POSTED BY: Eurobasket News
(By the Jamaica Star)
Sam Vincent , head coach of Jamaica's national basketball team, is confident the team can win this year's Caribbean Basketball Championships (CBC), which will be held in Tortola, British Virgin Islands, from June 28 to July 4.
Vincent, a former head coach of the Dallas Mavericks in the National Basketball Association (NBA), told Star Sports in an interview yesterday that his players are working very hard to achieve their goals.
'We are confident but we are not overconfident,' he said.
work extremely hard
'I think that we have some good players on this team and I think the most important thing is to get everybody on the same page, get everybody to work extremely hard and once we do that, then we are going to go out and play some good basketball,' he added.
Vincent continued: 'This tournament is very important to us. Our objective is London 2012, and to get there, there are a lot steps along the way and this is one of the first steps for us.'
Jamaica last captured the title while on home soil in 2006. However, a lack of financial support forced the team to miss the last championships, which was held in Puerto Rico.
The top-three finishers from the championships will advance to the CENTRO Basket tournament later this year at a venue to be announced.
good team chemistry
According to Vincent, the team has stepped up its preparations and he wants his players to develop good team chemistry.
'We want to play an intense style of basketball in the tournament in the Virgin Islands so we train a particular way,' Vincent said.
He also admitted that he is still searching to find the right starting combination for the championships.
'We want to get a good feel for the guys on the team and we want to establish a solid low post game with Samardo Samuels (203-F-89) and Kimani Ffriend (211-C-77, agency: Court Side, college: Nebraska) and we also need to establish some perimeter shooting with some of the guys,' he said.
'We also want to take a look at some of the other young guys.'
The coach hopes that the players can learn a lot from his experience as a coach in the NBA.
'I think that they are going to benefit a lot from me because they know that they are working with a guy that has been working with some the best players in the world,' he said.
The Jamaicans are scheduled to depart the island tomorrow for the championships.
