LONDON UNITED

'London United' is a professional basketball team from London, England, competing in the British Basketball League. They were elected into the BBL to replace the London Towers for the 2006-07 season, where they were the sole representatives for the capital city. However after acheiving a playoff place in their first season, the franchise was parked for the following campaign because the headline sponsor, MoneyGram, halted its financially backing, thus London United will not be competing for the 2007-08 season.

Contents

Franchise history

The beginning

Further successes

The big step up

2006/07

2007/08

Home arenas

Season-by-season records

Players

Current roster

Squad changes during 2006/07 season

External links

Franchise history

The beginning

London United basketball club was formed in 2002 following a merger between two local teams, the Ealing Tornados and the North London Lords. Ealing Tornados were themselves a very successful team in the lower leagues, having won promotion after promotion since their foundation in 1999. When the merger took place at the end of the 2001-02 season, Ealing Tornados had just finished as runners-up in NBL Division 1 (Now known as EBL Division 2) behind the Derbyshire Arrows.

Further successes

Playing as London United, the successes continued with promotion to EBL Division 1 achieved just a year later, in 2003. United spent 3 years in Division 1 with their biggest success coming in 2004-05 when they finished as runners-up, again pipped to the title by the Arrows. The logical progression for the club was to join the fully professional British Basketball League in July 2006. However the decision was hastened when the London Towers withdrew from the 2006-07 season, leaving London without a professional basketball team.

The big step up

For owners Jack Majewski and Dave Schiller, the step-up meant finding a new venue, as well as recruiting more able players and finding corporate investments to fund the venture into the BBL. Their first step was to hire coach Tony Garbelotto to control the team on-court and bring in Chris Morris (who works closely with Tony Garbelotto running the highly successful Hackney Community College Basketball Academy programme based at SPACe) to run off-court operations. Majewski, Schiller, Garbelotto and Morris are the Club Directors. Sponsorship soon came, in the way of international money transferers MoneyGram, and a suitable venue was found at the Space Centre near Hackney. A mass influx of British players strengthened the ranks of United, with major signings including internationals Chris Haslam and Tarick Johnson.

2006/07

London played their first BBL game on September 30, 2006 on the road at Leicester Riders. Despite trailing 73-52 at the end of the third quarter, a huge last gasp effort and a 29-6 run resulted in a mind-blowing 81-79 victory for the rookies. United's good form did not end there and their explosive start to the 2006-07 season continued with another road victory just one week later against veterans the Scottish Rocks, who were defeated 70-76. London United finished the 06/07 season qualifying for the BBL Play-Offs in 8th place with an 11/25 record. Here, they were defeated narrowly by BBL Champions Guildford Heat. Tarick Johnson finished as the BBL's top-scorer with over 800pts at an average of 23 per game. Johnson was also voted by BBL coaches into the BBL "All-Star" Team of the season.

2007/08

It was anounced on September 5, 2007, just two weeks prior to the new season tipping-off, that London United's directors and the BBL had agreed to withdraw from the upcoming campaign. The Press Release (which can be viewed here [1]) stated that United's headline sponsor, MoneyGram, had endured financial difficulties of their own and were forced to withdraw their sponsorship. Without enough funds to compete, the clu had no option but to 'park' the franchise for a year and work towards a return to the league for 2008-09. Following the shock announcement, the league was promptly reduced to 12 teams for the upcoming season, with rookies London Capital acting as the flagship for London basketball.

Home arenas

:Brunel University (2002-2006)
:Hackney Space Centre (2006-present)

Season-by-season records

Season	Div.	Pos.	Pld.	W	L	Pts.	Play Offs	Trophy	Cup
'London United'
2002-2003	'NBL 1'	3rd	-	-	-	-	-	DNQ	DNQ
2003-2004	'EBL 1'	6th	22	11	11	22	-	DNQ	DNQ
2004-2005	'EBL 1'	2nd	22	18	4	36	-	DNQ	DNQ
2005-2006	'EBL 1'	7th	26	14	12	28	-	DNQ	1st Round
2006-2007	'BBL'	8th	36	11	25	22	Quarter-final	1st Round	1st Round

'Notes:'

★ NBL Division One operated as the third tier league behind the NBL Conference and BBL.

★ In 2003, the NBL was replaced and restructured as the EBL. Division One was reinstated as the second tier league, instead of the former NBL Conference.

★ DNQ denotes Did Not Qualify

Players

Current roster

''The numbers are established according to the official websites of the team (www.london-united.co.uk) and Britain's top professional league, the BBL (www.bbl.org.uk).''
''As of October 27 2006''

4		Jacek Jagodka	Guard/Forward
5		Perry Lawson	Guard
6		Marcus Knight	Guard
8		Tarick Johnson	Guard
9		Laurent Irish	Forward
10		Junior Williams	Guard
11		Marlin Capers	Guard/Forward
12		Bryant Feggins	Forward
13		Leon Bernard	Forward
14		Chris Haslam	Centre
15		Phillip Perre	Guard/Forward

Squad changes during 2006/07 season

'In:'

★ 'Marcus Knight' - Signed 'From' ''Leicester Riders''

★ 'Tarick Johnson' - Signed 'From' ''Landstede Zwolle''

★ 'Laurent Irish' - Signed 'From' ''London Leopards''

★ 'Junior Williams' - Signed 'From' ''Milton Keynes Lions''

★ 'Marlin Capers' - Signed 'From' ''Guildford Heat''

★ 'Bryant Feggins' - Signed 'From' ''Scottish Rocks''

★ 'Perry Lawson' - Signed 'From' ''Newcastle Eagles''

★ 'Leon Bernard' - Signed 'From' ''West Herts Warriors''

★ 'Chris Haslam' - Signed 'From' ''Banca Nouva Trapani''

★ 'Pillip Perre' - Signed 'From' ''Milonas Athens''
'Out:'

★ 'Santa Ataha' - Transferred 'To' ''Milton Keynes Lions''

★ 'Pete Deppisch' - Transferred 'To' ''London Capitals''

★ 'Damian Reid' - Transferred 'To' ''London Capitals''

★ 'Mark Quashie' - Transferred 'To' ''West Herts Warriors''

★ 'Tom Frederick' - Transferred 'To' ''West Herts Warriors''

External links

★ Official London United website