No ‘run-and-gun’ for Spanish Town Spartans this NBL season
Published:Thursday | May 25, 2023 | 1:34 AMOrane Buchanan/Staff Reporter
AHEAD OF next week’s start to the 2023 National Basketball League (NBL) tournament, Lennox Lindo, head coach of the Spanish Town Spartans, has bemoaned the slow preparation but insists the club has been working assiduously to reorganise itself for what is expected to be an exciting season of basketball in the country.
“We had started our preparation by participating in the Division One competition, but that didn’t go as planned as we were basically out of shape. The younger players that were brought in were pretty much inexperienced, so it was really a learning curve. We are currently reorganising and trying to revamp our discipline, so overall preparation has been slow,” said Lindo.
According to Lindo, the team is trying to get back to a stage where teams are cautious of the threat his unit brings both on the offensive and defensive end of play.
“We have about four experienced players who we will be banking on, as pretty much all the other players are young and vibrant. Some of that allure has been lost, to be honest, so we are trying to get back to that point. Right now, we aren’t really thinking about glory. One of our main aims is to try and make it to the playoffs,” said the coach.
Over the years, the Spanish Town Spartans have been associated with a ‘run-and-gun’ type of offence, but according to Lindo, with the team being below his expected fitness levels and the tournament fast approaching, their usual style of play will have to revert to a slower pace.
“We are really behind the eight-ball but we are making an effort to try and bring back the club to its usual strength. Historically, we’ve been an uptempo shooting team but now we’re going to slow down and set up on offence. We really want to express ourselves in the half court, we are in no condition to run with some of the other teams, as we aren’t that fit,” Coach Lindo stated.