Why Atiba Lyons opted for a streamlined Sheffield Sharks BBL roster

Clubs can and ordinarily roster 12 players on a basketball team but Lyons – in his 12th season as head coach – made a conscious decision to sign only 10 players.

Even when they lost their first four games of the season, he did not panic and try and freshen things up, a decision vindicated as they won four of their next five games.

And he is confident the 10 players he has – six retained, four summer recruits – have what it takes to compete at the top end of the table.

“We retained a lot of players and sometimes when you do that you have to spend a little more money,” said Lyons.

"We were comfortable in taking the risk.

"We could have filled those extra two spots to keep freshening things up on the court but as far as minutes were concerned, it wasn’t going to affect our main starters.

"We know the two extra places on the roster are there if we need them.”

Sharks only had eight players active in losing to champions Leicester Riders two weeks ago, a defeat Lyons attributed to tiredness two days after ending London Lions’ unbeaten start to the season.

He will look for a response at Plymouth City Patriots on Sunday.

“They are a very scrappy, physical team and they’ve got a good home court advantage,” he said.

"Hopefully with us having retained so many guys, they’ll know what to expect down there.”

In Newcastle last night, Great Britain were beaten 74-68 by Serbia in their World Cup qualifier.

Sheffield’s Quinn Ellis, 19, was an unused bench replacement while Gabriel Olaseni top-scored with 20 points and Luke Nelson added 15.