The Kings’ point guard Felipe Davies believes the team has all the ability to replicate last season’s promotion into the NBL Division One after promising start.
Felipe Davies spoke highly of one teammate in particular, Albanian International Elvisi Dusha who has been pivotal in Gloucester’s success.
Dusha, who captains his national team, received high praise from his teammate, “He’s genuinely one of the best players I’ve ever seen. His vision, his shooting ability, but the main thing is his IQ.”
Davies continued, “He is one of the smartest players in basketball I’ve ever seen and ever played with and he is an awesome teammate to be around because he will always find you.
“You will think to yourself, I’m not going to get the ball and all of a sudden the ball whizzes at you at like 20 miles an hour. He scares you sometimes with how much he can see you.”
The point guard discussed the team’s resilience in games, as they sit second in the league table with six wins out of seven games:
“The team is really well built and there are a few games where they expected to win and didn’t get the result they wanted, but they fight back every single time.”
“I don’t think I’ve seen them miss a step this year when it comes to the practices and everything.”
To move into the tier above the Kings would need to win NBL Division One, which Davies is confident in achieving.
This would see Gloucester play in the British Championship Basketball League, competing against the elite players within the sport.
While this would be a huge achievement for Gloucester to achieve, the journey and team bond is one to be proud of itself with players from all walks of life.
The Kings’ guard shared, “For me, it’s one of my favourite parts when you have so many people from different cultures, from different backgrounds, and we all get together because we all love the one sport.”
“We play together to win as a family together. That’s the best part for me, and I believe it’s the best part for the team as well,” he added.
With basketball being such a results-driven sport and the schedule proving demanding, Davies emphasised the importance of team unity and support, offering a final message, “There’s a saying in basketball that when one of your players gets down, that player stays down until one of their brothers picks them up.”
