CHENNAI: Basketball is rapidly gaining popularity in the country and it is in no small part down to the National Basketball Association’s efforts. Marc Pulles, Basketball Operations Team Leader-NBA India, had a brief chat with this newspaper about Kobe Bryant, the possibility of Indians making it to the NBA.
Excerpts...
1. On Kobe Bryant
I grew up watching Kobe play. He was an icon, a legend for those who picked up basketball as their favourite sport. The massive sadness and response to his passing gives you an idea of how big his legacy is. Kobe worked hard to push himself to be better every single day. He was also the reason so many players picked up basketball. We have players like Kobe and so many others who have set the benchmark for excellence purely through hardwork.
2. On Indian players making it to NBA
I don’t make predictions for any of our academy prospects because I don’t want to put undue pressure on them, but we are extremely proud of the progress they are making on the court as well as off it. Through our elite player development programme ACG-NBA Jump, we will provide basketball players from around the country, a platform to showcase their skills and a pathway to pursue a career in the sport.
3. On popularity of the sport among Indian teenagers
Cricket is and will continue to be the No 1 sport in India but basketball has tremendous opportunity to grow. Our grassroots initiative, the Reliance Foundation Jr NBA programme is seeing increasing participation year-on-year. The number of youths registering for the NBA Basketball Schools is also increasing. TV viewership for the 2018-19 season was above 91 million for all NBA programming. In the same period, the NBA India Facebook page generated more than 1.25 billion impressions, around 4.5 million interactions and reached an average of 3.8 million fans daily.
4. On success stories from NBA’s India initiative
The NBA Academy programme has facilitated basketball scholarships opportunities for male and female prospects. Jagshaanbir Singh is committed to attend Golden State Prep, becoming the first male player from The NBA Academy India to join an institute in the US. Sanjana Ramesh is playing for North Arizona University, Flagstaff, while Vaishnavi Yadav is part of the Pensacola State College in Florida. Khushi Dongre is in the ASA College team in Miami. Asmat Kaur Taunque plays for The Lawrenceville School in New Jersey, and Sunishka Kartik for the Woodside Priory School, California.