London Lions point-guard Andre Lockhart has heaped praise on his teammates but wanted to give special praise to former NBA star DeAndre Liggins for his impact on the squad.

The 32-year-old, who played for the Cleveland Cavaliers, joined the Lions ahead of the new campaign to help bolster their chances in Europe and in the BBL.

Experienced Lockhart admitted big name players can sometimes disturb the togetherness among a team and he believes that unity is needed more than ever right now with matches being played behind closed doors.

“We have a good core of guys that have been around the club for a while like Justin Robinson, Joe Ikhinmwin, and myself,” Lockhart said.

“We try to put the guys on the right path that we need to in order to be successful as us three guys have won this league before whereas some of the other guys haven’t even though some came from higher leagues or higher competitions, like DeAndre Liggins played in the NBA.

“I’ve been really impressed with the focus from most of the guys, especially DeAndre Liggins from the first day. I must give him a lot of credit as he was in shape and a true professional.

“He did everything as hard as he can, even in warm-ups, he tried to win every sprint - it’s actually ridiculous.

“Most of the time you have guys come from higher competitions, they’re arrogant about themselves or think they’re better, but he is the total opposite.

“He is a great guy and I think London Lions have struck gold with having him in our organisation.”

Lockhart added: “Team sports are great because of the support you have for each other, so although we don’t have any fans at the moment, this team is very close and we all support each other.

East London Advertiser: Andre Lockhart on the ball against Newcastle Eagles (pic Graham Hodges)Andre Lockhart on the ball against Newcastle Eagles (pic Graham Hodges) (Image: Archant)

“We all want each other to do well and will do whatever it takes to win. We also have bigger goals than most teams in our league, we had the Champions League, which we narrowly lost, and now we have got to go to FIBA Europe Cup.

“We want to set the mark for English basketball in Europe and in the world.”