New Orleans head coach
Alvin Gentry, who was in charge of Team Africa recently when they fell to Team
World in the second NBA Africa Game, was a maelstrom of emotions following the
highly entertaining game.
On the one hand, he was elated with the effort of his
team in the ‘fun’ game; on the other, he wanted a win.
The purpose of
assembling teams to play a game on the African continent is a stem with several
branches. The game is just one of those branches, and even that, has other
parts. The 2015 NBA Championship coach pointed out some of the positive
spin-offs of the game.
“The fact that everyone
is here, and to me, when you look at the players on Team Africa, and what they
are contributing to so many countries on this continent, all the way from
northern Africa all the way down to South Africa here. Everything that they’ve
done, and what they’ve tried to do as far as making an improvement and making
contributions and being a part, and not just a basketball part [but] the growth
of Africa in general, it’s been really good.
“I think the academies
and everything that is happening, and the fact that you get the kids at such a
younger age and then, you’re able to teach them fundamentals and stuff. I truly
believe that the next big wave of NBA players are going to be from this
continent.”
Toronto Raptors
president Masai Ujiri and a lot of NBA players from different African countries
Nigeria, Senegal, Cameroon, Congo, Tunisia, DRC, South Africa, Zimbabwe and other
are opening annual camps both in their various countries and other places
(former Seattle Supersonics center Olumide Oyedeji holds camps in Nigeria and
the United Kingdom).
It would be recalled
that Team World were crown champions of NBA Africa Game 2017 held in South
Africa recently while Victor Oladipo was
voted MVP at the event.
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