Jets Captain Colin O'Reilly returns to Chester as roster places are filled.

The Cheshire Jets are continuing to spend their off season courting NBA superstars and adding to what they hope will be a title winning roster during the 2011/12 season. 

The Cheshire Jets and 33 million dollar NBA star Ron Artest, have been locked in talks after the  LA Lakers player tweeted about his desire to play in the UK and specifically for the Jets, during the NBA lockout.  For those not in the know, the “Lockout” is an ongoing dispute between NBA team owners and the NBA Players Association, who are unable to reach a new collective bargaining agreement over wage structures. As no agreement has been reached, NBA team owners have “locked out” players from participating in the NBA until an agreement has been reached.

However plans for a visit from Ron In August had to be postponed, after negotiations broke down over insurance.

Jets Director Peter Hawkins said;

“The amount of energy and time that Ron has put into this partnership is fantastic, from the outset the deal was purely around his love of the game and promoting basketball in the UK. We are still hoping to make this happen and we are happy to see that through twitter so is he.”

Friday the 26th August marks the day when Ron goes the way of Cassius Clay and officially changes his name by deed poll to “Metta World Peace”. 

And in the words of John Lennon well nearly, we hope that Peace will give Chester a chance.

 In other Jets news fans are delighted to welcome back Colin O’Reilly to the Northgate.  The 26 year old forward has signed up for the 2011/12 season, and is the second player to be confirmed as a definite in the new roster.

The return of the former UCC Demons star will please fans, who cheered Colin on during a solid second season.   Colin showed real leadership potential on court during the 10/11 season and impressed the Jets coaching staff with his solid work ethic.

Colin said;

“When I first re-signed for 2010/11 season Jets management had spoken about the future development of the club and this was something I was excited to be part off.  After discussions again with them this April their plans had grown bigger for the club, and led to an easy decision to re-sign for this season.  I feel it's the right place at the right time in my career.”

The 6 ft 7 Irish International was a consistent scorer for the Jets during the 10/11 season averaging around 12.9 points and 6.4 rebounds a game.

Head Coach John Lavery said;

“It’s great to secure Colin’s signature for a third season with the Jets.  What you get with Colin is someone who is not only an excellent player but a great team leader. Colin is a very intelligent player with a high Basketball IQ, who has proven himself to be able to play at the two, three or four spot on the floor”

Fans will also be pleased to know that Matt Schneck has put pen to paper for a second season as has rookie American forward Bill Cole. 

The 2011/12 season starts again on the 30th of September with an away trip to the Sheffield Sharks. The Jets play their first home game of the season on Sunday the 2nd of October, against local rivals the Mersey Tigers.

There are still sponsorship opportunities available for this coming season, to discuss in further details please contact jess.forbes@jetsbasketball.org.uk