The American, who has guided Britain to the European Championships for the first time in 28 years, said that the fact they were prepared to pay a £250,000 insurance premium so that Chicago Bulls superstart Luol Deng could play in the qualifying matches showed the commitment.

 

Finch told the website Baskebtall 24/7.co.uk: "With great admiration, you look at those countries - Spain, Lithuania - and what they do a great job of is ensuring their best players are able to play.

 

"That's what British Basketball did.

 

"They made a huge statement, a huge commitment, UK Sport committed to making our best players available.

 

"I've been in British sport now for a while, GB had a great Olympics.

 

"Why?

 

"Because they were so embarrassed by previous efforts they actually got serious about it.

"It's amazing now what is happening in British sport because people are getting serious about it.

 

"It's moving from amateur to professional and that means you've got to pave the way for your best athletes to be able to perform.

 

"If that's providing resources to train or insurance premiums, so be it."

 

Britain qualified for the 2009 Championships in Poland by winning four of their six matches in their qualifying group and Finch is already preparing for doing well next year because he knows the stakes are so high.

 

Basketball is unique among the team sports that will be involved in the 2012 Olympics in insisting that Britain shows it is worthy of a place in the tournament in London.

 

A good performance in Poland will go a long way to ensuring that.

 

Finch said: "It's going to be a moonwalk for us and we've got to make sure we're prepared for our landing!

 

"We've got to make sure we properly prepare which is why I say we have a lot of research, planning to do.

"That's the one message I want the players to understand.

 

"British basketball for us, as management, is a 365-day a year thought process.

 

"We all have other things, the day jobs, that occupy our time but we want people to think British basketball year-round so that it becomes that much more meaningful, all that much more of a priority.

"Now we have tangible goals of where we want to be, we can get excited about that.

 

"I feel like putting a big clock on the office wall and watching it count down to Poland 2009."

 

To read the full interview visit http://www.basketball247.co.uk/features/archives/00000060.shtml.