WITH the NBA lockout depriving British fans of their weekly fix of Stateside hoops action, and next year's Olympics promising to showcase the sport's appeal, Durham Wildcats head coach Dave Elderkin feels there has never been a better time to grow basketball in this country.

With the latest round of talks between the NBA owners and players' union having broken down, there is no sign of an end to the strike that has brought US basketball to a standstill.

As a result, some of the NBA's leading players are migrating to Europe to stay in shape, raising standards ahead of next year's London Olympics, in which Great Britain will field both a women's and men's team.

The domestic game continues to grow in appeal, with Durham Wildcats attracting a capacity crowd to Newton Aycliffe Leisure Centre for their maiden game as a BBL franchise earlier this year.

The Wildcats return to their home court this evening to face Glasgow Rocks, and Elderkin is delighted to be involved in what could be a golden period in British basketball.

"It's a great opportunity for everyone involved in the sport," said the Wildcats play caller. "It was always going to be a big year anyway because the Olympics are probably the single biggest opportunity to gain basketball a strong foothold in this country.

"Hopefully, the absence of competition from the NBA will feed into that. I know there are a lot of basketball fans who like to watch the NBA on the TV.

"They can't do that at the moment, so hopefully they'll come down to their local BBL club and see what the action is like. If they come to Durham Wildcats, our challenge is to make sure they're impressed with what they see."

Tonight's game pits the Wildcats against a Rocks side who are currently second in the BBL League table, two points behind leaders Newcastle Eagles.

Durham have already lost to Glasgow twice this season in the BBL Trophy, but having narrowly failed to make it two league wins out of two when they slipped to a one-point defeat at Worcester last weekend, Elderkin is looking to make it third time lucky tonight.

"We know all about Glasgow, but I think we're a much better side now than we faced them back at the start of the season," he said. "We were a brand new side then and our American guys hadn't really had the chance to train with us.

"I think we've got a much better feel for what's needed now and we're starting to gel well as a side. We went very close against Worcester last weekend, and you have to remember that Worcester went and won in Glasgow recently. They're on a six-game winning streak.

"I thought our defence was superb last weekend and there won't be many sides restrict Worcester to 65 points on their home court. But we struggled offensively because we put ourselves under pressure by conceding 23 fouls to their 12."

Having made a 12-minute appearance as a replacement last weekend, Paul Elderkin is set to make his maiden BBL start tonight after finally shaking off the shoulder injury he sustained in pre-season.

"It's good to have Paul back firing on all cylinders," said Elderkin senior. "He's been champing at the bit to get started. We gave him a bit of time last week, but he's had three or four training sessions now to get up to full speed. It's been so frustrating for him to be sitting on the sidelines."