India’s Big Basketball Hope Satnam Singh Bhamara: One Step Closer

This feature was first published on Court Side News on February 2, 2013.

You may have heard of Satnam Singh Bhamara already. You may have already heard about the 7-foot (215 cm) teenager from a remote North Indian village. You may have heard about the giant 10-year-old boy who couldn’t even spell ‘Basketball’ that was found on his father’s farm in Punjab. You may have heard how this boy was taught Basketball and within four years, become the brightest young player in his country. You may have read about how this young man was recruited amongst a chosen few Indian youngsters to get a scholarship from the renowned IMG Basketball Academy in Bradenton, USA. How this boy continued to improve and began to dominate Junior and Youth championships in against strong Asian competition.

And if you’ve been paying attention, you would have definitely realized how this 17-year-old has developed into the biggest hope for Basketball fans from India’s 1.2 billion population, a fan-base that has yet to see one of their own make it to the big league.

If you’ve been following Bhamara’s story, then here’s the next chapter. Here’s where the 11th grader stands now, and where he’s looking ahead. Now, hear it directly from him.

“I’ve been working hard for the past year,” said Bhamara – speaking in rustic Punjabi – over a phone interview from Florida, “I think that I have made many improvements in my game. I had trouble keeping pace with the American game in the beginning, but now, I can run up and down the court quite comfortably. This has helped me be more aggressive in-game situations. My coaches and I have also been working to help my post-game: hook shots, jumps shots from close the basket, and finishing strong around the basket.”

Bhamara represents IMG’s Senior School team and says that the squad is halfway through their season. But he is no ordinary High-School student; in his vacations, he travels back to India for more Basketball, to represent state and nation in various important tournaments.

In December, Bhamara was back in India to represent home state Punjab in India’s biggest domestic Basketball competition – the Senior National Championship – in Ludhiana. Led by Bhamara, who was his team’s leading scorer in most games, Punjab finished runners-up in the tournament, only to lose the Finals to the side from Uttarakhand. The 17-year-old showed no trouble playing against – and dominating – veteran Indian players at the peak of their powers.

“I think I played really well at the Senior Nationals,” says Bhamara, “I was able to make my stamp on each game on both ends of the floor. I knew it was an important tournament, and despite some niggling injuries to my wrist and my elbow, I played hard and gave it my all. The best game was probably against Delhi where I scored 31 points.”

Bhamara was strong on the other end of the floor too: more than one respected big man in India struggled to score on Punjab whenever Bhamara manned the paint. From barely getting action in Senior tournaments a year ago, he graduated to becoming the focal point on his star-studded team.

But the next step for the youngster will be to dominate for India – at the Senior level – like he has been for his state. Bhamara’s biggest international breakthrough performance came two years ago when he was Asia’s leading at the U16 FIBA Asia Championship in Vietnam. This year, he will be setting his sights on returning to play for the Senior squad which – led by newly appointed American Head Coach Scott Flemming – will be playing in the 27th FIBA Asia Championship in Philippines.

“I still have to make a lot of improvements in my game,” Bhamara says, “I have to get fitter so I can be even faster up and down the court. I have to work on my footwork and my post moves. I want to double my effort in everything that I’ve learnt so far.”
During his short trip back to India, Bhamara was also able to pay a brief visit to his village Ballo Ke in Punjab, where he is hoping to be a role model for more youngsters to pick up basketball. He held a meeting with many in the village and has even sought the help of high ranking administrators in Punjab to build a full-length court in the village.

Like any intriguing High School talent in the US, Bhamara is already hearing offers from colleges hoping to recruit him. So far, he says that he has heard from D1 schools like Oregon State and Stanford. “But I’m still only in my Junior year,” he says, “I have a lot more time before I even think about college. I have to focus on my studies in school right now – I still struggle with the English language, and I have to get better to improve my overall academic performance.”

With each passing year, Bhamara is moving one step closer to becoming a top Asian talent. He is moving one step closer to his dream of being the first Indian to play NCAA D1 hoops, and of course, to fulfilling the dream of every young basketball player to play in the NBA. There is still a long way to go before Bhamara – still a raw talent – can be determined to be good enough for the world’s top leagues. But most importantly to the youngster, he is one step closer to becoming the kind of player that India’s basketball future can be built around.

“I have to improve as much as I possibly can,” he says, “So I can keep coming back and playing for India!”

Rise & Fall: A midway review of the NBA season

This feature was first published on Court Side News on January 19, 2013.

Let’s clink our beverages together and declare ‘cheers!’ to an incredible first half of the 2012-13 NBA season, for by the time that you read this, most NBA teams would have played around 41 games each and the NBA calendar would be hovering right around it’s hallway point. Through November to January, we’ve seen great Basketball, fantastic individual accomplishments, surprising highs and some shocking lows.

If NBA teams and players were on the stock market, they would have seen some serious fluctuations in their value over the past three months. We take a look back at those rises and those falls in our mid-season review of the stories that shaped the first half of the season.

Rising: The Los Angeles Clippers. In a half-season to remember, the Clippers have already played the best Basketball in the cursed history of this franchise, even going back to the days of the Buffalo Braves or the San Diego Clippers.

Rising: Chris Paul. Until this year, Paul used to be a frontrunner in arguments of the league’s best point guard. There’s no one arguing anymore.

Falling: The Los Angeles Lakers. Recent turnaround notwithstanding, the Lakers have had a terrible three months. With what was assembled and dignified as one of the greatest starting fives of all time – Kobe, Howard, Nash, Gasol, World Peace – they have achieved little and find themselves outside the playoff picture. But there is light at the end of the tunnel, as a healthy return to their crucial pieces has produced positive results.

Rising: New York Knicks. For a team that hasn’t been past the first round of the playoffs for over a decade, a top two place in the Eastern Conference is looking assured this season. Thanks largely to the brilliant play of Carmelo Anthony, but also to the defence and leadership provided by Tyson Chandler, Jason Kidd, and the rest.

Falling: The stocks of a whole bunch of injured players, from Andrew Bynum and Derrick Rose to Kevin Love and Danny Granger. Many of them will return in the second half of the year, but their form will be questionable. And a few who have returned of late – Dirk Nowitzki, Eric Gordon, John Wall, and Amar’e Stoudemire – the pressure is on them to acclimatize themselves as soon as possible.

Rising: The Golden State Warriors. David Lee and Stephen Curry are playing like All Stars, and this team is winning. A lot. But the Warriors will need the return of Andrew Bogut to be their defensive stalwart in the middle if they have greater ambitions of playoffs success.

Falling: The job prospects of the Minnesota Timberwolves medical staff, who have lost Kevin Love, Ricky Rubio, Brandon Roy, Chase Budinger, JJ Barea, Josh Howard, and Malcolm Lee to a various slew of injuries. Somehow, the team remains in the playoff hunt!

Rising: Damian Lillard who? The rookie point guard who took the now unheard-of path to the NBA with four years in college has exploded on the scene, leading all rookies in points, assists, steals, and minutes and has provided fresh hope for the Trailblazers.

Rising: James Harden. From sixth man of the year in Oklahoma City to sure fire All Star in Houston. Harden has developed into one of the best all round players in the league, and has improved his scoring average by nearly 10 points from the past season to rank fourth in the NBA this year (26.3 ppg). He’s only 23, so expect him in the ‘rising’ column a lot more.

Falling: The value of Harden’s Houston teammate Jeremy Lin, who was an unstoppable force of nature on and off the court for a few weeks last year, but now finds himself comfortably shelved playing average Basketball for an average team. Judging by his All Star votes, he’s still immensely popular; and judging by his salary and endorsements, he’s still going to be immensely rich.

Rising: Kevin Durant and the Thunder. No doubt that Durant – who is on pace to have one of the greatest shooting seasons of all time and has led the Thunder to the NBA’s top record – is my pick for the mid-season MVP. Durant has drastically added to his game and as a result, the Thunder sit pretty on top as the favourites to steal the NBA championship.

And finally… Stocks are Even for LeBron James and the Miami Heat. What can a three-time MVP, reigning champion, and Finals MVP do to get better? Just keep doing what he’s always done at a historic pace. The path to the title must still go through James and the Heat, and you can be sure that they’ll be standing in the way of any challengers. They haven’t been perfect this season, but Miami will surely up the ante defensively once the playoffs begin to rise again.

Hoopistani on Court-Side!

People! On this glorious January evening (or shivery cold hazy evening in Beijing as it is outside my window today) I'm happy to announce that I'm beginning my contribution to the world's largest basketball agency Court Side!. Starting this month, I will be writing features on various issues - including international basketball, Indian hoops, and the NBA - for Court Side's basketball news page.

Court Side has helped to represent hundreds of basketball players in various leagues around the world. Their basketball news section has stories concerning player movement and basketball news from a large numbers of countries worldwide.