THE BBL season might start next weekend, but Fab Flournoy has warned that his Newcastle Eagles won’t be in full flight until at least December.
The Eagles are traditional slow starters but had hoped to overcome the teething troubles that cost them so dearly last term by getting their player recruitment completed early.
For the most part they were successful in that aim, signing former Mersey Tiger Andrew Thomson and re-signing established stars like Joe Chapman and Charles Smith.
While that’s helped the Eagles’ pre-season preparations, Flournoy does not believe judgement should be passed on his side until the winter.
“I like this part of the season but it is busy for every coach in the league. At the moment we’re still just trying to figure out how we work the new guys into the rotation, what everyone’s role will be for the season ahead,” he said.
“I don’t think we’ll be where we want to be until late November or even December. There are reasons for that, including (new point guard) Paul Gause being held up because of the storms on the East Coast.
“It is not an excuse, it is just a fact that we need to work hard because we do have new players and they always take time getting used to the way that the Eagles operate.”
While aware that his side will be a work in progress for the early stretch of the season, Flournoy is eager to avoid the problems that left his Eagles playing an ultimately futile game of catch-up last time out.
Early defeats by Chester Jets and Mersey Tigers meant that even a storming end to the season couldn’t help them overhaul their rivals.
“Every year it’s like that but last year was bad for us – I think it cost us in the end,” he said.
“We weren’t prepared properly and we dropped one too many games that we probably shouldn’t have and I think by the end of the season we just had too much to do.
“This season we don’t want to make that same mistake. We will be further on that we were but I do think that we need to patient and the guys need to work hard to get us where I want us to be.”
:: NEWCASTLE Eagles pre-season game with Mersey Tigers has been called off.
The Eagles were set to wrap up their close-season campaign with the Sport Central fixture but Tigers - who gave notification last night they would not be attending - have pulled out.
Attempts to find a replacement team were unsuccessful and the club will be refunding advanced ticket purchases.
The Eagles' next game is the home BBL Trophy clash with the Glasgow Rocks on September 30.
