Kularoos Plymouth Raiders have announced that Gavin Love has re-signed for the Raiders for the forthcoming 2007/08 season.

Gavin has been with the Raiders his entire career.  He first joined the Raiders as a junior player and quickly worked his way into the Raiders team who, at the time, were playing in England Basketball’s Division 1.  

He underwent a few years of basketball education, before snatching his chance and moving into the starting lineup. Since then, he hasn’t looked back and at the end of last season, earned his call up to the Great Britain team coached by Chris Finch.  If the ankle injury hadn’t come along, he would have been gracing the court with star players like the Chicago Bulls’ Luol Deng this summer. 

Raiders Coach Gary Stronach was clearly delighted to have Love back for another season. “Signing Gavin was a really important piece of the puzzle for us this year. He’s been getting better each season in the BBL, and does a great job of running the team. The call up to the GB team was fully deserved, it’s just a huge shame for him that he got injured and couldn’t go. Hopefully Gavin will be at peak fitness by the start of the season, I know he’s raring to go already.”

Love badly damaged his Achilles Tendon in the final game of the season and had to undergo an operation and lengthy rehabilitation period, but this is now nearing an end and signs are positive that he’ll start the season with no adverse effects. He said “The injury has been healing really quickly and the doctors are surprised at just how quick. I can’t wait to get back onto the court again and start playing. I’ve been told that I’m allowed to start jogging soon, and should be at full strength and fitness by the start of the season.”

Despite playing in a position dominated throughout the league by American players, Love is known as a fierce competitor and last season turned in some excellent performances. He was one of five Raiders players averaging in double figures, with 10.61 per game, 2.3 assists per game and 3 rebounds a game. But it was his leadership and experience which really set him apart.

Love is also very involved in the Raiders away from the BBL games. He is one of the senior coaches for the Schools and Community Programme that the club run, and has been active in coaching the up and coming Raiders development players. He was even at the recent trials, offering help and advice to players, talking to parents and giving his input on player selection.

Raiders Chief Executive said “Gavin has been fantastic with our community programme over the past few years. He coaches at a lot of schools throughout the week, and then is always one of the first to volunteer to help the Raiders development team players. He’s taken a really keen interest in helping unearth future BBL players and then working with them, and he’s actually has said he wants to do more of this in the coming season.”

Link: 2007/08 Player Roster