Brandon Jennings in India: “Basketball is an easy game that anyone can enjoy”

Brandon Jennings isn’t exactly the typical NBA star. While most of the NBA’s best players follow a similar path to stardom (High school star, College star, lottery pick in the draft, and then, slowly growing into a productive NBA player), Jennings took a different route that took him from the West to East to the West, and in this journey, he has collected a plethora of experiences that make him the unique player that he is today.

From Compton (California) to Rome (Italy) to Milwaukee (Wisconsin), and now, the Milwaukee Bucks point guard who has just completed his second professional year in the NBA, added two more destinations to his resume: the cities of Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra, India. In the process, Jennings became the 16th NBA/WNBA player/legend to visit India over the past three years. He came to this country following the footsteps of Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol last year, but Jennings is a different case.

Firstly, it’s his height: Troy Justice, the Director of Basketball Operations in NBA India, said that the NBA was adamant in making sure that this time around, a smaller player is brought over to India so that even the young players who aren’t gifted with naturally bigger bodies can feel encouraged that they can work hard to stand amongst the best in the world. At 6 foot 1 inch, Jennings is one of the shorter players in the NBA, but that hasn’t stopped him from being a burgeoning superstar.

This is his story, so far, in summary: He was one of the most acclaimed high school stars in the USA, before he skipped college and headed to play professional basketball in Europe, playing amongst the best in the world, far away from home, at the tender age of 18. He came back to the NBA a year later, was picked 10th by the Milwaukee Bucks, and had a successful rookie year, highlighted by a 55-point performance in just his seventh NBA game.

Last week, Jennings came to India where he took part in several programmes. He participated in the ‘Magic Bus’ programme to hold a basketball clinic for kids from vulnerable communities. He attended and judged the Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA National Skills Challenge Finals on May 15 in Mumbai. And he traveled to Pune to become the first NBA player to visit the city, where he also held Jr. NBA/WNBA and NBA Cares clinics.

I got the opportunity to hold a short Q & A session with Jennings at the end of his trip in India. In addition to several questions that I threw at him concerning the present and future of basketball in India and of his own play in the NBA, I also asked him a few questions sent over to me by Jennings fans via Twitter. Enjoy!

Hoopistani: Is this your first time in India? How has the trip been so far?

Jennings: Yes it is my first time here. The trip is going really well, although I am a little jet-lagged! I have had some incredible food in India, and I’ve especially enjoyed the fish and chicken dishes. Mumbai reminds me a lot of New York City, because it’s a city that is always alive and busy. The weather has been good, too.
Of course, the highlight of my trip here has been the experiences I’ve had teaching kids the fundamentals of basketball.

Hoopistani: What has been the most memorable experience of your time in India?

Jennings: Just getting the opportunity to observe the Indian talent and work with them has been great. I have seen a lot of talent in India, and the kids are very eager to learn.

Hoopistani: You worked with the Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA programme – how do you rate the talent level of the kids you saw there?

Jennings: The game of basketball is still relatively new to these kids – but I’ll say that they have the fundamentals and the mentality right. They want to be good at basketball – and from what I saw, they listen to their coaches and have been coached very well.

Hoopistani: You also took part in the ‘Magic Bus’ NBA Cares programme (a not-for-profit organisation using ‘sport for development’ for underprivileged childrend) in Mumbai – tell me about that experience?

Jennings: That was tough – I was teaching fundamentals to children who didn’t know anything about basketball. Many of them didn’t even have shoes on their feet. They played barefoot or in sandals. It took me back to my younger days in the hood I grew up in where I played against guys who couldn’t afford to buy shoes.
But the wonderful part was that they were eager to learn the game of basketball and have fun. They understood me and we enjoyed the experience.

Hoopistani: What do you think India needs to do to raise the level of the game here?

Jennings: The first thing is that we must accept that cricket is the #1 sport in India – basketball might not get to the top but it can be the #2 sport here. To raise the level of the game, the young players just have to keep practicing hard. Basketball is an easy and a fun game that anyone can enjoy.

Hoopistani: You have a unique view of global basketball, especially after your experience in Italy. Do you think playing away from the USA for a year improved your game?

Jennings: I didn’t go to college in the USA and became a professional at 18, and I stayed with my family overseas. Playing with grown men at that age helped me mature my game a lot. It also brought in certain habits that are common in the European game, such as twice-a-day practices which instilled a habit of hard work in me. All that hard work helped me raise my game to the next level.
Before the NBA Draft in 2009, many of the people hadn’t really seen me play for a long time or knew about my game. I think it helped me, because they were curious to see what I had learnt in Europe and that’s why I got picked 10th.

Hoopistani: What do you predict for the future of global basketball?

Jennings: The game of basketball is getting everywhere now. I’ve seen it being played all over the world. The NBA is doing a good job in promoting the game, and in India, the sport is growing and getting a big response.
The international competition in the game of basketball is getting great. We have seen this for several years now, and we saw it in the Final of the Beijing Olympics, where a very talented USA team had a hard time beating Spain.

Hoopistani: What is so special about the game of basketball that it can be embraced by so many worldwide?

Jennings: Basketball is a simple game – you can put up a hoop anywhere and play. It’s unique, easy, and fun. You don’t even need too many people to get started – it can be played one-or-one or five-or-five. It’s this simplicity that makes it such a popular sport.

Fan Question- Karan Talwar, New Delhi: What do you think about the new point guard revolution in the NBA?

Jennings: I think it’s great – it’s a new era. I love that some of the best players in the NBA are now smaller guards. Especially with someone like Derrick Rose winning the MVP, it gives other point guards hope for the future.

Fan Question- Kaushik Lakshman, Bangalore: How did the European experience give you an edge last season? How is the style of play different there?

Jennings: I got to travel all around Europe and play some of the best talent in the continent – the Euroleague is the second-best league in the world after the NBA and the competition was tough. The style of play in Europe focuses more on team ball, and it is never about just one player. That habit naturally rubbed off on me and it helped me play with the team-ball philosophy in the Bucks.

Fan Question- David Stern, Milwaukee (USA): What will be the goals for the Bucks in the upcoming season?

Jennings: We want to bring the winning mentality back into the team. We are hoping to finish top five in the Eastern conference, and get back the same form and team chemistry we had in my rookie season.

The NBA's Social Network

It's no secret anymore how much social networks have changed our lives. There are about 500 million people on Facebook - in India, we started a little late, but we quickly caught up and take over, becoming one of the biggest Facebook users in the world.

But we are still a little slower to catch on Twitter, which is kind of a pity, because nothing bridges the gap between news-maker, news-sharer, and news-reader than Twitter does. There are about 140 million tweets sent per day between millions more.

And one of the fascinating developments of the ever-twittering world is the bridging gap between the Big Guys and the Little Ones. Now, within an instant, the average Ramu on his PC in Faridabad can tell 50 Cent how awful his last album was, and have 50 Cent give a derogatory response, too.

So of course, for NBA fans, Twitter has helped to create a new kind of relationship and understanding with otherwise unapproachable superstars that live the grind of 82-game-plus-more NBA seasons half-way across the world. Not all the information has been useful or interesting (it rarely is), but through Twitter, I've learnt what certain NBA players think of their opponents, how certain players would like to address any controversy or speculation regarding themselves, their favourite foods, and mostly, a whole bunch of other incoherent garble.

The first person I followed on Twitter when I created my own account was Shaquille O'Neal (@THE_REAL_SHAQ), and it has been a very wise decision. Shaq has described himself as being 'VERY QUOTATIOUS, I PERFORM RANDOM ACTS OF SHAQNESS', and really, if you don't know what means, then you are probably at the right place, because I'm not sure Shaq knows either. Like you would expect him to be, Shaq is funny and memorable, posting pictures of himself dressed up in drag for Halloween, inviting fans in Boston to come and hang out with him, or praising Justin Bieber.

Basketball's biggest superstars are surprisingly non-existent on social networking. Kobe Bryant doesn't have an account yet. LeBron does, humbly calling himself @KingJames, but he, too, is mostly politically correct about things. I say mostly, because every once in a while, LeBron does pull a Homer - like the time he told followers to shower their hate - and they did - and then he went ahead and retweeted their comments to everyone else. His finest/worst moment so far came when he published the famous 'karma' tweet. The Cavs had lost by a franchise-worst 55 points to the Lakers, embarrasingly, when LeBron wrote "Crazy. Karma is a b****.. Gets you every time. Its not good to wish bad on anybody. God sees everything!" Karma, indeed was a bitch, since LeBron was injured a game later and Miami went on to lose four straight.

My favourite NBA-twitterer - by FAR - is Ron Artest (@ronartest). On a daily basis, Ron Ron pretty much confirms what everyone already thinks - that he is in serious, serious need of his psychiatrist! It is an unpredictable ride daily as Artest boasts about Laker winning streaks ("do u like to win? then u must be a lakers fan"), promotes his music ("Go Loco"), writes nonsensical stuff that he probably thinks of on a daily basis ("i love my pet penguin", "I can't believe I jumped in the air like a silly pirate on drugs") or talking about his favourite eating joint ("It's. 1:30 In n out is open Wozeers").

But behind all the crazy, Ron Ron does some good, too. He is known to randomely hand out tickets to his fans in LA, those who responded fastest to him on Twitter. He even follows some of his fans.

Late last night, Artest made his India connect, asking Abhishek Bachan (@juniorbachan) if he is a Laker fan after Abhishek had a Twitter conversation with Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson).

Speaking of Magic, the Laker great is pretty active on Twitter, too, giving his commentary on NBA/NCAA games, and awkwardly, adding his Dove Men Care sponsorship with each Tweet.

Another fairly regular tweeter is Steve Nash (@SteveNash) - the legendary Suns point guard proves that he is pretty much as cool in real life as you would expect him to be. Nash talks about random day-to-day issues or makes references to his favourite football team, the Tottenham Hotspurs.

As a Knick fan, I follow a bunch of New York players, including Amare Stoudemire (@Amareisreal) and new Knick Carmelo Anthony (@carmeloanthony). The most interesting Knick, though, is rookie Landry Fields (@landryfields). Fields has posted refreshingly honest thoughts and funny videos to quickly become a Twitter Superstar for the Knicks.

One of the NBA's rising young stars is Kevin Durant (@KDthunderup), who used his Twitter status to make the biggest statement in the smallest way in the last off-season, when he wrote "Exstension for 5 more years wit the thunder....God Is Great, me and my family came a long way...I love yall man forreal, this a blessing!"

Amongst the other big NBA stars, the likes of Dwyane Wade (@dwadeofficial), Chris Bosh (@chrisbosh), Dwight Howard (@DwightHoward), Pau Gasol (@paugasol), Chris Paul (@oneandonelycp3), Rajon Rondo (@RajonRondo), Paul Pierce (@paulpierce34), Blake Griffin (@blakegriffin), Kevin Love (@kevinlove), and Russel Westbrook (@russwest44)) are also on Twitter. Besides of promoting non-NBA events that may be involved in, or talking about their family and friends, the players mostly just check in and out with their fans, conversing with a few every now and then and helping to build a unique player-fan relationship.

And of course, there are the NBA's cast-aways, but via Twitter, you can be sure they are never too far. Allen Iverson (@alleniverson) makes sure to check in from Turkey occasionally, and regularly proving to the universe that, like his shooting outbursts, he has a hard time keeping the 140-character limit in check, too. From China, I here from Stephon Marbury (@StephonMarbury) sometimes, who makes sure to drop his words of positivity and optimism every now and then.

The one person that I really wish was back on social networking is Gilbert Arenas. Before anyone else did it, Arenas was the first NBA superstar to really establish the one-on-one connect with the fans through his blog. Twitter was to become the perfect platform form the Former Agent 0's hilarious musings, before his account was deleted last year, around the same time he was suspended by the NBA for the whole guns-in-the-locker incident. His tweets during the ordeal only added fuel to the fire, and suddenly, like Arenas, the account was suspended indefinitely too. Arenas has returned since, but his Twitter presence hasn't.

Of course, if you prefer to follow your favourite teams, they all have twitter accounts too: From the Lakers (@Lakers), to the Celtics (@celtics) to the Heat (@MiamiHEAT) and the Knicks (@thenyknicks) - and of course, the NBA (@NBA) is on Twitter, too!

This is just a start. You can literally go crazy looking for your favourite teams, players, news feeds, reporters, or fake-player pages. For Indian basketball fans, I'm going to leave you with some important few feeds to follow:
- Basketball Federation of India: @BFIbasketball
- Troy Justice, Director of Basketball Operations, NBA India: @troyjustice
- JD Basketball / JD Walsh, American basketball coach in India: @jdbasketball


And of course, yours truly, for getting the finest information about basketball, India, NBA, philosophy, and a bunch of other things, you need to follow the Hoopistani (@Hoopistani) twitter feed. It will make your life better, I swear it. Or at least more interesting.

Hoopistani on NBA-India!

I hope you're not sick of me yet, because if you are, this bit of news might actually cause a sourly belch in your stomach.

Now that we have that lovely visual out of the way(!), I want to announce that for the 2010-11 NBA Season, I will be writing a weekly feature for NBA.com/India, the National Basketball Association's micro-site for its fans in India. So stay updated for regular NBA articles in the Hoopistani flavour. The articles will also be displayed if you access NBA.com from India.

Done belching yet? Now start reading. First article goes up this Friday.

Hoopistani joins the Federation!

Share|

Hold back your brickbats if you feel that there has been a shortage of India basketball news here lately - it's because I'm now officially collaborating with the Basketball Federation of India (BFI). News and features relating to BFI and other basketball stories out of India will now be featured on the BFI website: www.indiabasketball.org

Along with the latest breaking news involving camps, tournaments, and BFI special events and deals, the website also contains a database of all the BFI registered players, coaches, and referees, as well as photo galleries to catch your favourite players in action.

Share|

Hoopistani on iSport

Share|

For the fans of basketball, by the biggest fan... Hoopistani is now set to contribute a share of basketball news and features to iSport.in.

iSport.in is a comprehensive sports website 'for the fans, by the fans'. Sports fuel passion & our fellow fans help us keep the content fresh unlike any other site.

iSport features news and blogs on other sports from Indian writers, such as Cricket (obviously, it's friggin India), Football, Motor Sports, Tennis, Basketball, and others.

Share|

Mumbai: India's Basketball City

Share|

The results are in... Judging on the overall basis of the amount of talent produced, major tournaments held, those that play host to the most famous/succesful teams, those with the most illustrious history in basketball, or those with the most number of diehard hoop fans, Hoopistani officially crowns the Maximum City Mumbai as the India's Basketball City.

A little more than a week ago, I asked Indian basketball fans to submit their nominations and arguments for India's Basketball City, to help decide which one city in our country most embodies the spirit of hoops. Which was the Capital of Hoopistan!? The result was overwhelming response on the blog, on facebook and to Basketball India as well.

Some of the favourites were:

Chennai: The capital of Tamil Nadu, and hope of the highly successful Tamil Nadu basketball association, boasts a great number (18) of professional teams that offer jobs to basketball players, such as IOB, Indian Bank, Chennai Customs, Southern Railway, Tamil Nadu Police, and others. The city features numerous tournaments, and has contributed great players to the national scene such as Mathew Sathya Babu, S. Robinson, Jeena Zachria, Geethu Anna Jose, Anitha, etc. Chennai was also the host of the 2009 FIBA Asia Women's Championship.

Varanasi: My hometown, and of the cradles of hoop talents across the nation. From just a few courts in Varanasi there have come some of the strongest talents for India, which have included former Cager's captain Trideep Rai, current captain Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, Mihir Pandey, and in the women's section, the four talented sisters of V-Town's Singh Family, which are former captain Divya Singh, current captain Prashanti Singh, Akanksha Singh, and Pratima Singh.

Bangalore: And in my mention of Bangalore, I will also add the nearby village of Tumkur, home of the Sumpoorna Basketball Movement. No doubt, a lot of basketball is played in Karnataka: from national team camps featuring the best of Indian talent to the biggest grassroots basketball movement in the country in the form of the SABAL league.

New Delhi: I received a lot of support for the nation's capital, which happens to have some of the most die-hard hoop fans in the country as well as features great talents and professional teams. Delhi continues to uphold it's high reputation of quality college-level basketball.

Honourable mention goes to places such as Baroda, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Sikar, Coimbatore, Calicut, Kapurthala, and Lucknow.

But there could only be one winner... and that is our very own maximum city, Mumbai. You want tournaments? Mumbai never stops playing basketball, hosting tournaments and camps all year round. from the RMBT, to the Mahindra-NBA Challenge, or the Andheri-YMCA Tournament, the Mastan league, and the Bandra/Ghatkopar tournaments, just to name a few. You want fans? 100s of hoop fanatics show up to attend and participate in each of the basketball challenge, highlighted by the amazing interest show in the Mahindra-NBA league. Mumbai is always in the news for hosting camps and basketball events. And the city has some of the best new basketball infrastructure and facilities, including newly inaugurated bball courts. Celebrities get in the act, too, participating and promoting the sport of basketball.

In the end though, the real winner is INDIA. It was amazing to collect all this information because it proved the fact that interest in basketball is well on its way up, and is bound to grow further. The fact that the cities featured from all four corners of the country also proved that basketball has succesfully spread across the breadth of India. Healthy competition between different parts of the nation will only help to improve our overall quality.

Now that we have a list of our most basketball-crazed cities, isn't it time we start a national league?

Keep ballin, India!

Share|

Which is India's "Basketball City"

Share|

The time has come for you to decide: Hoopistani is ready to take nominations to decide what city in Hindustan should be crowned The Capital of Hoopistan! Which is India's Basketball City?
Cities should be nominated on the basis of the amount of talent produced, major tournaments held, those that play host to the most famous/succesful teams, those with the most illustrious history in basketball, or those with the most number of diehard hoop fans.
Write in your comments on the Hoopistani blog, or send your nominations via facebook, twitter - @hoopistani, or e-mail. Write about the city you feel should be nominated and back up your nomination with your strongest argument!
Is it Mumbai, which seems to be hosting the dearth of basketball tournaments nowadays, from the RMBT, to the Mahindra-NBA Challenge, or the Andheri-YMCA Tournament, or the Mastan League next month?
Or it could be Bangalore, which is a future location for the Mahindra-NBA Challenge, has a host of hoop fans, and nearby Tumkur is the home to the Sumpoorna Basketball movement, and the place where countless Indian national camps are held, including the national training camp recently held by JD Walsh, Craig Esherick, and Bob Baker.

Is it Chennai, the host of the 2009 FIBA Asia Women's Championship, as well as home to great national players, and a city with a long history of basketball fans and memorable training camps? The Tamil Nadu basketball Association also happens to be one of the most organised associations in the country.
What about cities in Punjab, like Ludhiana or Kapurthala? The Basketball Association of Punjab is one of the most impressive and succesful ones in the country, and of course, the state has a historical tryst with hoops. Ludhiana has hosted countless national tournaments, and Punjabi basketball players such as TJ Sahi and Manny Sahota have made waves around the world. Kapurthala is the legendary town which is believed to be the birthplace of basketball in India, and it featured many great players that represented the country over the past century.
And of course, I'm not forgetting India's capital... New Delhi has long been the place where several succesful school, college, and club teams have performed, where prodigious talents have been honed to reach their full potential. And of course, the city features one of the most basketball/NBA hardcore fan followings in the whole country. Could the capital of Hindustan also be the capital of Hoopistan?
There is also Baroda in Gujarat, which has a strong fan following of the game and has produced players like Dishant Shah, Himmatnagar’s Rikin Pethani, and others who have made waves around the country.

There are cities like Pune and Hyderabad, where there is no shortage of players and fans addicted to the game of basketball.
And honourable mention should go to my hometown, V-Town, Varanasi, the town which has one of the most amazing track records of producing national level basketball talent, from Trideep Rai, to current Cagers' captain Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, to the Singh Family of India - four sisters to take over the national women's team, and its a city where institutions like the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth (MGKV) have been promoting basketball for years.
There are many more... Nominate your city, and submit your argument... In one week, the top five nominees will be announced for voting. One of these will then be chosen as the Basketball City of India.

Share|

Follow Hoopistani on Twitter

Share|

Get your dose of Basketball, India, Philosophy, and everything else in between... in 140 characters or less..!

Hoopistani is now on Twitter: http://twitter.com/hoopistani.

Contact me @hoopistani.

Share|

hoopistani.com

Good news... now, here's some relief for your typing fingers... Hoopistani is now available on hoopistani.com... saving you a whole NINE characters of that 'blogspot.' - nevertheless, anyone on hoopistani.blogspot.com will be pleasantly redirected to this new domain.

http://www.hoopistani.com

Hoopistani on Facebook

Hoopistani is now on Facebook Join in to catch updates on NBA and basketball stories, only in the true Hoopistani flavour!

I'll be regularly updating followers of the page with basketball stories and events in India, as well as holding discussions about NBA and other related topics from around the world.

P.S.: Thanks for the logo, Tulika...

The Hoopistani is a Sports Keeda

Some of my blog entries from 'The Hoopistani' will now be featured on SportsKeeda, which is a community of 'India's Kick-Ass Sports bloggers' and Indian sport fans. Sports Keeda features blogs by various India writers on a dozen sports such as football, hockey, tennis, cricket, basketball, and many more.

Sports Keeda also started an E-Magazine with in-depth Indian sport writing.

Here is my page on the website.

The Hoopistani Is...

So, welcome... Or welcome again to those who have already read my work before... Thisisme: Karan Madhok, and this is the new blog I'm starting, 'The Hoopistani', in an effort to get some of my passions and experiences together in one page. The blog, as its subtitle states above, will feature "Basketball, India, Philsosophy, everything else in between..."
I'm a die-hard NBA junkie and a die-harder confused Desi. If you like your hoops and Indian flavour presented on a meaninglessly absurd dish, then this blog is for you.
A few of my articles have already been featured on SLAM website, which happens to also be my favourite magazine since I first started reading it nearly 10 years ago. I've added the three articles below on this blog, too, and their original versions can be found on the SLAM website.
Additionally, this blog will also be featured on up and coming Indian basketball website India Basket, and I'll be collaborating to help them in their mission to help basketball evolve in India. Apart from spreading news and awareness about basketball in India, India Basket also manage players and coaches.
I'm currently a Communications Volunteer at the Woodstock School in Mussoorie, and formerly a Correspondent for the Times of India newspaper in Varanasi.

Here are links to the articles I've done for SLAMOnline.com so far:

Temple of Bounce: A look at the state of basketball in India

In India, routine is religion. Every stone is a temple, and everything is God.
The clings of the temple bells, marigold garlands around stone idols, squeaky marble floors dirtied by muddy bare feet. A devout of the Ganga River takes dips in the river everyday, bowing respectfully to his deity. Followers of Lord Ganesha will visit his temple, touching the floor as a mark of respect before they step in and fold their hands together…

Peace, Freedom, and Basketball: A pick-up game in the Tibet-influenced city of Mcleodganj

Dhondup is wrapped inside a thin orange robe, much too thin to provide adequate cover from the chilly November temperatures of his Himalayan abode, but he is well acclimatized to the weather up here. He is short, stout Tibetan, with a shiny bald head and a shinier smile pasted across his face. Around his neck is a prayer mala, a garland of beads, which he tucks inside his robe. The robe barely reaches up to…

Breaking Old Habits: JD Walsh's Basketball Movement in India

Amongst our several unique nuances, we Indians have a particular slogan, which is repeated multiple times daily by tens of millions, like a mantra across the country’s wide, three million square kilometer area:
“Chalta hai.”
Translated literally from Hindi, it means ‘it goes.’ The Dictionary of Indian English emphasizes it further as ‘it will do,’ or ‘anything will do.’ It describes the fatalist philosophy of most of the country’s population, that everything happens because it…