Heat Coach Chad McKnight is moving quickly to strengthen the Heat's squad for the coming season. His latest signing is veteran player Julius Joseph. The GB International has plenty of experience, having played in both the UK and Europe. Most recently, he has spent three seasons north of the border with the Scottish Rocks.
Julius started his career playing with his local club, the Westminster Warriors in 1996 before spending three years in the US at Georgia College & State University, where he played for the Bobcats. On his return to the UK, Julius played a season for the Manchester Giants before joining Euphony Bree in Belgium for three seasons. He spent time with Scottish Rocks in the British Basketball League (BBL) and Colfontaine in Belgium before re-joining the Rocks for the 2005-06 season.
The 6'5" small forward is a scoring machine. In his first season with the Scottish Rocks, he led the team in scoring, with 618 points at an average of 18.7 a game in the BBL. Overall in his time with the Rocks, he scored 1,582 points in the BBL at an average of 16.1 per game. He also pulled down 446 rebounds at an average of 4.8 per game.
Julius has plenty of big game experience. To go with his international experience, he made it to two Play-off Finals and one Cup Final during his time with the Rocks. However, he always finished on the losing side, so he is looking forward to finally winning a finals game with the Heat, who have won the BBL Championship, Play-offs, Trophy and Cup in the last three seasons (including defeating Julius and the Rocks in the Cup Final two years ago).
Chad McKnight is delighted to have signed a player with Julius's experience. Speaking about his latest acquisition, Chad said:
"I am really pleased to have signed Julius. He will be a great fit with our team. I have always had a lot of respect for him as a person and on the court. He is an unselfish player, he can really shoot the ball, and he can also sit down on defense. He's exactly what I'm looking for in a player."
Source: www.bbl.org.uk
