For The Future

The NBA opened a first-of-its-kind Academy in India. We spoke to Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum to find out why.

I originally wrote this article for SLAM Magazine's website on May 11, 2017. Read the original feature on SLAMOnline.com here.

In only his second year as the NBA’s Deputy Commissioner, Mark Tatum shook hands with history. And those hands, he says, were so large that his own palms completely disappeared.

Tatum was on stage at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn to call the 52nd pick of the 2015 NBA Draft, a little-known 7-1 giant out of Punjab. That young man, Satnam Singh, turned out to be the first Indian player ever to be drafted into the NBA. “I was so thrilled to be a part of that,” says Tatum, “to know that I’ll be part of that history.”

Tatum—and the NBA—haven’t stopped shaking hands with India since. Last summer, he visited the country with Robin Lopez and Seth Curry to attend a Jr. NBA Elite Camp in Noida, a city close to the country’s capital, New Delhi. Tatum is back in the country, helping the NBA launch its most-ambitious investment in India yet: an elite basketball academy where the League will develop top young male and female prospects from around the country. The NBA’s hope is that the results will pay off longterm to build a stronger basketball culture in the country.

On Tuesday, the NBA announced the official opening of NBA Academy India at the Jaypee Greens Integrated Sports Complex in Greater Noida. Twenty-one elite male prospects, who were selected following a three-month, nationwide basketball talent search, will receive scholarships and training the first-of-its-kind academy.

The NBA says that the Academy in India will employ a holistic, 360-degree approach to player development with focuses on education, leadership, character development and life skills.

The official opening of NBA Academy India follows the launch of academies in Hangzhou, Jinan and Ürümqi, China; Thies, Senegal; and the planned launch of NBA Global Academy in Canberra, Australia. The Academies include educational development for top international male and female prospects and mark the NBA’s most significant investment in elite player development.

While the Academy will serve to the top-of-the-line prospects in the country, the NBA has taken steps to reach deep into the grassroots to make basketball more ubiquitous around India. Over the last few years, the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program has trained millions of young players and instructors. The NBA also launched an ‘NBA Basketball School’ earlier this year in Mumbai, with plans to open more in the near future.

We caught up with Tatum over the phone from Mumbai earlier this week to discuss the ambitions for the Academy, the challenges and opportunities presented by India, and more.

SLAM: What has been your very first impression of India and of the basketball talent available for the NBA Academy?

Mark Tatum: My first impression was that the players had a true understanding of the game, and I was impressed by their willingness and desire to learn. I remember Seth [Curry] was teaching them how to shoot and Robin [Lopez] was taking them through drills. I remember vividly a couple of big, young gentlemen listening intently to what Robin had to say. They had knowledge and a passion to want to get better.

SLAM: Cricket is India’s most important sport and basketball is still not popular in the mainstream—no India-born player has played in the NBA. Why did the NBA show so much interest in India and choose to invest in this massive venture?

MT: India has 1.3 billion people. We think it has the potential to be the next China for the NBA. I had the opportunity to call out Satnam Singh’s name as the 52nd pick in the draft—I think it was inspiring and will inspire more Indian kids to play. The sport is really growing in popularity here. Our Jr. NBA program reached six million youth and we have taught five thousand physical education teachers since 2013. We have seven million Facebook fans from India, and that number is growing at a rapid pace.

This Academy is really the next step in helping to develop elite talent in the marketplace by providing best-in-class training and development. For us, it’s a longterm opportunity and investment.

SLAM: Many in India believe that the best-case scenario is to follow that China model. The two countries have similarly large populations and potential, and if India can get a breakthrough like Yao, it would be huge for basketball and NBA in the country. But what do you think India can offer to the basketball world that perhaps differs from any other model?

MT: India is unique in the size of its middle-class population and how young the demographic is. In terms of basketball, China is a very mature basketball market: they have been playing the sport for over a hundred years. The game was brought there in the early 1900s! For us, the opportunity in India is to get more younger kids and more instructors teaching basketball, playing in schools and having a younger demographic who likes action. These youngsters are multi-talented. They are engaged in digital and mobile activities, which the NBA is perfectly suited for.

SLAM: The Academy aims to employ a “holistic, 360-degree approach to player development with focuses on education, leadership, character development, and life skills.” Why has the NBA chosen to taken this additional responsibility for youth development outside the basketball court?

MT: We believe basketball and sport have benefits beyond the sport. Life lessons from team sports, specifically basketball, can help improve individuals and society. The lessons that I learned growing up playing basketball and baseball growing up were: how to be a good teammate, how to respect others, the values of hard work, that if you work hard at something you can get better at it. You learn how to overcome adversity and learn how to lose too. For us it’s about more than basketball on the court – there can be really valuable life lessons that individuals learn from the game.

SLAM: There are already NBA Academies in China, Africa, and Australia. Many of them follow the NBA’s basic curriculum and philosophy in coaching and player development. Each culture is different, and India obviously has its own separate set of challenges and opportunities. What will be the approach for the Academy that will be unique to India at the grassroots level?

MT: I think the opportunity is that, in a short amount of time, there are kids here who have been identified through a national scouting network. What’s so positive is the level of talent we’re seeing from young kids in a market where basketball infrastructure hasn’t been great. It is a huge opportunity that we’re excited about.

The challenge is that there hasn’t been a strong culture of basketball for over a century. How do you quickly build that culture? How do you expose these kids to the best competition in the world? The academy concept is really going to help with that. We’re going to accelerate the development with access to best coaches and best trainers. They’ll have a chance to travel and play against other academies in China, Australia, Africa, and potentially, teams in the US. This is a tremendous opportunity and we have some of the top prospects in the country.

SLAM: You played a part of Indian basketball history two years ago when you called out Satnam Singh’s name in the draft. When you were informed of the Mavericks’ pick, did you feel that this was going to be a historic moment?

MT: Oh yes, I remember that moment so vividly! I was thrilled to be a part of history. Earlier on draft day—all the draftees were at one hotel—I spotted Satnam and went up to say hello to him. He was so nervous and excited about the prospect of hearing his name. I said, ‘Satnam, I hope I get to call your name tonight’.

How the draft works is that I wait in a room in the back. I get a card handed to me, and when I saw his name, I began to smile from ear to ear. I knew how happy he would be and what a huge moment it would be for the youth in India. So, I went out there. I knew where he was sitting, glanced at him, and called his name. it was an exciting moment for me, for him, for the country, for the history of the NBA. We’ll look 10-20 years from now and realize what a big day it was.

I know that he is working hard—he is very talented, very skilled. He had a decent season in the D-League and I think he learned a lot. I still view him as a young big man who has an opportunity to make it.

SLAM: From what you know of India’s potential, how long do you feel it would be for India to produce a decent NBA talent?

MT: There will be lot of divergent pathways. Some kids play in Division I colleges in the United States; some will play in the D-league; some will play in other leagues around the world. We’re hopeful that in the next five-to-ten years or so that we’ll see an NBA talent coming through these academies.

1st Reliance Foundation Jr NBA Elite National Camp held in Greater Noida with Sim Bhullar

In 2013, the NBA joined hands with the Reliance Foundation to launch the Reliance Foundation Jr NBA programmes in various Indian cities. In the last two years, the programme reached more than one million youth in 1,000 schools in eight cities around the country. Now, the programme ups the ante: earlier this week, the best performers from the programme over the past year were invited to Greater Noida to receive elite level training and impress NBA-affiliated coaches at the 1st Reliance Foundation JR NBA Elite National Camp.

As a major attraction, the NBA's first Indian-origin player Sim Bhullar - who is in India for a promotional and personal trip this week - inaugurated the camp on May 4th at the Jaypee Greens Integrated Sports Complex in Greater Noida. The camp concluded on May 7th with Bhullar returning for the closing.

The Jr NBA Elite camp consists of skills training, competitions, games, fitness training and team building exercises. It is the culmination of the Reliance Foundation Jr NBA programme that promotes health, fitness and an active lifestyle through basketball.

On the opening day of the camp, Bhullar, the 7-foot-5 Center who held a 10-day contract with the Sacramento Kings this season, helped train the top 140 youth players from across India in attendance. According to a report by Ekalavyas, sharing their expertise with the participating youth were men’s national team guard Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, former international players Sambhaji Kadam, Mohit Bhandari, Shiba Maggon, Divya Singh, Sunita Suren, former youth national coach Paramdeep Singh, coach Francisco Garcia, strength and conditioning coach Tommy Heffelfinger, Senior Director Basketball Operations, NBA Troy Justice, Assistant Vice President (AVP) Basketball Operations of NBA China, Greg Stolt, and Senior Director, Basketball Operations of India, Carlos Barroca.

“I am very excited to travel to India to see firsthand how basketball’s popularity has grown and to meet young basketball players across the country,” said Bhullar. “Hopefully sharing my story will help inspire young Indians to pursue their dreams on and off the court, just as I have.”

You can check out fantastic pictures of this camp taken by Adarsh Rao of Ekalavyas here.

Powering Forward: Foreign Coaches playing for the present and planning for the future of Indian Basketball

This article was first published in my column on Ekalavyas on May 6, 2014. You can find the original post here. 

Indian Women’s Head Coach Francisco Garcia at work with his team during training camp Jaypee Greens Integrated Sports Center in Greater Noida.

“Vamos! Vamos! Vamos!” Coach Francisco Garcia energetically roared at the young Indian women on court, “Go! Go! Go!”

Garcia – a Spaniard – admits the occasional language gap from his mother tongue to English to Hindi or any of the other regional languages like Marathi, Tamil, or Malayalam that the girls in his team spoke. And the girls admit that, particularly in the heat of the moment, their Head Coach for the past 10 months reverted back to instructions in Spanish.

Everyone understands “Vamos!” though. Come on. Let’s Go. Forward. Aagey Chalo.

Looking forward has become the mantra for basketball in India. Garcia, and his associate Scott Flemming who is the head coach of India’s Men’s National Basketball team, were appointed between a year and a year-and-a-half ago for the first big challenges of leading India to FIBA Asia’s Women’s and Men’s Championships. They’ve stuck around since, and as both coaches reach the end of their first contracts, their eyes seem to be as much at the present of Indian Basketball – the next few international tournaments – as they are on the future.

I caught both the national team coaches and the senior men and women squads in practice recently, as they were in camp to prepare for future international tournaments at the Jaypee Greens Integrated Sports Center in Greater Noida. This was the first time that the coaches were formally interacting with their senior squads since India’s inspired performances at the Lusofonia Games in Goa back in January. Being at the great new facility and the success of the recent past seemed to have inspired the coaches to think more optimistically than ever. And amidst their practices, they both conveyed a sense of long-term planning and preparation to ensure that India remains on the path to becoming a basketball power even after their time in the country.

The responsibility of being ‘Head Coach’ in India extends far beyond the 12 men or women in the national team or the 20 or so probables that arrive in camp; both Flemming and Garcia have been working to instill a system of coaching, training, and selection junior players from a young age so that they are better prepared for the senior level as they grow older. Both of them have also spent a considerable amount of their time in India coaching other coaches to make sure their system and philosophies are passed on.

For Flemming, his senior team assistant coaches have been instilling his tactics in the Men’s Under-18 and Under-16 teams for India.

Meanwhile, the Senior Men’s team has a big year ahead. In a few weeks, they will be heading to Kathmandu (Nepal) to take part in the South Asian Basketball Association (SABA) Basketball Championship. Victory there will help India qualify for the Asia Cup, set to be held in Wuhan (China) in Mid-July. Sometime in August, the national team might head to Dubai for a top level Asian invitational basketball tournament. And finally in September, they will shift their attention to the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon (South Korea).

“We’ll be together all summer long,” said Flemming.

“I love my players and my coaches,” he added, “It feels great to be able to help young men improve on and off the court. I feel that I’m here with a bigger purpose than to just coach the game. I’m here to make a difference in their lives.”

One of his fondest moments so far in the country was his team’s gold medal victory at the Lusofonia Games against Angola. Flemming said that he was amazed to see over 4,000 fans in the stadium in final against Angola chanting 'In-dia!" "In-dia!' "It was like an NBA home court advantage," he said, "For our players, it was great to have that support at home that basketball doesn't usually get." Flemming wants to ensure that moments like those keep coming to India’s top basketball players and fans of the team.

To do that, he will have to provide continuity for the national team like never before. “I was hired to be here long-term,” he said, “No American basketball head coach has been able to stay in India for over one year. I am nearing the end of my second year now. I might stay longer, but will probably know my future plans clearer sometime over the next month. In any case, I know that I always want to remain connected with Indian basketball.”

Women’s coach Francisco Garcia admitted to being a little hazier on his individual future plans, but his preparations for the future of his team seemed to be very much on track. “My contract expires at the end of June,” Garcia says, “We will see what happens after that.”

If he stays the course, Garcia will oversee two more Women’s national camps, lead the team for an international exposure games trip at some point, and then head out to the Asian Games in Incheon, Korea, in September.

Garcia spoke to me last week about looking ahead to an Indian team beyond the talents of the great Geethu Anna Jose, who has been one of the most dominant players in the continent over the past decade. As she has gotten older, Garcia is aware that the youth will have to eventually step up to take her place. 

“The younger players in the system have already shown a lot of improvement,” said Garcia, who had played mostly an under-23 squad at the Lusofonia Games. Recently, in the delay before some of the veterans had showed up to the India camp, he claimed that the youngsters had continuing to impress him, “After [Jose] leaves the team, we'll have a major gap in the middle and will need to find another player who can dominate the paint. But in other areas, I think that the team has enough talent.”

Jose has been an anomaly to basketball in India, a player so talented that nobody has even come close to match her production ever in women’s basketball. For a decade (or more), Jose was a force at the Asian level too, played professionally in Australia and Thailand, and even earned trials with three WNBA teams. Jose was not at her best for India at the recent FIBA Asia Championship, but was still important in the post at crucial moments and played a part in India's fifth-place finish. But overall, for the first time in the 'Jose era', the team didn't need her to put up monster numbers in each game, and instead, the offense was more divided than it has ever been in recent years.

So do we have the talent to make up for her eventual swan song from the game?

“India definitely has the talent [after Jose],” Garcia said, “But we have to work at honing that talent. We must build a system where we can train these players at a younger age. There are other young players now like Kavita Akula, Poojamol KS, or Jeena PS who all have the potential to become good enough to play in foreign professional leagues and have a good career.”

Since Garcia took over, the Women’s side finished at a best-ever fifth place at the FIBA Asia Championship for Women and won bronze at the Lusofonia Games. Meanwhile, Flemming’s Men’s team has improved their FIBA Asia finish from 14^th to 11^th (and they were two close losses away from perhaps finishing a couple of spots higher) and won gold at the Lusofonia Games. Both coaches have taken a deep role in the development of youth players and Indian coaches.

But both Flemming and Garcia know that, for India to truly get a bigger boost forward, a professional basketball league could be the game-changer.

“When the league finally happens, our best players will have a platform to shine on and to play regularly, at least for those few months every year,” said Flemming, “Theoretically, there will also be good coaches to guide them and the players will also stay in shape around the year. Hopefully, the players wouldn’t need to take part in the smaller invitational tournaments.”

“Moreover, the league might even allow NRIs to play at a competitive level in India,” Flemming added, “That is the dream for many of the star Indian-origin players in other parts of the world right now.”

“A proper league would make the players practice and compete continuously,” said Garcia, “It would help our players a lot, and especially if he can have them learn to play among talented import players.”

Despite India’s billion-plus population, sports – not named cricket – have usually taken a back seat, and basketball like many other sports has unfortunately overseen year after year of unfulfilled potential among Indian talents. Things are improving though, but everyone involved with the game in the country knows that the improvement won’t be an overnight miracle; we have to be patient with the baby steps out of the cellar.

And the Coaches at the helm – Flemming and Garcia – who are both on track for the longest tenures of any foreign senior basketball head coaches in India yet, understand the importance of keeping an eye out at the future. Whether they stay long term with the teams or not, we hope that they can leave a working system behind that continues to identity and train talents from an earlier age, prepare the coaches with the right coaching tactics and philosophies, and eventually, turn some of those baby steps to improvement into giant strides forward. 

So, all together now, Aagey Chalo. Vamos.

India's National Basketball Teams practice in Greater Noida: Catching up with Coaches & Players

Since April 15, India's Senior Men's Basketball team probables have been at training camp at the Jaypee Greens Integrated Sports Center in Greater Noida with Head Coach Scott Flemming. A week later - on April 22 - the women's senior team joined in too, led by Head Coach Francisco Garcia. This was the first time that India's national squads were using this facility. But these camps aren't just to give our players and our coaches a cushy spot to shoot hoops; there is serious business in progress here, the business to prepare the national squads for a busy calender of basketball ahead.

I got a chance to visit the national camp earlier today, speak to both the foreign Head Coaches, interact with some of India's top national team players, and also witness some of the training sessions.

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On this day, the Men's squad practiced first. Unlike the Women's side - whose next assured major tournament won't be until the Asian Games in September - the Men have several more urgent matters on their schedule. In a few weeks, they will be heading to Kathmandu (Nepal) to take part in the South Asian Basketball Association (SABA) Basketball Championship, where they will face other South Asian squads such as Nepal, Bangladesh, or Bhutan. Afghanistan, who have pumped their national team with Afghan-Americans, are usually India's closest challenger in these tournaments, but Coach Scott Flemming wasn't sure if they would be participating this year. Victory in the SABA Championship (which is almost assured) will help India qualify for the Asia Cup, set to be held in Wuhan (China) in Mid-July. Sometime in August, the national team might head to Dubai for a top level Asian invitational basketball tournament. And finally in September, they will shift their attention to the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon (South Korea).

Very early in our conversation, Flemming makes sure to mention that, above all the cultural and professional differences that an American faces when working in India, his salvation is found easily on the court. "I love my players and my coaches here," he says, "And I have always loved practice." He has been in India a year and a half now since his appointment, prior to which he was an assistant coach of the NBDL side Texas Legends.

The last time Flemming worked with the national team was when he guided India to a memorable gold medal win at the Lusofonia Games in Goa in January. Flemming recalled the victory fondly, saying that he was amazed to see over 4,000 fans in the stadium in final against Angola chanting 'In-dia!" "In-dia!'. "It was like an NBA home court advantage," Flemming said, "For our players, it was great to have that support at home that basketball doesn't usually get."

The Lusofonia Games triumph also showcased India's improving confidence against top sides, and their ability to finish off close games. Flemming told me that the team had learnt a lot from the tragic, close losses to Bahrain and Japan last August at the FIBA Asia Championship and were able to withstand the pressure against their challengers in the Lusofonia Games.

"The team has definitely improved on the defensive end," said Flemming, "We are continuing to spend a lot of time practicing team defense and transition defense in particular. Our goal is to get back quickly on fast-breaks and not allow any layups. Some players were only used to playing zone, which is important, but it's important to teach man-to-man principals, too."

"Another thing that we've been working on are proper offensive systems and sets. I want to give my players freedom from time to time on offense, but it has to be within the structure."

Flemming also added that a lot of the current camp's focus is on individual player development to help the veterans of the Indian squad keep improving. He is also looking to continue bringing a younger crop of players to give them exposure - currently he said that there were "four of five" first-timers with the senior team in the national camp.

Flemming noted that players like Amjyot Singh, Amrit Pal Singh, and Joginder Singh had all made major improvements to their game since his arrival, while veterans such as Vishesh Bhriguvanshi and Yadwinder Singh have continued to be match-winners and an important part of the squad. When asked about 7-foot teenage phenom Satnam Singh Bhamara who is currently playing at the IMG Acadmey in Florida, Flemming made it clear that the team couldn't count on his return for this summer's events. "He has had several injuries and is now recovering," said Flemming, "It is probably better for him to focus on his conditioning over in Florida for now."

But Flemming believes that, while India can continue making baby steps in improvement at the Asian level in the next few years, a major ruling will always hold them back from take a giant leap forward. That ruling is of the naturalization of foreign players. Most Asian teams have at least one player - usually their best player - who has little to no connection to that country at all. FIBA allows every team to have only one naturalized foreign player on their roster, a rule that is stretched and abused liberally by most squads. India, however, doesn't allow naturalization: to become an Indian citizen (and thus be a naturalized player for India), one has to surrender their foreign passport, unlike other countries. India doesn't allow dual citizenship. It is this dilemma that has kept a number of talented Non-Resident Indian (NRI) talents who have played a high-level of basketball in North America or elsewhere from committing to the Indian national team.

"We play under different rules to most other countries," Flemming said, "I know of 12-14 NRIs, like Inderbir Gill or Varun Ram, who have expressed their desire or passion to play for India, but it is tough to expect them to denounce their foreign passports. Almost every other Asian country however has at least one foreigner. Really, all I wish for is a level-playing field. Either no team should be allowed to have naturalized players, or at some point in the future, we are allowed to at least feature a few players of Indian-origin in the Indian roster. For us to make a big jump forward, this has to be a part of it."

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I also briefly spoke to Bhriguvanshi, Yadwinder, Amjyot, Amrit Pal, Joginder, and Pratham Singh, all of whom were in praise of the coach and were eager to embody the philosophy of team first. "We are all starters," Yadwinder said, "Ask any of the players in the camp and they are all good enough to start for India."

Among themselves, the players noted that Amjyot had probably improved the most, while Joginder had also become a key cog in the squad.

"Previously, there was a lot more individual play in the team," said Amjyot, "I think the team is very unselfish now."

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India's Women's side has a little longer to go, a little more time to prepare, and a little more uncertainty while they wait for the next international challenge. Their big tournament is the Asian Games in Korea in September, but before that, Coach Francisco Garcia's side will have a camp at Greater Noida until May 17th, two more camps, and hopefully an exposure trip of friendly games before the tournament in September.

The Spaniard Garcia, a veteran of 20 years of coaching experience in Spain, Denmark, and Finland, was appointed India's Women's Head Coach about 10 months ago. Since then, he helped lead India to a best-ever fifth-place finish at the FIBA Asia Championship, which included a memorable overtime victory over Kazakhstan. Garcia hopes to continue the momentum looking ahead.

"The biggest challenge is to hold on to the fifth place," says Garcia, "It will not be easy because other teams like Kazakhstan or Malaysia are right on our toes. Unfortunately, the top four of Women's basketball in Asia - China, Japan, Chinese Taipei, and Korea - is quite set. I think we need a proper professional league in India so that our girls can get the exposure and talent to play at the high level if we are to challenge any of those teams."

Currently, several of the more recognizable faces of the Indian women's squad, such as Geethu Anna Jose, Anitha Paul Durai, Prashanti Singh, Akanksha Singh, Raspreet Sidhu, Poojamol KS, Jeena PS, and more hadn't arrived at the camp yet for various reasons. Garcia confirmed that all of them - with the exception of Anitha who will not be playing this year due to personal reasons - will be coming into camp over the next few weeks. A total of 17 girls are expected.

For now, Garcia says he's excited to continue working with the younger players to get them ready to become the next big things. "You see these girls, who are not the usual stars for India, and even they have improved their skills so much," he proudly adds.

Like Flemming's Men's squad, Garcia is also focusing on improvement at two levels for the women: defense, and more organized offense.

One of the other challenges that Garcia's team will face ahead is moving on forward as the skills and fitness of Geethu Anna Jose - the greatest player of this generation in India - start to fade. For a decade (or more), Jose had dominated Indian basketball, been a force at the Asian level too, played professionally in Australia and Thailand, and even earned trials with three WNBA teams. Jose was not at her best for India at the recent FIBA Asia Championship, but was still a force in the post at crucial moments and played a part in India's fifth-place finish. But overall, for the first time in the 'Jose era', the team didn't need her to put up monster numbers in each game, and instead, the offense was more divided than it has ever been in recent years.

"A good team has to have balance on both the inside and outside," Garcia says, "Geethu wasn't in the best shape at the championship but she still helped us a lot. After she leaves the team, we'll have a major gap in the middle and will need to find another player who can dominate the paint. But in other areas, I think that the team has enough talent."

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After practice, both teams headed out for their afternoon break, and both would return for more in the evening. It's a grueling schedule to get the best of all the players involved in the national system and to make sure that both teams maintain or improve their current standings at the international level.