The Weakest Link

So far this season I have seen a few of the BBL teams, either at the 'Thunderdome' or on the BBL on Sky Sports on Tuesday. I haven't seen them all yet, so we'll have a a follow-up post to this once I have.
Lets take a look at who are the weakest links in the teams I have seen:

Worthing Thunder - I feel bad for giving the Thunder a weakest link. They are an understrength squad doing a difficult job and I think we can expect to see much better from them as the season goes on. Returning coach Gary Smith will hopefully be able to get the best of the players. But right now, the weakest link of the Worthing Thunder is Mansour Mbye. Mansour has a lot of talent, but he needs to be a bit more unselfish and show a bit more heart defensively.

Newcastle Eagles - I've only seen Newcastle on the TV, but from watching them, and from looking at the stats, it's clear that big man Kadiri Richard just isn't doing enough. Brought in as a defensive and rebounding specialist, I just feel that to be at the same level as last year Richard needs to give a lot more inside. The offense certainly isn't geared towards big-men in this incarnation of the Eagles but right now Darius Defoe is the only inside threat, and Newcastle will lose games because of it.

Guildford Heat  - On paper, Guildford have one of the best squads in the league. They should especially be strong inside, veteran Mike Martin and 7'0'' Lithuanian Tomas Janusauskas could really dominate if they were placed next to a skilled and versatile American. But James Porter has not been that. It's difficult to come into the BBL as a rookie and contribute straight away, but Porter has missed an opportunity to carve out a niche as a quiet contributor as the defense is drawn to the bigger names.

Sheffield Sharks - Until he was released, big Brit Richard McNutt would probably have counted as the weak Shark link. But he has been replaced by the excellent powerful forward Olu Babalola. The Sharks have seven very strong players (including player coach Atiba Lyons) but unfortunately the weak link here is depth. Beyond the main seven Sharks have very little, and a couple of injuries would be catastrophic to their (currently fairly reasonable) title chances.

Worcester Wolves - Maybe a little controversial, especially given how well he performed in the second half of last season, but this year point guard Rod Middleton has been the weakest link for the Wolves. He's shooting badly, his assist numbers are down and he appears short on confidence. Rumours say he is carrying a bit of an injury, but Wolves are going to need much more from him if they want to fulfil their potential.

Essex Pirates - This is another difficult one. An argument could probably be made for inexperience, lack of import Americans or no natural point guard or big-men being the weakest link. And while it feels means to single out a player on a team who have been very poor, and at times out of their depth, but Colin Sing has disappointed me. I really felt Sing could have a breakout year at BBL level. He has the pedigree, and his history suggests he has the talent, but my experience of his play was that he was lacking in confidence and looked uncomfortable. I hope he fulfil his potential (although have the odd off-game against Thunder).

That's your lot for now. I'll do the other six when I have seen them.