In a few days, one of the most talented Indian basketball players - Amjyot Singh Gill - will wait for the biggest step in his life at the NBA's D-League draft. But before he heads to the US, Amjyot is making a stopover in the UAE for another basketball extravanganza to add to the growing feathers in his cap.
Amjyot Singh is the marquee name in Team Hamamatsu, the champions from Tokyo who are one of the 12 finalists at the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Finals in Abu Dhabi (UAE), set to be held on October 27-28. Hamamatsu are a team rich with Indian-origin talent, and are even unofficially 'Team Gill' at the tournament, also featuring Inderbir Singh Gill (USA), Bikramjit Gill (Canada), along with Japan's Chihiro Ikeda. The three Indian-origin players completed training at the world-class Jaypee Greens facility in Greater Noida and flew out to Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, October 26.
The FIBA 3×3 World Tour Finals is a very prestigious event that is the equivalent of a World Cup for 3×3 basketball for professional players.
"Playing 5 on 5 (in Japan) was a very good experience as it was my first professional league," said Amjyot, "Playing in 3 on 3 was a whole new game for me but because of Inderbir and Bikram bhai they modified my game and helped me a lot to do what I’m doing now. We are prepared for the World Tour and we think we will do good. We are hopeful of reaching at least the semis and after that whichever team sets up its plays better will win."
Chandigarh's Amjyot (24), a six-foot-nine forward, has signed a contract with the NBA D-League and he will now be eligible for the D-League's draft on October 30th. OVer the last few years, Amjyot has truly made a mark on basketball in India and further around the Asian continent. With his performances for the national team, he has emerged as the best All-Round talent and one of the top superstars of the Indian national team. Abroad, he has excelled for the Tokyo Excellence in the Japanese D-League and made waves in the FIBA 3x3 tour in Tokyo. Most recently, he helped India to their best international basketball performance in 27 years with a 7th place finish at the FIBA Asia Challenge in Iran. In an interview a few weeks ago, Amjyot told me that he aims to be "the first Indian to play in the NBA."
The Singh Factor in the NBA D-League has doubled its chances of doubling this season.
Chandigarh's Amjyot Singh Gill, probably the finest basketball player from India right now, will finally get his best shot at high-level glory soon. The six-foot-nine, 24 year old forward has signed a contract with the NBA D-League and he will now be eligible for the D-League's draft on October 30th.
The D-League already features India's first NBA draftee Satnam Singh, who is signed for the Texas Legends. A few weeks ago, it was announced that the ACG-NBA Jump winner Palpreet Singh signed a D-League contract for draft eligibility. Amjyot's signing will mean that now, there will be two Indians hoping for a roster spot on Draft Day. If all goes well, there could be three giant Singhs hooping, and hopefully, dominating the NBA's Development League very soon!
OVer the last few years, Amjyot has truly made a mark on basketball in India and further around the Asian continent. With his performances for the national team, he has emerged as the best All-Round talent and one of the top superstars of the Indian national team. Abroad, he has excelled for the Tokyo Excellence in the Japanese D-League and made waves in the FIBA 3x3 tour in Tokyo. Most recently, he helped India to their best international basketball performance in 27 years with a 7th place finish at the FIBA Asia Challenge in Iran.
The six-round NBA D-League draft is set to feature more than 200 draft-eligible players, and out of these, Amjyot will be fighting to be among the top 130 odd players who usually get drafted. If Amjyot gets drafted he will have to report to the team within a day or two for an 8-10 day training camp. All players, including Amjyot will be assessed on various physical (such as strength and conditioning) and game parameters (individual and team based basketball skills such as shooting, defence, rebounding, special awareness, passing etc.). If Amjyot suitably impresses then he has a chance to become an official D-League player in any of the 22 D-League teams currently affiliated to their parent franchise in the NBA.
D-League teams often work as development schools or 'feeders' to their parent NBA franchises. Over the last three seasons around 15% of NBA D-League athletes (or an average of 39 players per season) have been called up to the NBA. In a phone interview from Chandigarh, Amjyot expressed that his goal was to keep rising all the way up.
"I'm feeling really good about this news, but I'm also a little nervous. This is once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Amjyot told me. "My personal aim is to become the first Indian to play in the NBA."
Amjyot's former Punjab and India teammate Satnam Singh was drafted in the NBA and has played in the D-League for one season, but hasn't yet received an NBA call-up. Last summer, Indo-Canadian Sim Bhullar became the first player of Indian-origin to play in the NBA.
While Palpreet worked his way on to the D-League's radar by winning the ACG-NBA Jump - a talent scouting programme in India - earlier this year, Amjyot's success came from the work he has put in over the past few years in competitive games in India and abroad. Scouts from around the world have noted his talent, and he told me that the news of the D-League contract was broken to him during the FIBA Asia Challenge last month by NBA India's Carlos Barroca. His management team - Pursuit - were one of the major forces in helping him realize this dream.
"This is a big step forward for both Amjyot as well as Indian basketball," said Vishnu Ravi Shankar, Amjyot's manager and the business head of Pursuit. "He has earned the right to be in the D-League draft based purely on his performances with the Indian national team and professionally in Japan. If called up, we have no doubt he can make a splash in the D-League, which would in turn open a world of opportunity for him."
In his most recent international outing - the FIBA Asia Challenge - Amjyot helped India to a 4-4 final record, averaging 12.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. He was one of the stars of the Japan's D-League last season alongside his India teammate Amrit Pal Singh. He helped the Tokyo Excellence win the D-League title on the back of 13.7 points and 8.1 rebounds per game over 35 games, playing 21 minutes per game.
Before the draft, Amjyot will first head to Dubai for the FIBA 3x3 World Championships with the Team Hamamatsu, comprising of all Indian-origin player. After that, he will await word from the D-League about his future status.
"From my side, I'm working on improving my individual skills and strength in preparation for the D-League," Amjyot said. "I will especially focus on improving my stamina."
The NBA D-League's 16th season begins on Nov. 11 with a record 22 teams. Following the draft, teams will hold training camps beginning on Oct. 31, and will trim their rosters to 10 players on Nov. 10, before the start of the season.
The global NBA basketball network is about to get a lot larger.
Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical broke the story yesterday about NBA's ambitious global programme, where they will be targeting the development of 14 to 18 years old basketball prospects in a huge grassroots project in Africa (specific countries not mentioned yet), China, Australia and, yes, India! According to The Vertical, the NBA will make a formal announcement about this programme soon.
If successful, a programme like this should help the NBA pinpoint the best young players in India from the age of 14, and then spend their resources and expertise on each of those players for the next four years to help develop their game. The end-point ambition for every young athlete will be, of course, to play in the NBA. But the programme will seek to have an educational and charitable angle, too: the NBA will save resources for the athletes higher education and other career options, beyond just the league itself.
The NBA’s mission is ambitious: Find the best young athletes on the planet – deliver them high-end training with a focus on fundamentals and education – and ultimately strengthen the league’s pool of potential players. The NBA is still finalizing locations and contracts, and a formal announcement is expected in the near future. The academy program will seek to serve players in the 14-to-18-year-old range, partnering with and upgrading existing facilities and educational institutions. Prospects will be scouted and identified throughout the regions and offered the chance to join a regional academy. The program plans to work closely with players’ families and mentors to help them understand the academic component of the program and how that’ll assist them in achieving higher educational goals – regardless of how their basketball careers play out. The NBA will provide coaching, strength and conditioning specialists, scouting, video and technical specialists, and will partner with local infrastructures to create what the NBA calls a “360 degree” development experience for the prospective players. Elite prospects from other regions and countries with underdeveloped basketball infrastructures could be invited to Australia, where the NBA’s initiative will be headquartered. Australia will be considered a “catch-all” for high-level international talent, including players from beyond the initial scope of Africa, China and India. The NBA wants to create a destination for young players that’ll give them an option beyond playing professionally at a young age overseas. The NBA also is working to educate and train scouts and coaches in these regions to create ecosystems that’ll allow them to better administer the programs and develop the players in the long run. The NBA will offer educational components that will include college scholarship funds for players to pursue higher-level education. For players who don’t earn scholarships or professional contracts – and even for those who do – a fund will be provided to draw upon for higher education.
For players interested in taking the professional route, agents will be allowed to meet with players in designated windows. The league believes that another natural extension of the global academies could come with the NBA Development League, which the NBA is planning to bolster. The D-League eventually could be a draw for elite players before they are draft-eligible.
This programme will allow the NBA to go out and nurture the talent themselves, instead of waiting for the end product to arrive to them on draft day. What this means is that, instead of waiting for state level federations or the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) to identify and develop our players in their own, flawed way, the NBA will be able to give the best young Indian players a higher level of of coaching, administration, development, and educational options.
Every country has its own specialised conditions. In India, often the biggest loss is when young prospects with potential aren't discovered by top quality scouts/trainers until it is already too late for them. Lost opportunities have limited the potential of many star Indian players. Players who have NBA or at least NCAA potential at 14 have to eventually settle for competing only in Indian basketball. Stars like Amjyot Singh and Amrit Pal Singh are prime examples: both players, 24, are now two of Asia's top big men and have played professional basketball in Japan. But if their talents were scouted and improved upon in the right manner at the right age, both should have played college basketball and at least the NBA D-League in the US by now. Often, domestic conditions hamper the growth and opportunities for Indian players, the worst case of which has of course been the rift for the BFI's executive committee and the BFI's rift with the UBA League.
Instead of young Indian players getting stuck in the cobwebs of age-fraud, regional favouritism, infighting between federations and leagues, or unhelpful training and coaching practices, they will be honed with a directed focus to develop under the umbrella of the world's finest basketball association.
The league already has a hundred or so international players, many of them present and future superstars. For the NBA, their vested interest in developing more international talent will help basketball as a whole become a larger sport worldwide and help spread the NBA brand globally. If India, China, Ghana, Kenya, or Australia have more players in the NBA or in NBA contention, then those country's are more likely to become larger consumers of the NBA brand, too. Yao Ming's influence transformed China, and thus transformed the way basketball business is conducted worldwide. A similar effect could help grow the game and its influence in other countries, too.
By focusing on education and supporting the athletes beyond their NBA dreams, the league is also signalling that this programme will not just be about the money. There are only between 400 to 500 players every year that get to play in the NBA. Not everyone's hoop dreams are going to come true. With an educational or another foundation, the programme should be able to help these young players find success in other fields of life through basketball.
Hopefully, India can be one of those countries producing basketball talent to join that competition, too. Not every great young Indian player is going to make the NBA; but this programme should help young Indian players to make a career out of their basketball talents, and thus, encourage more youngsters to consider basketball. India already has a player - Satnam Singh - who was drafted by the NBA last year and is currently playing minor minutes in the D-League. Satnam's story was incredible, but his development mostly took place in Bradenton, Florida's IMG Academy after he was taken out of Punjab. Satnam had to arrive ready-made (sort-of) for the NBA; hopefully, this programme will help the NBA catch others like him and hone many more Satnams in India itself!
One and a half years ago, Canadian basketball player Sim Bhullar made history for the desi community worldwide as the Sacramento Kings gave him a chance to become the first player of Indian descent to play in the NBA. During his short, 10-day contract with the Kings (owned by India-born Vivek Ranadive), Bhullar played just three minutes in three games and scored one basket. But in his brief moment in the sun, the 7-foot-5 talent from New Mexico State University had done enough to scribble his name in the pantheon of Indian basketball players around the world.
Bhullar's decision to play in Taiwan may be financially motivated, suggested Blake Murphy on the Raptors Republic blog. The D-League salaries are low, and playing in Asia may give Bhullar more chance to earn and also become a centerpiece for the team. But the risk remains that this move may hurt his visibility and potential return to play in the NBDL or the NBA.
Apart from his extremely brief NBA stint, the big man had spent the rest of his two-year professional basketball career after leaving New Mexico State in the NBA D-League, playing with the Reno Bighorns and Raptors 905. Although he started slow, he showed considerable improvement for 905 in his last few months with the team, eventually finishing with averages of 9.6 ppg, 6.9 rpg, and 1.3 bpg at the end of the 2015-16 season.
The Dacin Tigers finished the 2015-16 SBL season at third place with a 18-12 record. They won their only SBL title in 2009.
Bhullar, the son of Punjabi immigrants to Canada, remains closely tied to his Indian roots, and took a high-profile trip back to India last year with the NBA to promote basketball in the country. He will become the first player of Indian-origin to play in the SBL.
A year ago, Satnam shattered a proverbial glass ceiling to become the first Indian to be drafted into the NBA, by the Dallas Mavericks. Satnam never actually earned a call-up to the Mavericks and instead played bit minutes for their D-League affiliate, the Texas Legends.
Now, for the second year in a row, he'll take part in the Mavericks' Summer League squad in Orlando and Las Vegas for another shot to prove he can run with some of the best young basketball players in the world. The grind continues...
The Dallas Mavericks announced their full roster for the upcoming NBA Summer Leagues, in Orlando (July 2-8) and Las Vegas (July 8-18). Satnam, 20, will be part of the roster for both competitions, and he will be joined in Orlando by other young standouts including Brandon Ashley (Satnam Legends teammate and D-League All Star), Jaleel Cousins (DeMarcus' younger brother), Cory Jefferson, and Marquis Teague (who has played for the Bulls and Nets in the NBA).
Satnam, who was the 52nd pick in the 2015 draft, played a minor role for Dallas's Summer League team in Las Vegas last year, and took some baby steps to improvement. The Mavericks were knocked out at the 2015 Vegas league's Quarter Final stage. Satnam played bit minutes in five of Dallas' six games and showed hints of his potential. He played an average of seven minutes per game at the Summer League, scoring 2.6 points and grabbing 2.4 rebounds per game.
For the Texas Legends last season, Satnam played in 19 games during the course of the season and started twice. He averaged just under eight minutes per game and put up 1.5 points and 1.5 rebounds per contest. Those aren't particularly impressive statistics, but most importantly for the young Punjabi, he was able to experience professional life and the pace of the D-League, and has been hard at work this summer to return to the court better than ever.
Hopefully, Satnam's increased experience and improving skills will earn him more on-court action this Summer League. If he is able to make a mark, there's a chance that the Mavericks may finally consider a call-up during the course of the season. History awaits to make him the first Indian citizen in an NBA game.
Before he made history by becoming the first Indian player to be drafted into the NBA, before be began to play for the D-League's Texas Legends, and before he became a role model to South Asian basketball lovers around the world, Satnam Singh was just a Sikh child from a small village in Punjab, trying to realize his hoop dream at basketball camps in Ludhiana, and turn his humble opportunity into an unlikely success story.
Years later, Satnam did just that, and during his first professional offseason, the 20-year-old big man used his time to inspire the next generation of young Sikhs to make the most of their opportunities.
On Saturday, May 21st, Satnam Singh attended the first-ever fundraiser for Sikh Kid 2 Kid (SK2K), an organization made up of the Sikh youth in the DMV region, at the RockVille SportPlex in Maryland. The fundraiser featured basketball and football tournaments as well as carnival games, raffles and food. Maryland House Delegate Aruna Miller also attended the fundraiser to support SK2K's cause. Satnam played basketball with the youth, comprising of a group of kids of all backgrounds intermingling with the local Sikh community.
"In India, there are a lot of players who can make the NBA, but they don't have the chance," Satnam said, "They need the opportunity. If you have access to the opportunities and the facilities here, make sure to use it."
"I had always made it my goal to be the first Indian to be drafted into the NBA," he added. "Now, my goal is to play in an NBA game."
Miller, the first South Asian delegate from the city, also spoke to the kids and educated them about the democratic process. She later added that Satnam was a trail blazer in his field and was able to be a different type of role model for South Asians.
Sikh Kid 2 Kid’s wide variety of projects include students training teachers to create culturally accepting environments in their classrooms, facilitating workshops to help render positive body image among the youth, and educational camps for weekly online English classes to underprivileged children back in Punjab. In order to battle Punjab’s drug epidemic, SK2K is also designing and implementing a drug prevention programme for the region.
Out of a field of thousands from around the country, 32 young Indian basketball players have emerged, taking one step closer to realising their dream to play in the NBA's Development League (NBDL).
Last year, Satnam Singh became the first Indian player to be drafted into the NBA, and within a few months, found his way into playing for the D-League team Texas Legends. To find more Indian players to follow in Satnam's footsteps, the NBA joined hands with ACG Worldwide in October to launch ACG-NBA Jump, the first-ever basketball talent search programme in India.
Split into three phases, the programme aims to to provide basketball players (all men for the first iteration of this programme) between the ages of 18-22 from around the country the opportunity to develop their skills; one top player from the programme would also receive the opportunity to attend the NBA Development League (NBA D-League) National Tryout in the United States. After regional, elite camps in six Indian cities over the past four months (New Delhi, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata), Phase one of the programme is over, and ACG-NBA Jump have chosen 32 finalists to head back to Delhi-NCR for phase two, a national camp to determine the cream of the crop.
The national camp will be held in at Jaypee Greens in Greater Noida from February 22-25, 2016, consisting of 32 players representing all six regional camps. While the camp will serve as a selection process, its main activity will be to impart intensive coaching to this select group of players thus enriching the talent pool of the country, reported OneIndia.com.
"ACG-NBA Jump has given basketball playing youth in India a pathway to professional ranks. We are committed to grow the program in the years to come," said NBA India Managing Director Yannick Colaco. "While one out of the 32 players will get the big opportunity of a national tryout in the NBA D-League, the entire pool will be a part of Elite Talent Club and NBA will monitor their progress on a regular basis." "Promotion of sports and youth development has always been a part of ACG's CSR vision and this programme is an important milestone towards realization of this vision," said ACG Director Karan Singh. "The final pool of players represents the very goal of the programme that was to identify and hone the untapped talent pool of basketball in India. We strongly believe that our partnership with NBA to tap this potential and create a solid platform for the aspirants has found the right beginning. We are as excited as the 32 selected players and can't wait to see the final chosen one take off to the United States for the D-League National Tryout."
At the end of the four-day camp, the player with the best prospect will emerge as the winner of the talent search. In the third and final phase of the programme, thee top player will attend the NBDL Tryout in the USA for the opportunity to earn a spot on a D-League roster. The selected player will continue to undergo training up until the tryout in June 2016.
Sony SIX, the official broadcaster of the NBA in India, will create a feature around ACG-NBA Jump, following the programme through its various stages and tracking the winner till his NBA D-league tryout.
When Satnam Singh became the first Indian to be drafted into the NBA earlier this year, hundreds of thousands of fans in the country of a billion went nuts. It was a watershed moment in Indian basketball history, and Satnam's achievement connected with every basketball and NBA fan back home.
But his drafting struck a special crowd with yet another audience. Satnam was picked by the Dallas Mavericks, a franchise with a relatively successful recent basketball history and positive management. He was also brought to an area with one of the largest populations of Indian-Americans in the USA. Dallas and Fort Worth together in Texas is home to over a hundred thousand people of Indian descent, ensuring that Satnam would never be too far away from a familiar accent or a plate of fresh samosas.
On Satnam's 20th birthday - December 10th - he received an extra special gift. The US-India Chamber of Commerce (USICOC), based out of Dallas-Fort Worth, held their 16th Annual Awards Banquet on December 10th, and Satnam was invited to receive an award in 'Outstanding Industry Leadership in Sports and Entertainment'. He shared the stage with several Indian-origin dignitaries at the event, and even got a chance to speak to Desiplaza TV. Check out his interview below.
USICOC is a non-profit organization created by Americans of Indian origin wanting to further encourage and facilitate trade between the United States and India. In addition to international trade, the USICOC promotes commerce in local markets, helping member companies network and grow their businesses, sell to mainstream America as well as other Indian Businesses and do business with local, state and federal government agencies.
Satnam was drafted 52nd by the Mavericks in June this year and is currently playing for their affiliate team in the NBA D-League, the Texas Legends.
Last month, the NBA launched a unique talent hunt programme in India to find the young basketball player with most potential in the country. Joining hands with the ACG Worldwide Group, the NBA introduced the ACG-NBA Jump for players between the ages of 18-22 from around India. Tipping off in the third week of October in New Delhi, the ACG-NBA Jump is scheduled to be held in six Indian cities, pick a shortlist of the finest talents, and then train them to find the best among the best. The winner of this talent search will be given a shot to attend the NBA D-League tryout in the USA next year.
After a successful opening tip in New Delhi last week - which featured India's first NBA pick Satnam Singh as a special guest - the ACG-NBA Jump moved to the city that made Satnam the teenage star that he was: Ludhiana, Punjab. The second leg of the ACG-NBA Jump was held at Ludhiana's famed Guru Nanak Stadium on Saturday, November 21st. Senior Director of Basketball Operations for NBA India Carlos Barroca was among the coaches headlining this event and keeping their eye out for potential star talent from the city and nearby.
The first-of-its-kind ACG-NBA Jump programme will be split into three phases. In the first phase, six regional, one-day elite camps will be held in six cities: Delhi (Oct 26), Ludhiana (Nov 21), Hyderabad (Nov 28), Mumbai (Dec 12), Kolkata (Jan 9), and Chennai (Jan 16). Around 3-5 international coaches from across the globe will conduct the open try out session in all the six cities.The second phase will consist of a national elite training camp where 32 players selected from the six regional camps would assemble for a four-day training period. In the third and final phase, one top player from the national elite training camp would be selected to attend the NBDL Tryout in the USA for the opportunity to earn a spot on a D-League roster. The selected player would continue to undergo training up until the tryout in June 2016. Sony SIX, the official broadcaster of the NBA in India, will create a feature around ACG-NBA Jump, following the programme through its various stages and tracking the winner till his NBA D-league tryout.
It has been a whirlwind few months for Satnam Singh, the 19-year-old 7-footer from Punjab who made history by becoming the first Indian to ever be drafted into the NBA this year. After he completed his storied journey from far rural Punjab to the IMG Academy in Florida, he declared for the NBA Draft after five years at the basketball academy earlier this year. He spent a month travelling around different NBA cities to work out and show his skills, and at the 2015 NBA Draft, he made history when the Dallas Mavericks picked him 52nd. He played for Dallas' Summer League team with mixed returns, came back to India a hero to promote the game and work with the NBA's "Jump" programme, and then returned to the US for his shot at the Mavericks' D-League affiliate, the Texas Legends.
2015 will be a year that Satnam - and all Indian fans - will never forget. And now, 'King Singh' finally gets the stability he has craved for in Frisco, Texas, to focus back on the one thing that started off his entire journey: basketball.
The Legends' opening night roster features Jamil Wilson, Brandon Ashley, Allen Durham, Toure' Murray, and Tu Holloway who started for the team against Austin. Aside from Satnam, the team has more intrigue for Asian fans in the form of Philippines' basketball player Bobby Ray Parks Jr.
Satnam played 10 minutes in his debut, shot two of four for four points, grabbed three rebounds, and registered one block. However, his Legends lost the game in a blowout to to the Spurs 106-81. Check out Satnam's first pro basket in the video below:
The D-League season will last till April 2nd, and if Satnam is able to contribute and improve his performances and in-game conditioning, he can be sure to call Frisco his home for the next five months. However, in the best case scenario, I hope that he performs well enough to be relocated about 45 kilometers south to Dallas and earn that NBA call-up!
Meanwhile, enjoy the Legends' season with Satnam - the schedule is available here and their games are broadcast on YouTube.
Earlier this year, soon after becoming the first Indian-origin player to play in the NBA, Canadian seven-footer Sim Bhullar made a high-profile trip to his parents homeland, India, to promote the sport of basketball. Now, he is taking another trip homewards - this time to the city that truly honed him: Toronto.
Bhullar spent most of last season in Reno, where he improved month by month and eventually finished the season with averages of 10.3 points, 8.8 rebounds, and D-League leading 3.87 blocks per game. The 7-foot-5 giant's performances (and of course, the potential of inspiring the Indian market) helped him earn a 10-day contract with the Sacramento Kings. He made his debut against the Minnesota Timberwolves towards the end of the 2014-15 NBA season, and made history on the way by becoming the first player of Indian-origin to play in an NBA game.
Bhullar, a Toronto native who also played for Canada's national team at the Pan-Am games, will bring additional excitement to home fans in Toronto as he plays for the 905 for the coming season. Hopefully his performances are able to earn him a return spot to the NBA with the Toronto Raptors.
You're talented. I mean, really talented. You wake up early to spend time on the basketball court, come home early from school to keep playing, and make the court your bedroom, your kitchen, your hangout, and your pilgrimage all weekend. None of your friends have been able to defeat you yet, and every team you join ultimately wins at pick-up games. You are the best player in your school team, have had the opportunity to represent your district and your state at official tournaments, and have real hopes of wearing an 'India' jersey in the future.
But, beyond your achievements, you spend your time off the court watching the NBA on TV or highlights on YouTube. You want to ball like Durant, Davis, LeBron, and Westbrook. You want to ball alongside Curry, Harden, Paul, and Griffin. You want to wear an NBA jersey. You dream of it so much that you can hardly sleep.
You have the talent and the drive. But how are you ever going to get there? How will the NBA even know of your existence?
Behold! The path to turning your dream into a reality is about to become a lot clearer.
The ACG-NBA Jump programme is set to provide basketball players between the ages of 18-22 from around the country the opportunity to develop their skills and one top player from the programme would also receive the opportunity to attend the NBA Development League (NBA D-League) National Tryout in the United States, reported an AP news report on FirstPost.
The programme would be split into three phases. In the first phase, six regional, one-day elite camps will be held in six cities: Delhi (Oct 26), Chandigarh (Nov 21), Hyderabad (Nov 28), Mumbai (Dec 12), Kolkata (Jan 9), and Chennai (Jan 16). According to a report on the Times of India, around 3-5 international coaches from across the globe will conduct the open try out session in all the six cities.The second phase would consist of a national elite training camp where 32 players selected from the six regional camps would assemble for a four-day training period. In the third and final phase, one top player from the national elite training camp would be selected to attend the NBDL Tryout in the USA for the opportunity to earn a spot on a D-League roster. The selected player would continue to undergo training up until the tryout in June 2016. Sony SIX, the official broadcaster of the NBA in India, will create a feature around ACG-NBA Jump, following the programme through its various stages and tracking the winner till his NBA D-league tryout.
"We strongly believe in the potential of India's youth and believe in empowering them through sport. ACG-NBA Jump is an equal opportunity programme for many who are talented but may not have the access," said ACG Director Karan Singh.
"This programme is part of ACG Cares Foundation and we are sure that with more programmes like this, India's basketball teams will have a richer talent pool to choose from. With the help of such programmes, we are confident that India's performance on international platforms such as the Olympics and Asian Games will improve," he added.
"ACG-NBA Jump is the next step in our continued commitment to grow the game of basketball in India," said NBA India Managing Director Yannick Colaco.
"With Sim Bhullar becoming the first player of Indian descent to play in the NBA and Satnam Singh becoming the first Indian-born player to be drafted into the NBA, basketball playing youth in India now have relatable figures to look up to, and this programme will give them the opportunity of a direct path to the professional ranks," he added.
Satnam's journey to the NBA came to realization through a mixture of talent and luck. Satnam was a seven footer by the time he was 14 and began to dominate Indian junior tournaments. Around the same time, IMG Reliance decided to provide its first (and thus far, only) scholarship programme to take young Indian players to High School and basketball training to Bradenton in Florida. Over at the IMG Academy, Satnam received world-class coaching and top exposure to improve enough by 19 that he eventually got on the NBA radar, and thus, was able to be drafted.
The 'Satnam model' may never be replicated again, but the ACG-NBA Jump should be able to cast a wider net and provide a goal for more young NBA aspirants in India to aim for. You don't need to be seven feet tall to be noticed anymore; if you have talent and can stand out (in any way) against other top competitors, you can be the next big Indian basketball star. What more, you are set to receive high-level coaching on the road to your goal; the winner of the competition and all other participants can all benefit from the teaching and come out of this programme as better basketball players.
So keep playing, keep practicing, and keep competing. There is hope now. Those NBA dreams should start becoming a little more vivid. It's still a long road: the best among the best of the talent crop has to be selected as a high performer from his city, be the best among an elite group of 32, impress enough at a D-League camp against other hungry and talented players from all around the world, and play well enough for his D-League team to even get a sniff at an NBA jersey. But hey, nobody said that making the NBA - featuring the best basketball players in the planet - was ever going to be easy. Only the best from India can master the path to greatness; but now, at least there's a path.
Hopefully, there will be more Indians competing for a spot in the NBDL or the NBA in the near future, and eventually, the talent pool of India basketball as a whole improves, too.
For five years, Satnam Singh lived his life between two environmental and cultural extremities of home and school. Home, for Satnam, was the tiny village of Ballo Ke in Punjab’s farming hinterlands, a nondescript Indian village of less than a thousand people, where his family lived and farmed. School was the state-of-the-art facilities of the IMG Basketball Academy in Bradenton, Florida—thousands of miles away, in the United States.
In aesthetic, development, comfort, culture, and language, Ballo Ke and Bradenton couldn’t be further apart. And yet, somehow, India’s biggest basketball hope—a 7-2 giant with the expectations of turning the world’s second-largest population into the sport’s next lucrative market—handled the extremes with surprising aplomb. He was recruited by IMG at 14, whisked away from Punjab to Florida, honed and perfected his game in a completely new environment, and returned home regularly to pay homage to the land that birthed him.
Each trip back from the US, Satnam traveled through India’s capital, stopping by in New Delhi for a short stay before taking a challenging trip back to his village. Despite his rising status among India’s small (and mostly ignored) basketball fraternity, he was mostly anonymous in India off the court. Or, as anonymous as a 7-footer could possibly be in a land where he stands a foot-and-some taller than the average male.
But a couple of weeks ago, in his most recent trip home, everything was different for the now 19-year-old. Satnam was greeted by dozens with banners, marigold garlands, flashing cameras, friendly handshakes, and celebration to rival the scenes of a Punjabi wedding. For the next two weeks, he was welcomed by an entourage of fans and well-wishers everywhere he went. He dominated the sports pages of India’s mainstream newspapers—the same papers which have largely ignored basketball for decades—every day. He filmed news-channel documentaries, made coaching and speaking appearances, and was shadowed closely by cameras even when he prayed. No Indian citizen whose primary profession as to dribble a basketball had ever experienced celebrity like this before.
Satnam had broken a barrier that none of his countrymen—in India’s long basketball history—had ever penetrated. He’d become the first Indian citizen to be drafted into the NBA.
The NBA Draft is the culmination of years of toil and dreams, and the birth of a whole new era, for dozens of young and talented basketball players. For the average basketball fan, though, most players picked outside the lottery or the later stages of the first round are just names to fill out blank spaces. Only a small percentage of those names ever make an NBA appearance, and an even smaller percentage leave enough of a mark to be truly remembered.
As usual, the big names in the top 10, and the “steals” and role players were picked up later in the first round. Hours after the Minnesota Timberwolves made Karl-Anthony Towns the number-one pick of the night, the Dallas Mavericks selected Satnam Singh with the No. 52 pick of the 2015 Draft, sandwiched between Tyler Harvey of the Magic at 51 and Sir’Dominic Pointer to the Cavaliers at 53. After a soft cheer from what was left of the crowd gathered at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the 2015 Draft concluded without further notable interruption. In reality, most fans had checked out by the time the first round concluded.
But No. 52 (like the jersey number he donned during Summer League) was more than just a name to fill up a blank space. Just like they had done with Wang Zhi Zhi and China 16 years earlier, the Mavericks made history for a billion-strong population with their second round pick.
Hugs. A draft hat. A handshake with the deputy commissioner. A life transformed.
Despite the pick, few around the league and in the Mavericks camp were truly expecting the big kid to be NBA-ready anytime in the near future. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban made it clear early that Satnam would be heading to the Mavs’ D-League affiliate Texas Legends (now coached by former NBA guard Nick Van Exel) and would be, in NBA terms, a “project.”
“The Summer League was pretty good because I had never before played that level,” Satnam told SLAM over the phone soon after Summer League ended. “It was my first time there, and it was a good experience. I learned about the speed of the game, how much faster it is, and about my own speed and movement in the time I got to play. I think my coaches were happy with my progress, especially since I was coming straight from school to there, without college. IMG Academy is [high] school level and this was much different. This felt more professional, like being at a job.”
Back home, however, even those baby steps were being celebrated as giant leaps.
In early August, Satnam returned to India for the first time after being drafted. His fortnight back in the homeland was jam-packed with events and media appearances. Satnam toured the Golden Temple in Amritsar with his family and former coaches, taking a moment to pray at the Sikh holy shrine. He spent time in his village, briefly turning the quiet little hamlet abuzz with national media interest and attention. He returned to the Guru Nanak Stadium in Ludhiana, the court where he first honed his game as a pre-adolescent. He reconnected with his boyhood idol in Indian basketball (Jagdeep Singh Bains) and paid respect to the family of the late Dr. Subramanian, one of India’s most respected basketball coaches who taught the game to Satnam and dozens of other national team players. Satnam trained young players in Ludhiana, travelled to the state of Rajasthan to interact with students in Jaipur, and received felicitations and accolades everywhere he went.
“People in India can learn from my example if I do better for myself and go further in my career,” Satnam said. “I want to show young players that I got this far by focusing on nothing but the game. I’ve been drafted in the NBA and I want to play in the NBA. I hope that more Indian players can follow me here. But if you want to become like me, follow the hard work I did. Hard work, every day. Even if there is a move you’re good at, keep trying it multiple times. Make it perfect. Keep working on your game. Don’t focus on anyone or anything else.”
Soon before his triumphant return to India, Satnam reflected at how much life had changed for him between the ages of 14 and 19, when he went from being a scholarship student at IMG to India’s first NBA draftee.
“Back then, I had only thought that I will play hard and see where it goes,” he said. “Now, I’m feeling good to have come this far. It’s good, but it’s not great—because I won’t rest until I play my first NBA game. I won’t be happy until my first game. When I see a full stadium of fans, and feel the support of Indian fans, that is when I’ll feel truly happy.”
In 2011, months before his 16th birthday, Satnam already made his senior team debut for India and played bit minutes in the FIBA Asia Championship that year in China. For the next two years, while most of his classmates in school enjoyed family and downtime during the holiday seasons, Satnam returned to India to play for the national team and in domestic championships.
Now, while he tries to chase his NBA dream, Satnam has made it clear that he won’t be donning India’s national basketball team colors anytime soon, specifically at the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship set to tip off back in China the last week of September.
“This year, I will not play for India at the FIBA Asia Championship,” he told SLAM. “When the FIBA tournament happens, I will have to be back here, in the US, for practice and for training camps. Hopefully, I will get a chance to play for India when there is no clash in the schedule between the international tournaments and my engagements in the US. I have no plans to go to play for India until I’m established professionally.”
For now, his focus is completely on using the D-League stage to take the next leap higher, where he hopes to follow in the footsteps of 7-5 Canadian giant Sim Bhullar. Last season, Bhullar slowly gained his footing for the Reno Bighorns of the NBDL to eventually get a call-up by the Sacramento Kings and become the first player of Indian-origin to play an NBA game.
“What I’ve been told by my coaches is simple,” Satnam said. “The better I get, the more opportunities I will get to play. They have said that I could win a 10-day contract by the Mavericks if I play well enough in the D-League, and then 10 more days if I get better and so on and so on. I was informed by the other coaches there about the D-League and my future after the D-League. The better I play there, the higher up I’ll go.
“I can definitely be ready to make the jump the NBA soon,” he added. “I know I can do better, at least improve my game by 50 percent when I’m in the D-League. Many of the players in the D-League are en route to the NBA or have already played there—playing and practicing among them will improve me a lot. This is a big chance for me. I will feel good when I go up against other seven-footers in the D-League.”
However his journey proceeds, Satnam has already achieved the impossible. The boy from a non-descript Punjabi village has come further than the distance between Ballo Ke and Dallas and jumped higher than his own gargantuan height. On Draft night, he may have been a relatively unknown giant in a sharp suit; but once he was drafted, his name rung out across fans in India, and eventually, fans around the world, too.
“My hope is to play basketball for long, and play in the NBA a long time,” he said, “I want to help improve things in India, too. When I’m done with playing basketball, I want to go back to India and find other players and help them, too. I want to go help and teach everyone in India.”
These are exciting times if you're a seven-foot-plus Punjabi guy that plays basketball. Earlier this month, the 22-year-old 7-5 Canadian-Punjabi Sim Bhullar became the first player of Indian-descent to play in the NBA when he featured for the Sacramento Kings. Just a few weeks later, India may get their first citizen a step closer to the world's finest basketball league. 19-year-old 7-1 talent Satnam Singh Bhamara - who hails from the Ballo Ke village in Punjab but has perfected his skills at the IMG Academy in Florida, USA - has now declared for the 2015 NBA Draft.
Bhamara, who has represented India at the the Senior and Youth levels multiple times as a teenager already, is one of the finest basketball talents to ever come out of the country. His fascinating story saw him emerge as a farmer's son from the tiny Ballo Ke village in Punjab at age 10 to quickly become one of India's hottest young talents in less than four years. At 14, Bhamara was selected by the IMG on a scholarship programme to learn the game further and play at the IMG Basketball Academy in Bradenton, Florida. He has been there since 2010, only to return to India for holidays or to play in occasional national/international tournaments.
"I've declared for the NBA draft," Bhamara told me via a Skype conversation from Florida earlier this week, "Currently, I'm taking part in pre-draft training with three other prospects at IMG. From the next month, I have to go and do practices and pre-draft workouts with a number of NBA teams that are showing interest in me."
Bhamara said that he has been offered a lot of assistance in the process of learning and game and moving forward with his NBA fans by IMG coaches Dan Barto and Kenny Natt, the latter of whom was India's national team basketball coach from 2011-12 and played Bhamara in several international tournaments.
"My coaches suggested that I should try for the NBA draft," Bhamara said, "I've spent the last year practicing and working out, playing with Coach Natt's IMG team. My coaches have been training me hard. I think I've never practiced this hard in my life. I've felt like I've been training in the army, like the Khalsa Army!"
Bhamara is currently in Florida at IMG Academy, where he played for the post graduate team and averaged 9.2 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.2 blocks in less than 20 minutes per game for the No. 2 team in the country. He drew recruiting interest from Purdue, Pittsburgh, USC, USF and UMass. In his report, Pete Thamel opined that Bhamara's game is considered to have a bigger upside than his Canadian-Indian predecessor Sim Bhullar. But despite his basketball talents, he couldn't secure a college scholarship in the United States.
"My grades weren't good enough for college," Bhullar told me, "I was asked by many people why I'm bypassing college, but the grades were a challenge. I could barely even speak English when I first came here. [His English is much more proficient now] I'm sure that if I had started earlier, I would've made it to college here."
Despite the academic setback, Bhamara is confident that he will be ready for the elite challenge that the NBA will bring.
"I've improved my speed, running up and down the court, and my shooting and post-play have both improved a bit," he said, "I've learnt how to react to different situations in the court, 24-second situations, 10-second situations, all types of tense situations. My coaches have told me that I'm ready for the NBA. In High School games here, I get guarded by three defenders each time, but in the NBA, I will be single-guarded because my outside shooters will be better. You can't leave them open, and one-one-one, I can work the man who's guarding me and have the power to go past him."
Around this time a year ago, Sim Bhullar - who played two years of NCAA D1 college basketball for New Mexico State - also declared for the NBA draft, before going undrafted, playing in the Summer League for the Kings, and eventually, heading to the NBA's Development League (NBDL). Bhamara is adamant that, if his NBA gamble doesn't work out, he will stay in the USA to continue striving for a shot at the top level of the game.
"If NBA team doesn't work out, I hope to try with the D-League, and then try for the NBA again," he said, "I want to try here in USA: this is where the level of basketball is the highest. I'm familiar with it. If I try to go play basketball in a league in another foreign country, I'll have to learn another language and get suited to another lifestyle, and it may get complicated."
Ultimately, Bhamara hopes to inspire others from India - especially those from far-out parts of the country outside of mainstream reach - to explore their NBA dreams, too.
"I want 10 more players to come out of India after me," he said, "I don't want to be the only one to be there. I want to work it out there and prove myself so that 10 more will come, and 20 more after that. I want to open a road in India for basketball. I'm from a small village, there could be others like me in small villages or towns in India who can dream of playing in the NBA."
I asked him if he had told his parents the news of his NBA declaration yet.
"They will only get the good news when I make it to the NBA!"
Ambitious words from a talent young man - but does he have enough to challenge the best and brightest basketball players in the world? Bhamara is currently not high in the picture of this coming summer's top draft prospects (the respected website DraftExpress.com ranks him at 94th) but he could change all that if he can impress scouts at the pre-draft workouts. Thamel added in his report that Bhamara has managed to stay injury free this past year and has shown improvements in shooting with both hands, being a reliable free throw shooter, and acting as a defensive presence. His weaknesses are his agility and lateral movement, writes Thamel, things that he can focus on as a professional for the next few years.
There will be hundreds of prospects competing for the same dreams that Bhamara strives for, but few - if any - will have a more intriguing story. At 10, he was farming in a tiny Indian village and told me that he didn't know the difference between basketball and volleyball. At 19, he finds himself working out with NBA teams and fighting for a spot in the world's finest basketball league. Regardless of what happens ahead, he has already improved and achieved beyond his wildest dreams. Indian basketball fans will be wishing that he can keep the momentum going so that he can become the first Indian player in the NBA and become a role model for millions others back home. Hopefully, his parents get to hear some good news, soon!
