NBA TAKES AIM AT INDIA
LEAGUE HOPES TO FOLLOW UP ITS SUCCESS IN CHINA BY MAKING INROADS IN SOUTH ASIA
On a sun- drenched basketball court in a s uburban sports complex, former Denver Nuggets head coach Brian Shaw was teaching a group of athletes the finer points of man- to- man defence.
He pivoted around a defender for an easy basket as his students — some already grown men as tall as the 6- foot- 6 Shaw, some even taller — struggled to emulate his moves. Shots clattered off the rim, and air balls flew.
“You’ve got to read the court,” Shaw said. “Always be playing basketball.”
The 30 or so Indian basketball players gathered at this complex were the culmination of a six- month talent search by coaches and scouts from the National Basketball Association in six cities across India. The stakes were high: One player would to be selected to try out for the NBA’s Development League in June in the United States.
This t alent s earch is among several initiatives launched in India in recent years by the NBA as it tries to broaden its fan base globally. NBA officials consider the Indian market key to expanding the brand outside the U.S. and Canada — the “next frontier,” as NBA commissioner Adam Silver called it. Since 2011, the NBA has signed a broadcast deal for games with an Indian sports channel, hosted three- on- three basketball tournaments and fairs, and partnered with the charitable Reliance Foundation for a junior program in schools that has reached one million students.
The league’s representatives say the combination of a growing economy, an emerging, globally minded middle class and the country’s young demographic make India a natural target for expansion. India has more than 350 million people between the ages of 10 and 24.
“That’s the number that stands out for all of us,” said Yannick Colaco, a former college player and the managing director of NBA India. “We’re seeing just so much of vibrancy and diversity that we feel a sport like basketball has tremendous potential.”
Over the past decade in China, the NBA was able to leverage the popularity of Yao Ming, the Chinese NBA star, to make the country home to the league’s largest international audience. Yet experts say the NBA is facing a tougher battle in India, a country that is dominated by cricket, soccer and field hockey. There is even a revival of the ancient sport of kabaddi.
“Cricket is India’s unofficial religion, so I don’t think we’ll drop that in a hurry,” said Suhel Seth, a marketing and branding consultant in New Delhi.
Out of a country of more than 1.2 billion people, only an estimated five million or so play basketball. Good facilities and coaches are scarce; most play on cracked cement courts that become burning hot during the summer. As with many sports, striving parents often pressure students to quit so they can focus on academics.
But the NBA has been able to gain some visibility since it began showing games live in the country, according to Boria Majumdar, a sports historian and author. About 14 live games are broadcast every week on the Sony Six cable network, starting at 6: 30 a. m. India time. The games and other programming attracted 70 million viewers l ast season, the league says.
“Will basketball ever take off in India? If you asked me five years ago, the answer would be no,” Majumdar said. “Today, the answer is that it’s possible, but it will be difficult.”
Palpreet Singh, 19, was picked for the NBA tryout. Singh has the 6- foot- 9 physique of an NBA player and sports a hip, oversized moustache with turned- up ends that’s the envy of the group. He attended the same scrappy state- owned basketball academy in Punjab as NBA hopeful Satnam Singh Bhamara, now on a Texan minorleague team. Both revered their late coach, Palpreet Singh said, a self- taught man named Sankaran Subramanian who had a library of basketball books. Subramanian died in 2013.
Singh, the son of a wheat farmer, said he was the first person in his village to play basketball. “Nobody knows the game,” Singh said. “They say: ‘ What is basketball? You throw a ball through a hoop? Why do you have to train for such a silly game?’ ” Singh smiled. “I say: ‘ Yes, you’re right. It’s so easy.’ ”