When you think of British sport, what comes to mind? Football? Cricket? Rugby? Tennis? All sports invented and developed in this country, and all played throughout the world, invariably to a higher standard than the country in which they originated.

But now new sports from all over the world are becoming more popular and one of these is basketball, a game invented in America by James Naismith, and one of the “Big Four” in the United States, along with baseball, American football and ice hockey.

In fact, basketball is widely regarded as the fastest growing sport in the modern world, with 400 million participants worldwide. The most successful basketball league of course is the America’s NBA, which has grown vastly in the past 30 years with the aid of marquee players such as Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal.

In recent years, the game has expanded across the Atlantic, and European nations in particular have taken to the sport, with France, Italy, Spain and Greece each having particularly competitive teams in the FIBA established Euroleague.

The success of the game in Europe has led to the developed increase of non-American players represented in the NBA, such as Croatians Drazen Petrovic and Toni Kukoc in the mid-1990s to modern day NBA stars, German Dirk Nowitzki and Spaniard Pau Gasol.

The European game reached another milestone in the 2006 NBA Draft, when Italy’s Andrea Bargnani was selected first by the Toronto Raptors, the first time this had happened to a European player.

The NBA now has it’s own development league, the NBDL, for players not quite ready to contribute to an NBA team. However, many NBA organisations prefer to send their future prospects to the Euroleague, as they believe it to be a greater representation of the level of competition in the NBA.

In last year’s Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, England beat Nigeria to win the bronze medal, led by former NBA player John Amaechi. In the 2004 Olympics it was Argentina and Italy contesting the gold medal, not the USA. And in this year’s FIBA World Championships, USA was once again third behind Spain and Greece, with the UK not even represented.

What seems apparent is that, at least on the international stage, the USA is losing its dominant grip as European nations rise further to prominence. So the question must be asked: Why is Britain not joining the race to become a basketball superpower?

The British Basketball League (BBL) is the major professional league in Britain. Established in the late 1980s, the league has struggled to gain major exposure and popularity, particularly with the collapse of ITV Digital, and the subsequent loss of revenue and media coverage.

Unlike the Euroleague, the BBL has failed to produce the standard of players that would interest NBA scouts. Instead, the BBL relies greatly upon American based players, unable to make it into the NBA, and now the NBDL. This is also the case with much of the coaching staff, with many of the established BBL franchises employing American head coaches.

Although the majority of BBL organisations do have a healthy representation of British players, they are heavily reliant on an American influence. But with the  2012 London Olympics now just five years away, Team GB is looking for a vast improvement on England’s bronze medal showing at the Commonwealth Games.

With former NBA player John Amaechi leading the charge to improve basketball participation and provision through his ABC foundation, things are looking up for British basketball. Amaechi’s foundation aims on providing quality facilities and coaching to young people in Britain, starting with the community centre in Manchester, and hoping to expand around the country.

Amaechi said following England’s victory over Nigeria in Melbourne 2006: "We have a lot of work to do, but it's time for people in sport's government to stop telling us that we don't know what we're doing. England basketball has got its act together. Now we’re ready to move forward."

Helping them towards that success will be NBA star Luol Deng, the Sudan-born Chicago Bulls forward who grew up in Brixton, South London, and has been granted British citizenship to help steer Team GB towards basketball achievement.

Great Britain coach Chris Finch was understandably delighted with the addition of Deng, "This will bring others on board - his support has been fantastic. He's upped the ante in terms of commitment." Deng’s move to Team GB fosters hope that his Chicago Bulls team mate, Ben Gordon, will follow suit and register to play for the country of his birth.

If this happens, the future of British basketball is indeed promising. The injection of funding and status provided by Amaechi’s ABC Foundation, coupled with the addition of starts Deng and Gordon to the national team will hopefully awaken to country to the joys of basketball, and the possibility of British success in it. It seems the future is bright, and the future is orange, as in the colour of a basketball.