Riders trio in Team of the Year
NELSON-HENRY, CRANDALL AND WHELAN CHOSEN
LEICESTER Riders’ dominance of the BBL this season is reflected by the club having three players selected in the Molten BBL Team of the Year.
Last year’s BBL MVP Geno Crandall and Riders captain Darien Nelson-Henry have both been selected for the second season in a row, and they are joined this season by shooting guard Patrick Whelan.
Also selected by the BBL coaches were Isaiah Reese of London Lions and Dan Clark of Manchester Giants. Whelan was the only unanimous selection in the team and was Leicester’s leading scorer as they cruised to a sixth BBL Championship title with a 25-2 record, and completed the double by winning the BBL Cup. Playing his first season in the league, the 25-yearold has made an instant impact, averaging 15 points, four rebounds and three assists in league play.
Whelan was an accurate threepoint
shooter at 48 per cent, with an overall field goal percentage of 54 per cent, and was also selected in the British Team of the Year.
In his second season as Leicester’s
floor general, Crandall has already added two more trophies to the league title he won last year.
Crandall averaged 13 points, seven assists, five rebounds and two steals for the season, most significantly improving his threepoint percentage to a professional career-high of 40 per cent.
Crandall was fourth in the league in assists and seventh in steals, with the clever point guard also drawing the sixth most fouls among all players.
He averaged 17 points and eight assists in Leicester’s run to BBL Cup glory – the first time Riders had won the competition since 2014
– and he was MVP in the cup final after taking the game over to finish with 26 points.
More recently, Crandall posted a huge 32 points, 11 assists, seven rebounds and five steals in Leicester’s play-off semifinal win at Glasgow Rocks.
In his third campaign with the club, Leicester’s captain NelsonHenry formed a deadly partnership with Crandall.
With his customary efficiency, Nelson-Henry led the BBL in field goals at 64 per cent and was also top five in free-throws at 76 per cent, on his way to an average of 12 points, six rebounds, two assists and one block per game, the latter also placing him fourth among all players.
Nelson-Henry had a seasonhigh of 23 points in a February victory over Manchester Giants and opened the play-offs with a double-double of 12 points and 10 boards against Plymouth City Patriots.
London Lions were driven by their 25-year-old Miami native point guard Reese, who joined last summer from the Santa
Cruz Warriors of the NBA
G-League. Reese was the BBL’s leading scorer at 19 points per game and also top five in distribution with an average of seven assists per outing, making the most three-pointers of any player on the season overall (70).
Clark averaged 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists, while leading the league in defensive rebounds with six per game for the Giants.