Team City of Gods

Team City of Gods are an American basketball team that has participated in The Basketball Tournament (TBT), a winner-take-all single-elimination tournament. The team advanced to the TBT 2015 semifinals, beating tournament favorite Boeheim's Army, before falling to eventual tournament champions Overseas Elite.

Team City of Gods
Team City of Gods logo
LeaguesThe Basketball Tournament
Founded2015
HistoryTeam City of Gods
(2015–2017)
LocationBaltimore, Maryland
Team colorsRed and Navy Blue
   
General managerLafonte Johnson
Head coachJoe Connelly III
WebsiteTeam page

The team played in the Northeast Region of the tournament in 2015, their first year of existence. The team was coached by Joe Connelly III, a former player development coach for the Washington Wizards based in Baltimore, Maryland.[1] City of Gods was managed by former George Washington basketball player Lafonte Johnson.[2] The team featured five players with experience in the National Basketball Association (NBA).[3]

History

Team City of Gods was founded in 2015, primarily by Joe Connelly III, who had previously worked as the development coach for the Washington Wizards of the National Basketball Association. Connelly, currently a professional basketball trainer based in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland, has experience coaching public school teams, at recreation centers, and in the Amateur Athletic Union. He is the older brother of both Denver Nuggets general manager Tim Connelly and Phoenix Suns assistant general manager Tim Connelly.[4]

Connelly chose the team's players primarily because he had connections with each of them.[5] One player, Michael Sweetney, said that "Joe Connelly pretty much put the whole team together".[6] Connelly and general manager Lafonte Johnson, a former college basketball player for UNLV and George Washington, helped gain fans by campaigning on Twitter and other social media websites.[5] Joe Connelly came up with the team name, using a popular Baltimore clothing brand. Connelly also liked how the name of the clothing brand sounded like reaching for greatness and being great. The name helped make the team more popular, which helped gain support and votes in order to enter the basketball tournament and a chance to win $1 million dollars.

Logo and uniforms
  • Logo, 2015–current
    Logo, 2015–current
  • Uniforms, 2015–current
    Uniforms, 2015–current

Players

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

Team City of Gods roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos.No.Nat.NameHt.Wt.Age
SG 1 United States Sweetney, Devin 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 36 – (1987-10-23)23 October 1987
PG 5 United States Goss, Phil 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 187 lb (85 kg) 40 – (1983-04-07)7 April 1983
SG 13 United States Silas, Xavier 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 35 – (1988-01-22)22 January 1988
PF 14 United States Gist, James 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 235 lb (107 kg) 37 – (1986-10-26)26 October 1986
SG 20 United States Kromah, Lasan 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 207 lb (94 kg) 32 – (1991-06-24)24 June 1991
PF 21 United Kingdom Mensah-Bonsu, Pops 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 235 lb (107 kg) 40 – (1983-09-07)7 September 1983
PG 22 United States Strong, Omar 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) 162 lb (73 kg) 33 – (1990-05-16)16 May 1990
SF 22 United States Smith, Roscoe 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 32 – (1991-05-01)1 May 1991
SG 34 United States Hawkins, David 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 40 – (1982-10-28)28 October 1982
SF 35 United States Johnson, DerMarr 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 209 lb (95 kg) 43 – (1980-05-05)5 May 1980
C 50 United States Sweetney, Michael 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 295 lb (134 kg) 41 – (1982-10-25)25 October 1982
C 55 Senegal N'Diaye, Hamady 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 236 lb (107 kg) 36 – (1987-01-12)12 January 1987
Head coach
  • United States Joe Connelly III
Assistant coach(es)
  • United States Evan Monroe
Team manager
  • United States Lafonte Johnson
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • Injured Injured
Updated: July 28, 2015

References
  1. "Joe Connelly III". The Basketball Tournament. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  2. "Lafonte Johnson". The Basketball Tournament. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  3. "Team City of Gods". The Basketball Tournament. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  4. "Meet the Four Teams Playing for $1,000,000". The Basketball Tournament. Retrieved July 28, 2015.
  5. "Joe Connelly: Pure with the game". The Basketball Tournament. Retrieved July 28, 2015.
  6. Kennedy, Alex. "NBA The Basketball Tournament: Roundtable Q&A". BasketballInsiders.com. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
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