14-year-old seven-footer out of India impresses basketball scouts
Being tall in the NBA doesn’t necessarily translate to a Hall-of-Fame career.
Just ask Manute Bol (7ft 7in), Gheorghe Muresan (7ft 7in), and Shawn Bradley (7ft 6 in), three examples of incredibly tall NBA players whose careers turned out to be disappointing, with
none of them averaging more than 10 points or 10 rebounds over their playing careers. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t exceptions, the most recent being Yao Ming, the 7ft 6in player out of China.
While Bol was Sudanese and Muresan was Romanian, NBA scouts have recently found a basketball player from another far-flung nation that has yet to send a player to the NBA: India.
Satnam Singh Bhamara is only 14 years old and is already a seven-footer, expected to grow even more in the coming years. Turns out it’s in his genes as his father is 7ft 2in and one of
his grandmothers is 6ft 9in. Satnam may need to find some bigger shoes to replace the size-22 ones he currently wears.
Satnam was one of 30 athletes from India who came to train at the IMG Academy in Brandenton, Fla. six weeks ago, as part of a scholarship program lasting three months. And those who’ve
seen him are impressed.
"Satnam could one day do the same thing for India that Yao Ming did in China -- put the spotlight on basketball through an entire country,'' Troy Justice, the NBA Director of Basketball
Operations in India, told FanHouse. "It really could be something.''
Satnam has improved his skills after six weeks at the academy, according to Dan Barto, director of player development at the IMG Basketball Academy. "We've seen a dramatic change in the
six weeks we've had him,'' he said. "He's shown a real willingness to work, very coachable. He wants to learn. Why do 7-footers sometimes go bad? Because they get bad people around him. That won't happen here. There is a beauty to this kid.''
And Satnam definitely wants to be part of the NBA one day. But given his age, it won’t be for a few more years at least. "My
father wanted to play basketball, but my grandfather insisted he could not. They were a family of farmers. He had fields to tend,'' Satnam told
FanHouse through an interpreter. "He never got the chance that I am getting now. He is very proud of me, and I want to play this game as well as I can play. That is my task now. Where it will take me, I don't know. The NBA? One day.''
Tags: