London Capital

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London Capital

Main Sponsor

None

League

British Basketball League

Established

1998

History

North West
London Wolverines
1998-2004
London Capital
2004-present

Arena

Capital City Academy
(Capacity: 300)

Location

London, Greater London

Head Coach

Steve Bucknall

Ownership

Brandon Bethal

Colours

Sky Blue and White

Website

LondonCapital.org

Uniforms



Home



Away

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London Capital, officially called PAWS London Capital in reference to their partnership with PAWS Foundation, is a basketball team from London, which from the start of the 2007-08 season will compete in the top-tiered professional British Basketball League.

1 Franchise history
- 1.1 2007/08
2 Home arenas
3 Season-by-season records
4 Players
- 4.1 Current roster
- 4.2 Notable former players
5 See also
6 Notes
7 External links

[edit] Franchise history

North West London Wolverines were accepted into Division 3 of the NBL in 1998, but only after withdrawals from the originally accepted 12 teams meant that a replacement was required. However, they quickly justified their inclusion, finishing that first season just behind Hull and North London, who were both promoted.

In 2000, they finished seventh (out of thirteen), and in the "clean-sheet" reorganisation of the League they were accepted into Division 2 (though this was still the third-ranked division, after the formation of the Conference), but once again only after withdrawals created extra vacancies. Finishing ninth in 2001, they continued their "skin of the teeth" progress by gaining promotion to the expanded Division 1 after Birmingham Aces dropped out.

The next season was one of consolidation, as they finished ninth, but they continued their steady progression, finishing third (behind Team Bath Romans on countback), and reaching the Championship Final, but just missing out on promotion. That promotion, though, was won in fine style the following year (2004), when they took the newly-renamed EBL Division 2 title, though they once again fell at the final hurdle in the Championship.

During that season they had begun to draw together the various stands of the club's development work, and their entry into Division 1 came as the PAWS London Capital after a partnership was agreed with local community support group PAWS Foundation.

[edit] 2007/08

On May 10, 2007 it was announced that London Capital's would become the latest addition to the British Basketball League's mass-expansion for the 2007-08 season,^[1] as the 12th team to line-up after the newly formed Birmingham Panthers.

The new elite franchise wasted no time in preparing for life in the professional league and on June 28 announced that former Los Angeles Lakers star Steve Bucknall would be coaching the team for their rookie season in the BBL.^[2] The former NBA star won a host an accolades and awards in the BBL, playing for Sunderland, Birmingham Bullets, Thames Valley Tigers, London Towers and Leicester Riders, with whom he retired with in 2006.

Following the announcement on September 5 that London United had withdrawn from the upcoming BBL season, London Capital will be the capital city's sole representative in the top-tier league. A major coup during pre-season for the fledging franchise was the acquisition of UNC's starting guard Wes Miller, who made his debut with an incredible 49-point haul against Milton Keynes Lions on September 22, 2007, Capital's first game in the top flight.

As a team, Capital recorded an unspectacular start to their rookie campaign, recording only 3 wins in their first 9 games, the first an 84-85 overtime victory against giantsSheffield Sharks on their home court. In the BBL Cup, Capital delivered a huge blow to Plymouth Raiders, dumping the favourites out in the first round with a 74-83 win in Plymouth, before being knoecked out themselves by the Lions, 73-78.

Major changes in the roster during the Christmas period appeared to affect the team's on-court performance, especially the loss of Miller through retirement. As a result Capital were knocked-out at the BBL Trophy group stage, continued to languish near the foot of the table for most of the season and suffer through poor attendance, despite the signings of Czech international Jaromir Fohler and American Fred Williams.

On March 5, Capital announced a major sponsorship deal with sports manufacturer Kukri Sports and a 5-year partnership with marketing agency Blue Crush Communications.

[edit] Home arenas

Capital City Academy (2004-present)

[edit] Season-by-season records

Season	Div.	Pos.	Pld.	W	L	Pts.	Play Offs	Trophy	Cup
North West London Wolverines
1998-1999	NBL 3	3rd	20	12	8	24	Semi-final	-	-
1999-2000	NBL 3	7th	24	9	15	18	Quarter-final	-	-
2000-2001	NBL 3	9th	24	9	15	18	DNQ	-	-
2001-2002	NBL 1	8th	22	7	15	14	Quarter-final	-	-
2002-2003	NBL 1	3rd	16	10	6	20	Runner-up	-	-
2003-2004	EBL 2	1st	20	19	1	38	Runner-up	-	-
London Capital
2004-2005	EBL 1	9th	22	7	25	14	DNQ	-	-
2005-2006	EBL 1	11th	26	6	20	12	DNQ	-	-
2006-2007	EBL 1	5th	22	13	9	26	Semi-final	-	-
2007-2008	BBL	?	?	?	?	?	?	1st Round	Quarter-final

Notes:

In 2001 the NBL was restructured so Division One became the third tier replacing Division Two.
In 2003 the NBL was replaced by the EBL which reverted Division Two back to the third tier.
DNQ denotes Did Not Qualify.

[edit] Players

[edit] Current roster

The numbers are established according to the official websites of the team (www.londoncapital.org) and Britain's top professional league, the BBL (www.bbl.org.uk).

As of March 14, 2008

4	Jerome Stancil	Forward
6	S. Grossett	Guard
7	Lijah Perkins	Forward
10	Sam Bradley	Guard
11	Awedat Hassan	Guard
12	Ibrahim Gariba	Centre
13	Pierre Henry-Fontaine	Forward
15	Tayo Ogedengbe	Forward
21	Mansour Mbye	Forward
24	Kabir Abu	Forward/Centre
42	Marcus Knight	Guard
55	Santa Ataha	Point Guard
	Marlo Saunders	Guard
	Mark Simon	Guard