Rico Alderson has walked out on Brighton Bears with a warning shot for his old club.

The 6ft 5ins all-rounder, hero-worshipped for two seasons by fans who call him The Birdman, wants to come back to the Brighton Centre and put 50 points on the Bears.

As he sorts out his future, Alderson will also spend summer in Tennessee hoping for a shock call-up by England and reflecting on the day the fans were "cheated" when his last-gasp tip-in was ruled out by officials.

Alderson's last game against Bears before his transfer in 2002 saw him lead London Leopards to a Brighton Centre success which cost Nick Nurse's men the southern conference title.

Now he insists he has more trouble lined up for them.

He said: "If I'm down in Brighton I would like to come back and get 50 points against the Bears at the Brighton Centre.

"That would make my whole year."

It would also take some doing as Bears chief Nurse expects to build a team which is bigger and better than the one which topped the British League and fared respectably in Europe.

Although Alderson insists he did not mind missing those European games, saying he enjoyed the rest while his colleagues were away, he has been planning to leave the Bears for several weeks.

He has, however, played down rumours linking him with a switch to London Towers.

That would be an easy move for Alderson. It is not far away, he knows many of the players and fans and it does not mean a brave venture to the continent as attempted by Wilbur Johnson and Sterling Davis last season.

He said: "I'm not going to be in Brighton. I don't know where I'm going.

"My time is up here. It was cool. I enjoyed it. We won a lot of games."

So why is he going? When pressed, he offers a cryptic Eric Cantona-type line which could be taken to mean he felt he was not given the credit he deserved within the camp.

He said: "I felt like I served my time. I don't want to be the servant any more, I want to be getting served. I'm not a servant."

Alderson won the first two medals of his career in his time at Brighton, in the National Cup and the league.

Celebrations of that second triumph were marred when he was ejected along with Leicester's Chris Webber at the end of the game which clinched the title and missed the medal ceremony as a result.

He said: "We won anyway. It's just a medal."

What really meant something was being called forward at the club's end-of-season dinner to receive his MVP award after topping a poll among supporters.

He said: "I was stunned about that. It just shows the fans love me.

"I was very proud about it. I still love the fans."

So much so that he wants to represent his adopted country in international competition.

"I get my passport next week and that opens up a lot of things for me but mainly the national team.

"I'm looking forward to being a representative for England in the 2006 Commonwealth Games, if they would have a great player such as myself. That shows my great love for England. If they need a player like me this is my invitation and it's up to them to accept.

"I know I wouldn't make the US team but I've been in England almost my whole basketball career so what better way to show to the fans I love them than to play for their country and maybe win a medal?"

Alderson still has strong opinions on seeing his potential game-saving tip-in in the Trophy final against Chester being disallowed, as well as the recent play-off defeat to the same opponents.

Asked if he tipped the ball in before the buzzer, he said: "You couldn't really tell.

"I just thought as a basketball fan I would love to see five more minutes.

"As a fan I would feel like I was cheated out of five more minutes of great basketball.

"You should never want to end on a controversial call like that.

"As for the play-off, it's Chester and they get a lot of calls. They played a good game but we lost the game ourselves.

"My highlight? Probably last year winning the cup. I felt like we under-achieved this year because we lost six games when we should have lost one or two or even none.

"The main goal is to win the league and that's what we've done."