Over 100 of the worldโs top international male basketball talent from 18 countries descended on Canberra for the NBA Academy Games, 16-21 July, with talent scouts from NBA organisations and over 30 colleges in tow.
This is the second time the games have run, and took place this year in conjunction with Basketball Australiaโs (BA) prospects camp.
The games saw five Australian teams and five international NBA Academy teams representing Africa, China, India, Latin America and a global team all compete.
NBA Elite Basketball Operations Lead Chris Ebersole told Canberra Daily the six-day program provides the athletes with a multifaceted schedule.
โTheyโre getting a chance to compete with one another, train with one another and get exposure to really high level coaching, and then obviously showcase their skills.
โWeโre also trying to utilise this week to give these guys exposure to some off-court education.
โWe focus on academics, character development, life skills, time management, leadership, communication and really try to instill a lot of the values,โ he says.
Ebersole says the decision to base the games in Canberra was partially due to the NBAโs Academy programs being inspired by the AIS Bruce precinct.
โWhen we started the NBA Academy, one of the models we took out of our research was the AIS and the BA Centre of Excellence.
โWeโve built a relationship to the point where weโre not just using their Centre of Excellence as a model, but theyโre now our partner for the academy โฆ itโs been a really fruitful relationship so far.โ
With a record 10 Australians on NBA lists for the next season, Ebersole says the sportโs resurgence in Australia is due to a number of desirable qualities found in our athletes.
โThereโs something about Australian players; we see a common thread, a certain toughness, selflessness with how they play that translates into the way the NBA game is played.
โTheir ability to space the floor, to shoot and share the ball, those are all skills that have become a premium โฆ itโs no surprise that Australia is producing that level of talent.โ
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