By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas senior men’s national basketball team landed in Houston, Texas, on Monday evening and have since started their training camp in preparation for this month’s Acropolis Tournament in Greece and the 2024 FiBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament set for July 2-7 in Valencia, Spain. 

The full team roster has not been officially released as yet, but veteran national basketball team members, including NBA sharpshooters Chavano “Buddy” Hield and Eric ‘EJ’ Gordon, as well as Portland Trail Blazers centre Deandre Ayton, are currently practicing with the team in Houston. 

In addition to this, NBA free agent Klay Thompson, son of Mychal “Sweet Bells” Thompson, joined the national team’s training camp but he will not compete during the Olympic qualifying tournament.

Other notable faces at the training camp include Baylor bound Valdez “VJ” Edgecombe and Syracuse commit Donovan “Donnie” Freeman.

National team manager Lynden ‘LJ’ Rose talked about how special it is to see such a talented group of Bahamians playing together. “It feels great. It was a long time coming. We have been planning this for almost a year so to get everybody under one roof in one building is a big blessing for us and we are excited about the group that we have,” he said.

Although the official team roster is not yet confirmed, Rose said it was special to see high school basketball phenoms, collegiate standouts and NBA players all come together for a common goal.

“This is what we kind of dreamed of, getting all of our young guys here. We have VJ Edgecombe, Donnie Freeman and AJ Storr. Then you have your college guys Deyton Albury, Sammy Hunter and NBA guys Buddy Hield, Deandre Ayton, Eric Gordan and Klay Thompson just to get that good mix. Guys are able to lean on each other for guidance and it’s a fun group and guys are ready to compete,” he said.

One of the biggest indicators of a successful basketball team is chemistry and with this latest trip to Houston, Texas Team Bahamas is hoping to forge some good chemistry ahead of the upcoming tournaments.

Before the team embarks on their journey to Valencia, Spain for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament, they will play in two exhibition games during the Greek Basketball Federation’s Acropolis Tournament June 25-27.

The Bahamas faces off against Montenegro first on June 26 and then the national team will take on the host country on June 27.

After this tournament, the team will prepare to make history in Spain. During this Olympic qualifier, The Bahamas will battle in the group stage against Poland and Finland in hopes of making it the first time the country has qualified for the Olympics in a team sport.

National team head coach Chris DeMarco spoke with reporters last week Friday at the Jr NBA Clinic about the role continuity and chemistry will play in helping The Bahamas to advance next month.

“It is very similar to last summer in that we don’t have this advantage of a lot of our team having played together before. We don’t have an offence that we’ve been playing for a decade or defence we’ve been playing for a decade. The biggest thing is always gonna be about chemistry and can our individuals come together as a team, sacrifice and all head in the right direction in a short amount of time.We did that last summer that’s gonna be the same goal this time around. 

“We understand what’s really at stake. We understand how much it would matter to The Bahamas. We understand the importance of what we’re about to participate in and everybody’s truly excited for it. We’ll give it our best,” coach DeMarco said.

The 2024 Paris Olympic Games will run from July 26 to August 11 following the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments.