Haskins becomes the Raiders’ fourth summer recruit

The Plymouth Raiders today continued their rebuilding process with the signing of Italian-American point guard Gabe Haskins.

Haskins, who spent last year as Cheshire Phoenix’s floor general, is Coach Gavin Love’s fourth summer recruit, and comes hot on the heels of guard Donald Robinson and forward Ben Eaves putting pen to paper in recent weeks. The re-signing of Centre Andreas Schreiber completes the new look line-up thus far.

Speaking to The Plymouth Herald, Love said: “I’m very happy and enthusiastic to get Gabe on board. He’s a very controlled point-guard who can run a team.

“He’s got good speed, he passes the ball very well and it was his poise in games that made me take notice of him last season.

“He creates for others – 4.3 assists per game last year shows he can do that.”

The fact that, like Schreiber, Haskins holds dual nationality is a major plus for teams around the BBL, and Love was quick to snap up the 5′ 10″ point who can also spend time at the shooting guard position if needed. With Robinson being the first of three permitted American imports, Love will now be looking to sign an American point guard, an American power forward, as well as a British forward.

You would think the signings of Haskins and Robinson now rules out the return of fan favourite Drew Lasker, who is rumoured to be on the verge of signing for Raiders’ BBL rivals Newcastle Eagles. As well as this, both Michael Ojo and Matt Schneck, the standout performers for Raiders last campaign, are expected to receive more lucrative offers around Europe.

Raiders fans should be excited about their new team starting to take shape however, and it will be interesting to see just who Love adds to his roster in the coming weeks.