Newcastle Eagles are thrilled to announce that they have added Tom Sherlock to their 2007/08 BBL roster. A native of Derby, Sherlock enjoyed a sensational rookie BBL season after taking advantage of an early opportunity to break into the team to eventually hold down a regular starting place. His performances during his first professional season were recognised by the Newcastle Eagles fans who voted Sherlock as the ‘Most Improved Player’ of last season and player-coach Fab Flournoy is excited about working with him again.
‘Tom arrived at our club as something of an unknown. He impressed me as soon as I saw him but the way that he has developed so quickly is testament to his hard work and application.’
‘I am really excited about working with him again because he is another hungry young guy with plenty of potential to improve all aspects of his game.’
‘What will be difficult for him is that he might have lost the element of surprise with this being his second season and that means teams will be waiting for him because they now know all about him.’It will be interesting for us to see if he can have another solid season off the back of the success he enjoyed last time and because he is committed and talented, I expect he can improve and continue to be an integral part of our team.’
It has been an incredible twelve months for Sherlock who having graduated from Wayne State College returned home to Derby last summer contemplating the possibility of a career outside of basketball.
That was until he saw that the Eagles were holding open trials and having impressed the Eagles coaching staff he was handed his first professional contract.
Eagles chief Paul Blake was quick to point out that the emergence of Sherlock was evidence of the club’s desire to continue handing opportunities to UK players. ‘The emergence of Tom last season was definitely a highlight for myself and our supporters. He came from absolutely nowhere as a hopeful trialist during last summer to starting the majority of our BBL games.’
‘That is probably very rare in British Basketball but looking back it really has shown the value of our open trials and willingness to hand opportunities to British players.’
‘Normally it would get boring to have to repeat myself time and time again about our commitment to signing British talent but the fact that we have the likes of Richard Midgley, Bridgey, Olu (Babalola), Darius (Defoe) and Tom on board is genuinely fantastic.’
‘They are all hungry for success and in respect of Tom in particular, he is determined to establish himself in this league. It will be intriguing to see if he can continue the impact he has already had so far during his brief Eagles career.’
