Olympics: D’Tigers’ coach rules out automatic spot for any player

D’Tigers head Coach, Mike Brown has stated that getting the best 12 players to represent Nigeria at the 2020 Olympics will not be an easy task.

Evaluating the players in their California camp since the commencement of training last week, Brown said he was impressed with the talents on display.

Setting his sight on a decent outing at the 2020 Olympics as well as the 2021 AfroBasket championship, the coach believes the talents in the camp are suitable to compete with the best around the world.

Focusing on Gideon George Omohkudu and Warith Alatishe, Brown described the duo as prototypical NBA wings.

“They are long, athletic and energetic. They do a lot for you on both ends of the floor.”

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Their abilities to get to the rim and finish above the defenses is second to none especially for young men their age, but more importantly, they defense they brought to the table so far this week, their ability to rebound, come up with 50/50 balls at a very high level is commendable.”

On the possibilities of making the final cut, Brown said nothing is cast in iron because there is a lot of quality competition in the forward position, but admitted that the duo have huge roles to play in the future.

Meanwhile, among the players invited to the camp are NBA star Monte Morris (Denver Nuggets), Miye Oni (Utah Jazz), OG Anunoby (Toronto Raptors), Kz Okpala (Miami Heat), Festus Ezeli, Precious Achiuwa (Miami Heat), Udoka Azubuike (Utah Jazz) and Jahlil Okafor (Detroit Pistons) who are all in line to make their international debut for Nigeria.