Nick Nurse today heralded a high-profile British League overhaul as great news for basketball and Brighton Bears.

NBA legend AC Green is heading a group of American investors who have taken out a significant shareholding in the BBL.

Green, who played 1,192 consecutive games in a career which took him to the Dallas Mavericks, Phoenix Suns and LA Lakers, has spent the last few days in this country on a fact-finding trip.

He is being backed by the Synergie Capitol Group of New York.

BBL chief executive Vince Macauley is convinced the new investment can raise the profile of the league.

He said: "The complaint from fans around the league has been where are the stars?' but you cannot have stars without having profile.

"The key area for us is raising the profile of the league.

"AC Green and his colleagues will have a significant shareholding and a seat on the board.

"I don't want to mention any figures but I would say this is one of the biggest investments there has been in the league.

"I'm incredibly excited. We've had highs and lows in the game and we came within a whisker a few years ago of taking this game to another level.

"That was built on sand but this time we will not make those mistakes."

Macauley is convinced Green and his colleagues are on board for the long haul.

He added: "There's no greater gentleman in the game than AC Green. He has that reputation.

"I'm not sure things will change overnight but we have to raise the profile of the sport, whether that means TV, print media, whatever."

Away from basketball, Green runs his own youth foundation, which promotes sexual abstinence among teenagers, and has varied business interests.

His arrival on the BBL board was approved unanimously by the league's 11 clubs.

Nurse, head coach and former owner of the Bears, believes the new investment will force clubs throughout the BBL to raise their game.

He said: "This is outstanding news. Here you have a guy who has an impeccable reputation as an NBA player and person.

"He has a lot of people behind him. They will put minimum standards in place for BBL teams and they are talking about a process of years, not a quick fix.

"AC Green was one of those guys that was always around winners, always a key ingredient to winning teams because he did a lot of things.

"He was a defender, rebounder, ran the fast break, was intelligent, a good team mate, all those great things a coach would want on his team."

Green has cited the good work done by BBL clubs within their local communities as a reason for his enthusiams to help the league.

Success as the figurehead of a resurgent BBL would also enhance any reputation he might be looking to forge as a basketball administrator.

Nurse, who is determined to put Bears back at the forefront of the British game next season, expects BBL game-nights to develop more of an NBA feel.

He said: "They will increase games in arenas, increase crowds in arenas, increase the level of entertainment.

"If you go to an NBA game you will get a similar product, not something completely different in each gym.

"What could happen is they will use money to do stuff centrally. They will make better programmes or better dancers or better off-court hospitality across the league, not just give clubs money and say do what you want'."

l A dismal second half performance saw Bears crash to their third defeat in four days against London Towers last night.

Bears were only trailing 35-30 at half time but could only manage 27 points after the break as Towers ran out comfortable 89-57 winners at Crystal Palace.

Tony Holley led the scoring for Bears with 20 points.