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City of Birmingham Rockets

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City of Birmingham Rockets
LeagueNBL D1
Established2003; 21 years ago (2003)
HistoryCity of Birmingham
2003–2017
City of Birmingham Rockets
2017–present
ArenaNechells Centre
Capacity400
LocationBirmingham, England
WebsiteOfficial website

The City of Birmingham Rockets are an English basketball club, based in the city of Birmingham, West Midlands.

History

[edit]

The club was formed in 2003 as the City of Birmingham Basketball Club.[citation needed]

The founders of the club were looking to provide regular opportunities and a clear pathway for young people from Birmingham and the surrounding areas to play basketball. The club runs representative teams at various age levels from Under-11s through to seniors, based in one of the most deprived wards in the country, with participants drawn from all parts of the city.[citation needed]

The senior men's team entered the English Basketball League in 2014. The volunteer-led organisation's name was then changed to the City of Birmingham Rockets in August 2017 to recognise a partnership set up with Houston Rockets and NBA legend Hakeem Olajuwon.[1]

Despite spending most of their existence with a focus on youth development and competing in the lower divisions of the English Basketball League, with new backing it has been mooted that the Rockets could join the British Basketball League[2] [3] in the near future; however, these plans appear to be hold at least for the 2019–20 season. [4][5]

The Rockets' home venue was refurbished in 2021 with funding from 2K, the American video game company behind the NBA 2K game series.[6]

Players

[edit]
City Of Birmingham Rockets 23-24 roster
Players Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht.
G 0 United Kingdom Mughal, Faaris 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
F 1 United Kingdom Toluwase, Samuel 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
G 8 United Kingdom Gayle, Martyn (C) 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
F 9 Greece Papadopoulos, Nekatarios 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
F 10 United Kingdom Hayden, CJ 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
F 11 United Kingdom Noel, Levi 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
F 13 United Kingdom Jackman, Orlan 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
G 14 United Kingdom Powell, Zack 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
G 15 United Kingdom McGregor, Lucas 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
G 16 United Kingdom Davoodi, Aryan 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
F 21 United Kingdom Okosieme, Luke 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
G 23 United Kingdom Henry, Leon 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Head coach

United States Charles Smith

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • Injured Injured

Notable former players

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

Criteria

To appear in this section a player must have either:

  • Set a club record or won an individual award while at the club
  • Played at least one official international match for their national team at any time
  • Played at least one official NBA match at any time.

Season-by-season records

[edit]
Season Division Tier Regular Season Post-Season National Cup
Finish Played Wins Losses Points Win %
City of Birmingham
2014–15 D4 Mid 5 3rd 16 9 7 18 0.563 1st round Did not compete
2015–16 Dev SW 5 3rd 20 12 8 24 0.600 1st round 1st round
2016–17 D4 Mid 5 5th 18 10 8 20 0.556 Did not qualify 1st round
City of Birmingham Rockets
2017–18 D4 Mid 5 4th 22 16 6 32 0.727 Did not qualify 1st round
2018–19 D4 Mid 5 5th 16 8 8 16 0.500 Did not qualify 3rd round
2019–20 D3 Mid 4 2nd 21 17 4 35 0.810 No playoffs 1st round
2020–21 D2 Nor 3 Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021–22 D2 Nor 3 7th 22 9 13 19 0.409 Did not qualify 2nd round
2022–23 D2 Nor 3 1st 22 21 1 42 0.955 Winners 2nd round
2023–24 D1 2 9th 24 9 15 18 0.375 Did Not Qualify
2024–25 D1 2

Honours

[edit]
  • NBL Division 2 Playoffs (1): 2022-23 [7]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Amardeep Bassey (25 August 2018). "NBA Legend Hakeem Olajuwon on Why He's Made Birmingham His Home – and What He Thinks of Trump". Huffington Post.
  2. ^ Mark Woods. "BBL Shake Up Format". MVP247.
  3. ^ Mark Woods. "Hope Remains for Leeds Franchise". MVP247.
  4. ^ Sam Neter (10 March 2023). "Troy Deeney throws hat into ring for Birmingham BBL franchise". Hoopsfix.
  5. ^ Sam Neter (27 January 2022). "Investment group looking to establish BBL franchise in Birmingham". Hoopsfix.
  6. ^ Sam Neter (23 November 2020). "2K to fund court refurb in conjunction with City of Birmingham Rockets". Hoopsfix.
  7. ^ Sam Neter (22 April 2022). "City of Birmingham Rockets take NBL D2 Playoff crown". Hoopsfix. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
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