NBA legend Wali Jones, the DC Jammers Basketball Club and the Brooklyn Bulldogs are all here in Guyana eagerly awaiting the start of the National Community Basketball League (NCBL) International All-Star weekend which tips off today at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
At a press conference yesterday to welcome the players and Jones at the Princess International Hotel, challenges were issued, plans laid out and burning issues raised in the presence of Director of Sports Neil Kumar, Jones, sponsors, players, managers and the organizers of the tournament.
Assistant coach of the DC Jammers Clarence Wallerson noted Guyana’s rich history with the basketball club while thanking the organizers for another opportunity to work with and play against the ballers of Guyana.
“We have a lot of history with coming to Guyana to play basketball so any attempt to help improve basketball here is a good opportunity for us, we are happy to be here and while we have some new additions we anticipate good games from our guys and will be willing to work along on anything with Wali Jones pertaining to the clinics set for tomorrow (today),” Wallerson told media representatives.
However, the manager of the Jammers, Dennis Baird was a bit more blunt than his assistant coach as he threw down the gauntlet to the Bulldogs and the Guyana national team.
“We are happy to be here and when we play it will be pleasurable for the Guyanese fans but not for the National team, and the Bulldogs when our guys are dunking all over them,” he declared.
Coach of the Bulldogs Bernard Daniels also expressed his gratitude to the organizers and sponsors for making the All-star weekend possible. “We are thankful to be here and like the DC Jammers we are here to add another dimension to enhance the game of basketball in Guyana and will do anything to help in the development of basketball in Guyana,” Daniels mentioned.
Wali Jones was quick to lay out his ideas for his clinic which begins from 11:00hrs today at the CASH.
“Well I’m old school and I teach fundamentals of the game.
“It is important that the youths know that the same discipline that can be applied on the court can be applied in the classroom, as a professional and college player you have to know to read, we had playbooks and plays to memorize and once you couldn’t read you couldn’t play.
“A lot of people especially here don’t know me but I like to show videos because it gives you creditability… it is also important for the youths to understand that basketball is a means to gain better education because I grew up in a home of nine and we didn’t have much so with that I had to work hard and with the influential players I had around me I did well,” Jones related to the media.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) 1967 champion also related that he is hoping to get the programmes broadcast to 77 countries through a call-in radio station that can help get Guyana youths on the map. As Director of Sport Kumar welcomed the players, he put the media representatives in attendance in the hot seat for not investigating the state of basketball with the national federation while emphasizing that the government has been doing more than enough to help the sport. “I want to ask the media to do some investigative journalism to see what’s going on with the national federation and basketball in the country, what are you guys doing… I want the media to do something about it because I’m fed up of all the talk. The government has been pumping more than enough funding into the sport to help it and still nothing is going,” Kumar stated.
Kumar did commend the organizers of the NCBL Kwame Mentor and Bobby Cadogan along with Chris Bowman who runs the Youth Basketball Guyana programme for schools. “I would like to commend Kwmae, Bobby along with Chris Bowman for the wonderful job they have been doing for basketball because these are the people I think have really been pushing the sport,” Kumar said.
Further Stabroek Sport questioned Kumar and Mentor on whether the NCBL along with the YBG and the government can come together to mix ideas for a better basketball plan.
“Well we are open to discussion, we have our links that can get the youths opportunities and we have been in talks with Bowman who runs the YBG up today about things because if we have these links why can’t they benefit because we don’t focus much on the youth side of things.
“So why not allow them to have the opportunities because basketball in Guyana would benefit and that’s the aim,” Mentor answered.
Mentor also thanked the sponsors, especially EZ Jet and Giftland Office Max whom he described as family to the NCBL organizational team.
Meanwhile the All-Star weekend will spin off with the clinic by Wali Jones today at 11:00hrs while the first two games in the Allstar weekend will see the Bulldogs matching up against the NCBL All-Stars while the DC Jammers will take on the Guyana National team with action expected to start from 19:00hrs tonight.
