NBA/WNBA players and coaches will lead camp 2018 Basketball Without Borders Asia camp in Delhi-NCR. 25 Indian youngsters to take part

The National Basketball Association (NBA), International Basketball Federation (FIBA), and Basketball Federation of India (BFI) recently joined hands to announce that the 2018 Basketball Without Borders Asia camp is set to be held in the Delhi-NCR region from May 30-June 2, 2018. On Thursday, the NBA announced a list of six NBA/WNBA players, additional professional coaches, and 66 participating players from 16 countries across Asia - including 25 Indian boys and girls - who will take part in this prestigious camp, set to be held in the NBA Academy India in Greater Noida.

This is the second time - after 2008 - that the BWB Asia camp is being held in India, and it's the 10th overall BWB Asia camp. Nike will serve as the official partner of the camp.

Corey Brewer (Oklahoma City Thunder), Caris LeVert (Brooklyn Nets), Kelly Olynyk, (Miami Heat), Dwight Powell (Dallas Mavericks), two-time WNBA Champion Ruth Riley, and former WNBA player Ebony Hoffman will coach the top high-school age campers from throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

BWB Asia 2018 will feature two current prospects from NBA Academies, the league’s signature elite player development initiative that consists of a network of elite basketball training centers around the world for top male and female prospects from outside the USA. Since October 2016, NBA Academies have been launched in Canberra, Australia; Jinan, Urumqi and Zhuji, China; Delhi NCR, India; Mexico City, Mexico; and Thies, Senegal.

Players and coaches will lead the campers through a variety of activities on and off the court, including movement efficiency, positional skill development, shooting and skills competitions, 5-on-5 games, and daily life skills seminars focusing on health, leadership and communication. One boy and one girl will be named BWB Asia 2018 MVPs at the conclusion of the four-day camp. In the 2008 camp in Delhi, the boy's MVP was India's Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, who has since become one of India's most important players and has captained the senior squad in numerous international tournaments.

BWB Asia 2018 will be preceded by a basketball development camp May 27 – 29 for the 18 female prospects from throughout India as part of The NBA Academies Women’s Program. 1996 Olympic Gold Medallist and Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame member Jennifer Azzi, Riley and former college coach Blair Hardiek – the global technical directors for women’s programming across the league’s seven
academies – will oversee the camp.

BWB Asia 2018 and The NBA Academies Women’s Programme camp will also include a variety of NBA Cares and Jr. NBA community outreach efforts with youth in New Delhi in partnership with local community organisations, including basketball clinics for more than 150 youth from the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA program and the NBA Basketball Schools in New Delhi. These programmes will highlight the power of sport to promote cultural understanding while teaching the importance of a healthy, active lifestyle and the values of the game, including teamwork, respect, determination and community.

Current NBA assistant coaches Bret Brielmaier (Nets), Darvin Ham (Atlanta Hawks), Ryan Saunders (Minnesota Timberwolves), and Mike Wells (Utah Jazz) will also serve as BWB Asia 2018 coaches. Patrick Hunt (President of the World Association of Basketball Coaches; Australia) will be the camp director. Casey Smith (Mavericks) will serve as the camp’s athletic trainer.

The NBA revealed the list of 66 players from 16 countries in Asia/Oceania - 40 boys and 26 girls - who have been invited to the camp next week. The participating Indian players are:

• Girls: Khushi Ahlawat, Riya Baliyan, Priyanka Behal, Siya Deodhar, Rajvai Desai, Khushi Dongre, Monica Jayakumar, Annmariya Johny, Sunishka Kartik, Neha Karva, Grishma Niranjan, Sanjana Ramesh, Radha Rani, Sreekala Rani, Pushpa Senthil Kumar, Asmat Taunque, Vaishnavi Yadav, Ann Mary Zacariah.
• Boys: Princepal Singh, Amaan Sandhu, Prashant Tomar, Harpreet Singh, Priyanshu, Harshwardhan Tomar, Pritish Kokate.

All of the Indian girls in the programme are also participants in the NBA Academies Women's Programme. Many of these young women have already made a mark for India in the youth stage, such as Pushpa Senthil Kumar who captained the national squad in the U16 FIBA Asia Championship for Women last year and Vaishnavi Yadav, who was the MVP of the recent Junior Nationals in Ludhiana. In the boys' fray, Princepal Singh and Amaan Sandhu are both NBA Academy India prospects. Princepal, Prashant Tomar, Harshwardhan Tomar, Priyanshu, and Kokate have all represented India in junior/youth international competitions.

Other BWB camps are planned this year in Serbia and South Africa.

KD2Desi: Kevin Durant announces plans to visit India this summer

Seasons will change. Time will pass. An NBA champion will be crowned and an eager nation will open its doors to more basketball progress. And this summer, Kevin Durant of the Golden State Warriors will become the greatest basketball player to step foot on Indian soil.

A former MVP and one of the biggest global stars in basketball, Durant officially made the announcement on his social media accounts on Thursday night (Friday morning in India). NBA India released further details about his trip, which will centre around his plans to visit the soon-to-be-launched NBA Academy India in the Delhi-NCR region and Durant's own ambitions to see the Taj Mahal in Agra.

Durant is currently in New Orleans for the 2017 All-Star Weekend where he will make his eighth successive appearance at the 66th NBA All-Star Game on February 19.

“I will be the first NBA player going to the Academy," Durant said, "I’m super excited about it, to grow the game of basketball to a new level. I’m so excited about the grassroots programme. I’m looking forward to it. It should be a great time."

In November, the NBA announced its plans to launch the ambitious NBA Academy India to help nurture elite young basketball talents around the country. Recently, they named the prospects chosen for the first session of this Academy after a nationwide talent hunt.

Durant had encouraging words for the selected few in an interview on Firstpost: "I think it is just the fundamentals of dribbling, shooting, passing that you know and that crossovers no matter where you are as a basketball player. So when you get those fundamentals of the game right, that's where you start at."

This is Earth-shattering news right here. With respect to all the NBA legends of the past and present who have visited India (I have a running list here!) Kevin Durant is most-likely the best-ever. That list has included Hall-of-famers like Dominique Wilkins, Robert Parish, Dikembe Mutombo, and George Gervin, and more recent stars like Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol, Chris Bosh, Isaiah Thomas, and Shawn Marion. Only Kevin Garnett, who made a trip to India with adidas ten years ago, is of equal status to Durant right now; but I believe that Durant in 2017 is even better than KG was in 2006.

Still in his prime at 28, Durant is the NBA's 2014 MVP, a six-time All NBA Player, eight-time All Star, and four-time scoring leader. Unless you were in an isolated vipassana for the past eight months, you probably know that Durant shocked the world by leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder to join the Golden State Warriors, forming one of the NBA's most-fearsome units alongside two-time MVP Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. The shift in scenery hardly effected Durant's game: he's averaging 25.8 points and 8.3 rebounds per game this season while enjoying one of the most efficient shooting seasons ever. Plus, he has a couple Olympics gold medals to his name, too. With his Warriors currently holding the best record in the NBA, he is certain to be vying for an NBA Championship this June, which would add extra masala to his India trip later in the summer.

As ESPN reported, Durant is aware of Kobe Bryant's relationship with China and his popularity among the Chinese people. Durant wants to have a similar influence over fans in India.

"I think what people really appreciated about Kobe was that he really wanted to learn about different aspects of life and how people approach different things," Durant said in interview to ESPN India. "I feel the same way. I want to feel the culture when I go to India. I want to see what it's about. I want to get to touch the people and check the pulse -- not only the game, but life in general."

Finally, he also said that he has had the Taj Mahal on his "bucket list" for a long time.

Only trust the Government-approved guides, KD. Watch out where you leave your Nikes. And most importantly, Stay hydrated. Those North Indian summers are no joke.

NBA announces selected young players for launch of NBA Academy India

In about two months, the NBA will officially kick-off perhaps their grandest project in India, an elite academy in the Delhi-NCR region where they will groom and develop the country's best young basketball players. To populate the first group of youngsters who will join the NBA Academy India, NBA India hosted a final selection programme in Noida this week. On Saturday, February 11, they made the dreams of a few dozen come true with the announcement of the selected young players for the launch of the NBA Academy India.

Back in November, the NBA announced plans to launch NBA Academy India, an elite basketball training centre for the top male and female prospects from India in Delhi-NCR. NBA Academy India, which is the first of its kind in the country, and the NBA’s fifth elite training centre globally, will be fully funded by the NBA. It is set to open in April and will provide 24 young prospects (ages 13-17) high-level training by NBA-affiliated coaches.

As part of the ACG-NBA Jump , the NBA conducted a national scouting programme in Chennai, Delhi, Ludhiana, Kochi, and Kolkata, and then brought the 45 best talents to Jaypee Greens in Greater Noida for the final stage. From February 9-11, the NBA refined their search even more and made their final selection. 21 players joining the first session of the elite Academy were named on Saturday, and three more will be identified over the next few months. The NBA has only picked male players for the first session, and will reportedly add female players in the future, too.

The selected players (via SportStar) are: Manoj Sisodiya, Md. Ali, Riyanshu Negi, Amaan Sandhu, Sejin Mathew, Virat Dhakad, Achintya Krishna, Rajveer Bhati, M. Shanmugam, Shaurya Kohli, Prashant Rawat, Vivek Chauhan, Jagshanbir Singh, Brijesh Tiwari, Arvind Kumar, Robin Banerjee,Digvijay Shekhawat, Preshit Pawar, Suraj Phathak, Parth Sharma and Rishabh Jaiswal.

The prospects at the NBA Academy India will play against top domestic and some international teams. Each centre will feature Under-18 and Under-16 teams, reported Northbridge Times, with travel sides selected for international events. Ultimately, the most promising players at NBA Academy India will be considered for promotion to the NBA Global Academy, which the league recently established in partnership with Basketball Australia in Canberra as an international hub for the training of elite prospects.

"For the youth, it is a pathway to make a career out of the sport. We are committed to growing the program in the years to come", said the NBA India's Managing Director Yannick Colaco.

"The 24 players will now have a solid platform to prepare for the opportunity to move into the professional ranks," said ACG director Karan Singh, "The final pool of players represented the very goal of the program that was to identify, hone and create a pathway for the untapped talent pool of basketball players in India."

Second season of basketball talent search programme ACG-NBA Jump gets launched in India

Well, that escalated quickly.

A year ago, NBA India teamed up with ACG Worldwide to launch a first-of-its-kind talent search programme, the ACG-NBA Jump. Since then, the following things have happened:
- The NBA saw hundreds of young players from around the country and picked 32 for the Finals in Delhi, attended by former NBA coach Brian Shaw.
- Palpreet Singh Brar won the contest.
- With help from NBA coaches and rigorous training, Palpreet attended the NBA D-League tryouts.
- Palpreet became the first Indian to be drafted directly into the D-League.
- The NBA launched a massive Academy for elite Indian talents to boost up top-level talent from the country.

It's been a year of rapid growth for NBA India, and young Indian talents can now have realistic dreams of seeing their potential recognized, honed, and improved to take the jump to the next level of the game. Earlier this week, the NBA announced the schedule of the second season of the ACG-NBA Jump programme, to continue its efforts in finding the top Indian players and boost up their talent pool for their upcoming Academy, set to open in Delhi-NCR by April.

The second season of ACG-NBA Jump was officially launched at the Kalina University indoor court in Mumbai in the presence of former NBA champion Shawn Marion, who was in India this week to promote the game of basketball. The programme that commenced this year would go on to provide the top 24 prospects with scholarships and training at the recently announced elite basketball training centre.

"The ACG NBA Jump programme, a feeder to NBA Academy India, has potential and a great opportunity for all the kids here in India," said Marion, "I wish we had a similar setup when we grew up. I wish I can be here for the entire programme and see through the talent that comes through. I wish the participants in India make the most of the opportunity created by ACG and NBA. India has a bright future of basketball players."

"The top 24 prospects from this year's programme will have the opportunity to receive full scholarships and NBA-level coaching at NBA Academy India when it is scheduled to open in April," said NBA India's Managing Director Yannick Colaco, "I encourage players between the ages of 13 and 17 to visit www.acgnbajump.com to learn more about India's largest national basketball talent search to date."

The NBA has invited individual players to participate in the ACG NBA Jump Official Tryouts. The entire tryout session in 2016 consists of six sessions, across the span of a couple of weeks. The first session, which took place in Mumbai on the 3rd of December has already been completed. The ACG NBA Jump officials invite players from every school/ district/ city and state to come and participate in the tryouts. NBA scouts will be present at the tryouts, too.

ACG-NBA Jump Tryouts Schedule:

• December 3, 2016 – Mumbai - Mumbai University Indoor Stadium, Kalina, University Complex.
• December 10, 2016 – Chennai - Santhome School Indoor Stadium.
• December 15, 2016 – Delhi - Thyagaraj Stadium.
• December 17, 2016 – Ludhiana - Guru Nanak Indoor Stadium.
• January 6, 2027 – Kochi - RSC Kadavanthara Indoor Stadium.
• January 14, 2017 – Kolkata - WBBA Grounds, Red Road, Kolkata.

Eligibility criteria
1. Applicants should be born between 1st Jan 2000 and 31st Dec 2004
2. Competition is only for male participants

Check the ACG-NBA Jump website to register first, find out all the eligibility and registration details, and specific timings for each tryout in each city.

The second phase of the programme, a three-day national training camp, would culminate with the selection of the 24 prospects who would receive scholarships and training at NBA Academy India.