Scottish basketball player Gareth Murray insists his international career isn't over after being left out of Great Britain's squad for next month's friendly with New Zealand in London.
With a need to re-build after missing out on the 2016 Olympic Games, Glasgow Rocks captain Kieron Achara is the lone Scot in a 19-strong line-up, with coach Joe Prunty opting to bring in some younger faces as he looks ahead to next year's qualifiers for EuroBasket 2017.
"I'll be back in next summer," said 30-year-old Murray, who signed a one-year deal with French club Angers this week. "I spoke with Joe this week and because it's such a short programme, he wants to see other players. He already knows what I bring to the team."
Ex-Rocks forward Ali Fraser misses out on the Tall Blacks clash as he continues his rehabilitation from knee surgery but long-time skipper Drew Sullivan is set to win his 100th cap, a first for any British men's international.
"There will be some players earning their first cap this summer which is great," said Prunty, who will also lead a GB Futures squad to a mini-tournament in the Netherlands in August. "Earning the 100th cap is a special and tremendous accomplishment. But it is all the games and accomplishments that came before that are truly being recognised."
Scotland prospect Gregor Gray has been cut from the GB Under-20 squad, ahead of next month's European Under-20 Championships in Italy.
"This was the strongest group available for selection in my time with GB U20 basketball," said coach Doug Leichner. "The deselected players competed, left everything on the floor and should hold their heads high."
GB squad to face New Zealand: Kieron Achara (Glasgow Rocks); Fahro Alihodzic (Estudiantes Concordia); Christian Behrens (University of California); Chris Caird (Drake University); Dan Clark (Fuenlabrada); Jules Dang Akodo (Eintracht Frankfurt); Robert Gilchrist (BG Karlsruhe); Paul Guede (Worcester Wolves); Ashley Hamilton (Sagesse); Joe Hart (Penas Huesca); Myles Hesson (Eisbaeren Bremerhaven); Ben Mockford (Plymouth Raiders); Teddy Okereafor (Rider University); Gabe Olaseni (University of Iowa); Morayo Soluade (Malaga); Will Saunders (Charleston Southern University); Ovie Soko (Boulazac); *Drew Sullivan (London Lions); Alex Young (University of California-Irvine).
Meanwhile, Great Britain basketball international Pops Mensah-Bonsu has been handed a two-year ban for doping. The former NBA forward, now 31, failed an initial test after amphetamines were found in his system in a sample taken on April 18 after a game involving his current club AEK Athens.
Mensah-Bonsu claims he was prescribed medication for Attention Deficit Disorder by team doctors while attending training camp with the Denver Nuggets last year. However the drug involved, Adderall, is on the banned list of the World Anti-Doping Agency with experts insisting it can help with mental alertness as well as countering fatigue.
"I would like to reiterate that never in my career have I been found guilty for using any kind of prohibited medicine, having participated in the Olympic Games, the Euroleague, the NBA and in many games in Europe at the highest level," the Londoner said. "It is unfortunate that this form of medication has yet to be approved in some professional leagues in Europe, knowing the amount of athletes that suffer from this Disorder."
Mensah-Bonsu, whose career has included stops with the NBA's San Antonio Spurs and Toronto Raptors, has not played for GB since the 2012 Olympic Games. A British Basketball official disclosed they will await an official notification of the ban from UK Anti Doping via Greek authorities before considering any further action.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article