he brings with him will be able to add to our chemistry and also our offensive support. We have high expectations for him and we’re elated that we have received that level of commitment. From our end; the federation’s end, we have done everything necessary to secure him for this tournament. And he’s excited too. I’ve spoken with him, and we can’t wait for him to get here.” The head coach was quite impressed with Rose’s advancement, stating that he hopes he continues down this progressive path.

“One of the main things or one of his strengths, which we’ve seen improved, is his leadership on the court. You could see him directing, encouraging players, adding points and pointers and so forth. So, we expect him to continue with his excellent decision-making on which will ultimately translate to improve the team chemistry, further allowing us to improve our chances of being successful,” the head coach mentioned. Meanwhile, after joining the team, Rose recounted that the sessions were improving daily.

“When we started the first day, it was scrappy, and it showed we still have a lot more work to do; not just a lot, but a lot, lot, lot more work to do. It still showed that we need some more conditioning. Even though we don’t have a long time, we know how to do what we can to be where we want to be. The second day, we started off very scrappy, a bit lackadaisical but later on in the practice, we picked it up a little bit. But it still shows that we have a lot more work to do but, I am confident by the final 12, that we’ll be there or we will get to where we want to be,” the captain said.

“It was hard watching it, but I myself was out of condition and had to readjust to the conditions over here. So, I mean that everything takes time and we will get to where we want to be, or probably not where we want to be but close to where we want to be, once the guys put in the work overtime. I wouldn’t say that it was very bad, but we’re not where we want to be,” Rose added. The final 12 is expected to be named soon since the team has less than a month left to complete their preparations for the event.