India's cricket team players visited the Miami Heat

Cricket may be India's number one sport (I'm sorry I lied, it's number one, two, three, four, and five) but the ol' 'bat and ball' is still relatively anonymous in the USA outside the fanbases of Commonwealth descent. So it is with an intention to promote the game in this untapped market that two Twenty20 international matches have been scheduled between the national teams of India and West Indies in Florida this weekend. And in a move to promote cricket to Americans, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have also ended up reverse promoting our favourite sport here - basketball - to an Indian audience.

On Wednesday, August 24, cricket and basketball united as three members of the Indian cricket team visited the facility of the 2012 and 2013 NBA Champions Miami Heat - the American Airlines Arena - in Florida. Star spin bowler/All-Rounder Ravichandran Ashwin, batsman Shikhar Dhawan, and fast-medium bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar were part of the BCCI contingent that visited the home of the Heat, where they were hosted by young guard Tyler Johnson and undrafted rookie Briante Weber.

Rajlaxmi Arora reported the news on the BCCI website:

The trio were hosted by the latest recruit of Miami Heat - Tyler Johnson as he gave them a walk through their locker room, team meeting room, gymnasium and recuperation centre at the American Airlines Arena.
Briante Weber joined Johnson in hosting the Indian trio as they explained the techniques involved in Basketball to the Cricketers and showed off some moves. The group then got involved in a session of Basketball in the practice court.
The cricketers enjoyed their experience at the court with some engaging discussion with the NBA stars. While Shikhar and Bhuvneshwar were chatting up with the hosts, Ashwin seemed to have gone back to his school days of playing basketball.
Speaking about his visit at the Miami Heat home arena, R Ashwin said: “I’ve played a bit of basketball during my school days, so that got me really excited while I tried my hand at it again after so many years. I am thankful to both Weber and Johnson for taking time out and showing us around their home turf.”
Bhuvneshwar Kumar said: “It was great to see these guys and learn about their game. I was impressed with the facilities here and it was a learning experience for me to see the amount of technology being used in sports science.”
“It was great fun,” exclaimed India opener Shikhar Dhawan. “I am very happy we could make it here. Exchanging thoughts about how sports has transformed with the latest technology is always good. While I tried to explain these guys how Cricket is played, they in return taught me the finer details of basketball.”

Team India arrived in Miami on Wednesday and will play back-to-back Twenty20 matches against the West Indies on August 27 and 28 at Central Broward Regional Park in the city of Fort Lauderdale. This will be the first time that competitive international cricket will be played on American soil. The BCCI reached out to several American athletes and celebrities to promote the game with the #TeamIndiaInUSA hashtag on Twitter, including NBA veteran and three-time champ Udonis Haslem of the Heat and upcoming young point guard D'Angelo Russell of the Los Angeles Lakers.

As an Indian and an NBA fan, I love this union. Hopefully, Ashwin, Dhawan, and Bhuvaneshwar can introduce some Indian cricket fans to the NBA, too. The Heat in particular, who have lost LeBron (to Cleveland), Wade (to Chicago), Bosh (to a serious and uncertain health condition) and their local fanbase (who're just late to the arena), could certainly use some new fans to count on for their support.

The Professionals: Through the ups and the downs, these 3 role players have stuck with their teams

There are three professionals who have remained stuck with their teams through thick and thin from day one and have now been synonymous with the colours of their team for at least a decade. These guys have never made NBA All Star Team and were never considered to be centerpieces. They were never important enough to build a team around, but their company/franchise considered them important in a more intangible way, and returned their loyalty with a long-tenure.

These are the NBA’s ultimate professionals, the guys that every team wants to make a part of their culture.

Click here for the full feature.

Basketball Traveller - NBA’s Greg Stolt: “Our purpose in China is to have people go out to play and enjoy basketball!”

This feature was first published in the 109th edition (2013 - No. 12) of SLAM China Magazine. Here is my original English version of the story. 

Things change. From running alongside Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem and Florida, to playing in the sunny seaside of Spain. From feasting on sushi in Japan to hanging with the surfers in Australia. The smell of spicy curries in India and the taste of spicy Hot-Pot in Beijing. Basketball has taken Greg Stolt all across the world. And as NBA China’s Associate Vice President of Basketball Operations, Stolt is now bringing that wealth of experience to help develop the future of hoops in China.

Things change. But throughout the changes, through the different languages, cultures, continents and lifestyles, one thing brought them all together: basketball.

A former college star with the NCAA Division 1 side Florida in his college years, Stolt has played professionally across the world. But now, he is concentrating on a different role. The NBA has had a formal presence in China for several years now: they opened their first office in 1992 and the NBA has been on air on CCTV since 1987. The league has 300 million fans in China and NBA’s social media accounts in Sina and Tencent have 53 million followers. Their relationship with the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) dates back nearly three decades ago. Today, the NBA helps run a state-of-the-art CBA Basketball School in Dongguan which has trained over a 1000 Chinese youth players. Stolt, who is now based in China full-time, has been involved in various different NBA-China activities which includes the school in Dongguan, coaches’ training programmes, and in promoting the NBA’s presence in China with events such as NBA’s preseason ‘China Games’ in the country.

Recently, Stolt – the head of NBA China’s Basketball Operations department – spoke to SLAM discussing his past journeys with basketball, his present involvement with the game in China, and his optimistic outlook about the future of basketball in the Middle Kingdom!

Things change. But the basketball remained the same.

SLAM: How long have you been working in China, and how has your experience been in the country so far?

Stolt: I’ve been here since August 2012. Prior to that, I was working with the NBA in New York for three years, and over those years, I made several visits abroad to places like China and India to work with basketball operations.

China has been fantastic. There have been great opportunities here because basketball is so integral to the culture here. China has good basketball fans and I’ve been able to learn many new things.

SLAM: Talk a little about your role with the NBA in China.

I work with the department of basketball operations with NBA China, and it has a different structure here than in the US. Our product – the NBA – is in the USA. Here, the aim is to support the passionate development of the game. We do that by collaborating with the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) in various parts of the country.

SLAM: How do you feel that your background as a college star and your experience playing internationally helps to work with younger players now in China?

Stolt: Yes, I have had quite a unique background with basketball. I’ve been quite fortunate because I was surrounded by great coaches all my life. My father was a coach and player and he played with many great players himself. I had a great coach in college. I lived and played in Europe, Australia, Japan, and back in the USA with the D-League. The experience helped me truly broaden my horizons and show me a world that was very different to my upbringing.

When it comes to working with young players here, I’ve discovered that, up to a certain stage, kids learning basketball around the world are pretty much the same. They want to play, and they love the game, whether they are in China, India, or in the USA. That is the common denominator. Playing around the world has indeed given me an idea on how things in other countries work or don’t work. I’ve had experiences that you can’t get from books. It has given me great practical opportunities and prepared me to have more insight into the basketball world.

SLAM: You had quite a memorable career with the Florida Gators. How did that team prove to be such a good fit for your talents?

Stolt: I have to give credits to my coaches, who were both able to help my development. In my freshman year (1995-96), we had Coach Lon Kruger at the helm. After that, we had coach Billy Donovan – who is still the team’s Head Coach now. Coach Donovan let it be known that I could really get better and move on to the next level. With him, I saw new opportunities in a new system. The three years I spent with him (1996-99) were great. He was a phenomenal coach. He taught me about how to carry myself on and off the court, about conditioning, nutrition, and that teaching helped me be prepared with the building blocks to eventually play professionally in Europe.

1999 was my most successful season there, when we reached the Sweet 16 stage in the NCAA tournament – the only time I got to play in the tournament. We got some good players in my sophomore year like Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem, and we developed together to our full potential by the time I was a Senior. It was a nice nucleus of players and good teammates. The Coach stressed on improving our conditioning. A lot of us could play multiple positions and we shot a lot of threes – it made difficult for opponents to keep up with us!

SLAM: After College, you were an international basketball journeyman. In which countries have you played professionally?

Stolt: I played in the Dominican Republic, Spain, Belgium, then back in the USA during the first year of the NBA’s D-League, in the old CBA (Continental Basketball Association) in the States, France, Japan, Australia, and I ended my playing career in Japan. Those who play basketball internationally can play in different countries over a 12-month calendar – for example, I was in Australia during their season and back in Japan the same year. 2003-04 was my last playing season.

I didn’t have a chance to play in China, although I would have loved to do so!

SLAM: So what was your most interesting international basketball experience?

Stolt: They are all very unique, and all were phenomenal. And it is only when you leave a country that you realize how great the experience there was! In France, the level of play is phenomenal – they have the best athletes outside of the NBA. I had some great experiences in Japan, which is a country that I never expected to visit otherwise. They have hardworking players there and an interesting culture. Australia is another unique place to play and to live.

The bottom line is that these experiences are all about the people you meet and work with. And in each place, I met some great people.

SLAM: You have a unique vantage point towards basketball, from the perspective of having played or worked with the NCAA, the NBA, in Europe, in Australia, and in Asia. How do they all differ?

Stolt: For me, there was a little bit of a learning curve required after playing in the NCAA system. In the NCAA, a player is very well taken care of, and there, I didn’t have to worry about little things like where to eat, where to do my laundry, etc. On the professional level, you don’t have the same type of support system. Playing internationally, the general theme was to find one other American in every team, where (like China) usually two foreign players are allowed per team. In most cases, the foreign players stick with each other, but I made it a commitment to get to know my local teammates and coaches too. It helped my understanding of the local culture wherever I was and helped me get the most out of my experience.

The on-court learning curve was different, too. In Europe, for example, teams play a lot of preseason games, so there is a lot of opportunity to learn their style of play together. But in Japan, I had to find my place in the offense on the fly.

Foreign players like me had to do whatever the team asked us to do: in most cases, the focus was on getting statistics and scoring as much as possible. And at the same time, I had to ensure that the team was successful. There is more concern internationally than in the USA for foreign players to find a balance between big stats and winning games.

SLAM: From what you have seen here, how does basketball in China differ from your previous experiences?

Stolt: China is right there with the rest of the world in the level of basketball played and coaching. The CBA as made many great initiatives in recent years. Most importantly, people in China can’t get enough of basketball and are passionate about it! The country has the resources, the interest of the community, which is the total equation to help the game develop further here. In whichever country there is a passion in the people to learn and play more, then basketball will surely become better there.

SLAM: What are the NBA’s future plans in continuing to grow the game here?

Stolt: Our number one goal is to grow and develop the game alongside the CBA. The unique thing about China is that it is the only place in the world where we have a basketball academy – in Dongguan. 130 kids were admitted there this year! Our hope is that the players from the academy can play in the CBA one day or even in the USA.

Growing our relationship with the CBA also helps us to help develop coaches in China. We have an annual CBA Coaches Programme where we work with numerous CBA coaches. In late October or early November, we host 15 CBA coaches in the USA to provide them a look at how basketball coaching and operations works over there. Many of the top CBA coaches like Cui Wan Jun (Xinjiang), Min Lulei (Beijing), Gong Xiaobin (Shandong), and Qu Shaobin (Guangdong) have been part of our Coaches Programme in the past. We are also bringing eight coaches from the USA to China this summer to conduct clinics and camps. We’ve already done such clinics over the years across the country. We are reaching out to college/high school level coaches in our various grassroots programmes.

We will continue to look at opportunities to team up with local basketball stakeholders. Hopefully more exposure to the Chinese people to the NBA can continue to help grow the game here. The NBA’s purpose in China is to have people go out to play and enjoy basketball.

SLAM: Talk about the training Center in Dongguan and how it is benefiting young Chinese players.

Stolt: The CBA Dongguan Basketball School – An NBA Training Center, opened in 2011. It is very much like a full-fledged High-School for kids aged between 8-17. We have academic staff there to handle 130 children in five different grades. We have split them up by their basketball skill level. The whole curriculum has been brought together by Bruce Palmer, who is the technical director at the school. We have also been able to run numerous clinics for national and international teams over there.

It is a special place. Anyone who enters will feel like picking up a basketball and start playing!

The NBA’ basketball operations work to select kids for this training center with camps all across the country. We have camps in eight Chinese cities last year, and pick kids not only on their potential basketball skills, but also on their academic strengths and personality.

SLAM: And finally: what do you foresee for the future of Chinese Basketball?

Stolt: I think that the sky is the limit for basketball in China. China has enthusiasm and interest in playing the game amongst the fans. I think we will surely see more success stories of Chinese players who eventually make it to the NBA and the WNBA. And back here, we will see more Chinese who will become interested in playing basketball. It won’t be long before more young players from China can take help take the game to the next level.

An NBA Guide to long-term relationships

This feature was first published in the 104th edition (2013 - No. 7) of SLAM China Magazine. Here is my original English version of the story.

There was a reason that, after LeBron James decided to leave the Cavaliers to go to Miami, his former fans in Cleveland came out in anger to burn jerseys and tear down banners. A similar, if relatively less harsh response, was felt in Orlando after Dwight Howard made his intentions to bolt from town. These weren’t just simple player-team relationships that left the fans so devastated; this was a true loss of a loved one, of a star that had helped build and grow with a team.

It always hurts when a long relationship ends. It seems nowadays that there is little loyalty to be found in the NBA, as players are traded or leave as free agents on an all-too-regular basis. Stars come and go. Long-term relationships are a rarity.
It’s the 21st century, where people come and go at the speed of need and a person can be found and forgotten in a matter of social media updates. It’s the age where many young relationships don’t last past a few months; the best ones could go for a few years but some don’t even last a few days!

In a time like this, who should we seek to give us good advice, to help us build a long-term relationship? How to find that perfect pairing, and how to keep that pair going for years and years and years?

Thankfully, not all pairings are so short lived, and as the NBA as proven, some players and teams are truly meant for each other. Some players spent their entire career with the same team, playing their first game to their last bearing the name of the same franchise on their jersey, just the way love-stricken couples who always stay together bear a ring for each other. Players like John Stockton, who spent all 19 years of his career with the Utah Jazz. Or Reggie Miller, who spent 18 years with the Indiana Pacers. Dolph Schayes and Hal Greer both spent 15 years each with the Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76ers.

But what is the secret to this longevity? What keeps teams and players loyal to each other for over a decade, or for the player’s entire career? From Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles and Dirk Nowitzki in Dallas, to Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili in San Antonio, we take tips from the NBA’s best relationship scholars. These guys will teach you how to stay along with your team forever!


Kobe Bryant – Relentlessness

Somehow, Kobe Bryant fell to 13th place in the 1996 NBA Draft. The Charlotte Hornets picked him up, but it was the Lakers who were truly love-struck by the teenage prodigy and traded their Center Vlade Divac to acquire him. It was the beginning of long relationship, which was sometimes beautiful and sometimes tumultuous. Despite being lower in the pecking order to the Lakers’ bigger attraction – Shaquille O’Neal – Kobe fought to be the alpha dog in the relationship with the franchise and the fanbase. The result of this love triangle was at first failure, then incredible success, as the Lakers’ won three consecutive championships, a feud, and then an inevitable breakup. The Lakers had made their choice and finally handed the keys to the team solely to Kobe; Shaq was sent to Miami.

By then, Kobe already had the reputation of being the league’s most relentless winner since Michael Jordan. The young man who refused to back down and refused to accept defeat as an option. Unfortunately, without Shaq, even Kobe’s winning attitude couldn’t help the Lakers as they missed they faced many barren years without victory. Times were tough, and there was even a near breakup in the mid-2000s as suitors like the Bulls and the Clippers came calling. But Kobe and the Lakers survived the rough patch, added Pau Gasol to the lineup, and returned to winning ways again.

They have been together 17 years now, and Kobe Bryant is surely set to retire as a Laker for life. Even as the new generation – Dwight Howard – gets introduced into the relationship, this is still surely Kobe’s team. And they will remain so until Kobe himself decides that it’s time to call it quits.

Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, & Manu Ginobili – Family Togetherness

Since 1997, there has been but one surety in the basketball world: Tim Duncan and the Spurs will win a lot of games. No matter however much other teams and players change, Duncan and the Spurs stay the same. An injury to their former favourite David Robinson saw the Spurs plummet down the rankings and earn the rights to the Number 1 pick in the 1997 Draft. They immediately drafted the heartthrob that every team in the league had their eyes on: Tim Duncan. Ever since then, Duncan’s developing relationship with Robinson and Coach Gregg Popovich has been the cornerstone for success for this team. Robinson retired after two championships, but Duncan stayed on for lots more individual and team success, and 16 years later, he is still in San Antonio and still contending for the title.

But in this time, the Spurs have been able to add two more invaluable pieces to form a perfect little family of success in San Antonio. From France, they nabbed young point guard Tony Parker, and from Argentina came talented swingman Manu Ginobili. After spending 12 and 11 years with the Spurs respectively, Parker and Ginobili have become almost as important a part to the basketball culture in San Antonio as Duncan. All three bring different characteristics to the dinner table: Duncan has the quiet demeanour of a leader, Parker has the aggressive nature to attack with the ball in his hands, and Ginobili is the wily personality determined to win with any means necessary.

Together, they are one of NBA’s most successful families, and their togetherness is now serving as a model to the future of young Spurs players, like Kawni Leonard and Danny Green. Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili will hope to end their long relationship with the team with at least one more championship.

Dirk Nowitzki – Identity

Founded in 1980, the Dallas Mavericks are a relatively young franchise, and like any young team, struggled to make a mark for themselves in the early years. In the first 20 years of their existence, they only managed to get into the playoffs six times and their best showing was one solitary visit to the Western Conference Finals, back in 1988. Sure, they featured All Stars like Mark Aguirre, Rolando Blackman, James Donaldson, and Chris Gatling in their first two decades, but this was a team without an identity, a direction, without a future or a past. By 1996-97, they were in full-on transition mode, changing their partners at a hefty pace, and in the course of the season, played 27 different players for their side!

And then came the Good German.

Selected 9th in the 1998 NBA Draft, the Mavericks took a risk in adding the unproven sharp-shooting big man, with a skill-set like none other before him in league history. Nowitzki joined the core of this new look team with Michael Finley and young Steve Nash. As the three young players developed together, things changed for the better in Dallas. The three became the ‘Big Three’, and from 2000 onwards, the Mavericks didn’t miss the playoffs again. Even after the departures of Finley and Nash, the Mavericks continued to build a team around Nowitzki. By 2006, he carried them to the NBA Finals, in 2007 he had an MVP season, and in 2011 he – along with Jason Kidd, Tyson Chandler, and Shaun Marion – finally delivered the franchise their first championship after 31 long years.

The Mavericks chose to develop their team’s identity and personality around Nowitzki, who has now been a member of the squad for 15 years! Surrounding players have come and gone, but Nowitzki and the Mavericks have been a perfect couple. He is now 34, and as he ages, the team has slowed down too. This could be the first time that they miss the playoffs in 12 years. But even as they look to a new era, the Mavericks celebrate the man who made them who they are.

Paul Pierce – Heart

If the Mavericks were in search of identity until they found Nowitzki, the Boston Celtics – the most successful franchise in NBA history – were in search of new blood to bring back their old legacy. Picked one spot after Nowitzki in 1998, they found this new blood in Paul Pierce. Pierce made a good impression in his early years in Boston, but it was his bravery in 2000 that began the city’s true, long-lasting love affair with him.

In September 2000, Paul Pierce was involved in a violent altercation, leaving him with 11 stab wounds across his body and requiring him to undergo lung surgery to repair the damage. Astonishingly, the young Pierce showed unbelievable heart and courage to bounce back by the time the season began and become the only Celtic to start all games in the 2000-01 season!

Pierce has been a staple in Boston basketball since: he never gave up on the team despite disappointing results season after season, until the team finally gifted him with two valuable teammates in Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. The Celtics Big Three finally brought back a championship to Boston. With time passing, Allen left, Garnett got older, and young Rajon Rondo became the team’s focal point. But Pierce remains as the heart and soul of the team and is still their best offensive option.

Dwyane Wade – Star Attraction

By the end of this season, Dwyane Wade – drafted back in 2003 – would’ve completed a full decade in Miami. Part of the stellar 2003 Draft Class, Wade has seen other stars drafted in the same year change jerseys, such as LeBron and Bosh moving from Cleveland and Toronto respectively to Miami, and Carmelo Anthony moving from Denver to New York. But unlike the other tragic breakups, Wade’s romantic story with the Heat has continued despite their ups and downs and now, they’re enjoying the best stretch of their time together.

Through injury and success, through MVP teammates and through struggles, through the league’s worst records and through championships, Wade and the Heat have survived their time together. How was he able to do it? Perhaps it’s because of Wade’s magical charms over other NBA superstars, who are more than happy to come and play with him in sunny South Beach. In 2004, with Shaquille O’Neal was traded from Los Angeles, he was glad that Miami kept the young Wade to play alongside him. In a couple of years, Wade had outgrown even Big Shaq to bring the team their first championship and himself a Finals MVP award. Four years later, Wade attracted two more stars to Miami – LeBron James and Chris Bosh – and together, this new Big Three has been to the NBA Finals twice, won a championship, and created a historic winning streak this season.

Wade’s brilliance in Miami has perhaps masked the efforts of another player signed by the Heat in 2003 who has also spent his entire NBA career with the Heat: Udonis Haslem. Wade and Haslem have stuck together with the Heat for two championships. While LeBron James is now the team and the league’s MVP, it is Wade who has brought the stars to Miami who will always be the Heat’s deepest love affair.


Time changes, generations pass, and old ways give in to the new. But as these long-time loyal players have shown, it is still possible to be a one-team player for a decade or more in the NBA. It is still possible to forge a relationship through passion, heart, and mutual respect, can stand the test of time. One thing that all these players have in common is that they have been able to deliver at least one championship to their respective teams.

Hopefully, their example can spawn many more youngsters with hopes to form long-term relationships in the NBA!