Rio Olympics: Nigeria invites 27 basketball stars to camp

[F360]

[Dammy]

Is he going there as a player or fan?

[Dammy]

Nigeria Basketball ‏@NigeriaBasket 5h5 hours ago

D'Tigers defeated China 80-67 in a closed door scrimmage yesterday. Nigeria now moves to 3-0 vs. China this summer
https://twitter.com/nigeriabasket

[wanaj0]

Nigeria Basketball ‏@NigeriaBasket 5h5 hours ago

D'Tigers defeated China 80-67 in a closed door scrimmage yesterday. Nigeria now moves to 3-0 vs. China this summer
https://twitter.com/nigeriabasket

Abeg, make we get better opponent. This is like congratulating ourselves for defeating Ghana in basketball

[TonyTheTigerKiller]

Nigeria Basketball ‏@NigeriaBasket 5h5 hours ago

D'Tigers defeated China 80-67 in a closed door scrimmage yesterday. Nigeria now moves to 3-0 vs. China this summer
https://twitter.com/nigeriabasket

Abeg, make we get better opponent. This is like congratulating ourselves for defeating Ghana in basketball

My sarcastic friend, wise men have said that it baby must learn to crawl before it can walk. Beating the likes of China is a good first step in Nigeria's quest for international pedigree. BTW, even though you appear to be unaware of this fact, China has a much higher pedigree than Nigeria in basketball in spite of joining FIBA 6 years after Nigeria did. They have made 9 appearances in the Olympic Games to Nigeria's 2. They also have 9 appearances in the FIBA World Cup to Nigeria's 2. In the Asian arena, they are basically the undisputed kings of Asian basketball. In 22 appearances in the Asian championships, they have 29 medals, 16 of them gold. At the Asian Games, they have 11 appearances with 10 medals, 9 of which are gold. Contrast that with Nigeria's lone gold medal in each of the African championships and African Games. And oh, did I mention that they are ranked 11 places above Nigeria by FIBA

Nigeria can only become a good basketball nation, not by looking down on Chinas of the world but by beating them and then beating even higher profile teams. We have started to do that so things are looking up for the future of Nigeria basketball


Cheers.

[TonyTheTigerKiller]

Nigeria Basketball ‏@NigeriaBasket 5h5 hours ago

D'Tigers defeated China 80-67 in a closed door scrimmage yesterday. Nigeria now moves to 3-0 vs. China this summer
https://twitter.com/nigeriabasket

Abeg, make we get better opponent. This is like congratulating ourselves for defeating Ghana in basketball

My sarcastic friend, wise men have said that it baby must learn to crawl before it can walk. Beating the likes of China is a good first step in Nigeria's quest for international pedigree. BTW, even though you appear to be unaware of this fact, China has a much higher pedigree than Nigeria in basketball in spite of joining FIBA 6 years after Nigeria did. They have made 9 appearances in the Olympic Games to Nigeria's 2. They also have 9 appearances in the FIBA World Cup to Nigeria's 2. In the Asian arena, they are basically the undisputed kings of Asian basketball. In 22 appearances in the Asian championships, they have 29 medals, 16 of them gold. At the Asian Games, they have 11 appearances with 10 medals, 9 of which are gold. Contrast that with Nigeria's lone gold medal in each of the African championships and African Games. And oh, did I mention that they are ranked 11 places above Nigeria by FIBA

Nigeria can only become a good basketball nation, not by looking down on Chinas of the world but by beating them and then beating even higher profile teams. We have started to do that so things are looking up for the future of Nigeria basketball


Cheers.

[truetalk]

WSJ profiles Will Voigt

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-coach-o ... re-comment

[truetalk]

Can a mod or Dammy change the title of the thread to D'Tigers at the Olympics or something more appropriate to the thread, since it has gone beyond the invitation.

[F360]

Is he going there as a player or fan?

Lol great question to ask. I forgot to post last night but I guess NigeriaBasketball found out from his camp that he won't be playing for D'Tigers.
Sigh.

He did say that he will be in Houston to watch the game, he just said he won't be playing. Say's it's a personal issue. I'll try to find out more this weekend but if I had to guess, I'd say it has something to do with his agent Ugo, and the NBBF. Maybe Ugbowo can get more details and confirm if my guess is correct since Ugo knows him(I don't know Ugo). I do know(from another friend of Ugo and an investor in the ABL) that Ugo the agent and the NBBF haven't been on good terms especially after Ugo went ahead and started up his basketball league ABL, without official approval from the NBBF and FIBA. So NBBF has tried to get at Ugo and his league and Ugo may still be pissed off. (This is just my best guess as to why Festus won't be playing).

Either way, truetalk will be happy, time for Seni, Alade and Ike to shine. (But seriously I'm sure they will).

[truetalk]

Is he going there as a player or fan?

Lol great question to ask. I forgot to post last night but I guess NigeriaBasketball found out from his camp that he won't be playing for D'Tigers.
Sigh.

He did say that he will be in Houston to watch the game, he just said he won't be playing. Say's it's a personal issue. I'll try to find out more this weekend but if I had to guess, I'd say it has something to do with his agent Ugo, and the NBBF. Maybe Ugbowo can get more details and confirm if my guess is correct since Ugo knows him(I don't know Ugo). I do know(from another friend of Ugo and an investor in the ABL) that Ugo the agent and the NBBF haven't been on good terms especially after Ugo went ahead and started up his basketball league ABL, without official approval from the NBBF and FIBA. So NBBF has tried to get at Ugo and his league and Ugo may still be pissed off. (This is just my best guess as to why Festus won't be playing).

Either way, truetalk will be happy, time for Seni, Alade and Ike to shine. (But seriously I'm sure they will).

I don't know the dude, & I don't want to make it seem personal, but a lot of these manifestations seem like really poor character issues.

He can obviously help our frontcourt, but the attitude he has shown is tending towards irresponsible, & it does not whether it is him or his agent orchestrating things.

The ABL thing is not an excuse. I need to confirm, but Ben Uzoh also played for the Islanders who were in the ABL, & he is on the team.

I repeat this. When Ezeli was hardly getting playing time & the NBDL was on the radar in early 2015, he went to the press himself to commit to Afrobasket. A few months later, after things improved with the warriors, he was talking about the security situation in Nigeria, when American born players were in Abuja.

Same thing this Summer. As soon as it was obvious that the warriors would ship him out with the signing of Durant, there were feelers in the press again about Ezeli planning to play in the Olympics. As soon as Portland signs him, no show & sudden silence. Even the kids that were in the Summer league are in camp.

This dude went to the NBA Africa game & skipped the Afrobasket anyway. Alf Aminu was in the same game and went straight to Tunis.

It is not compulsory to play for the nation, but Ezeli just seems like a real flaky dude. Maybe there was more to that Mark Jackson story afterall.

It is moot now, but I also insist that Lawal & Diogu would have benched him, & Ezeli would have had more value on the defensive side when we face the teams with big Centers like Lithuania (Valanciunas) and Argentina (Scola). Ochefu could have provided the same cover, if invited.

http://www.thescore.com/nba/news/782178

http://www.fiba.com/news/ezeli-gives-th ... asket-2015

http://www.ibabuzz.com/warriors/2016/05 ... s-nigeria/

[Player]

@truetalk...Uzoh did not play in the ABL, and F360 is on to something although Uzoh is also under Ugo however he has been around the Nigerian team for a while and probably not as valuable as Ezeli.

Unfortunately there are so many personality issues within the Nigerian basketball circle that it is seriously affecting the growth of the game. Everyone is beefing somebody. If things don't change after the Olympics expect for things to get worse.

[Player]

Now getting info that insurance might be a problem for Al Farouq, possibly same problem with Festus. Insurance could cost anything from $30000 per player. If someone from the sports ministry can't foot this bill it will make it very difficult for us to go after NBA players.

[Ugbowo]

Ugo is not stopping Festus because of ABL. That much I can tell you. Heck, he is not stopping him at all. The NBBF and the insurance situation needs to get sorted out fast.

[F360]

Ugo is not stopping Festus because of ABL. That much I can tell you. Heck, he is not stopping him at all. The NBBF and the insurance situation needs to get sorted out fast.

Thanks for the info, you and player.

I forgot Uzoh is also an Ugo client. Good to know it's not a beef w/the nbbf that's in the way but still, the insurance situation..na wa.

[osita]

Now getting info that insurance might be a problem for Al Farouq, possibly same problem with Festus. Insurance could cost anything from $30000 per player. If someone from the sports ministry can't foot this bill it will make it very difficult for us to go after NBA players.

But we had an NBA player for the last Afro basketball , did they as for insurance then?

[osita]

http://www.blazersedge.com/2016/7/27/12 ... ympic-team


Festus Ezeli Will Not Play For 2016 Nigerian Olympic Team
By DavidMacKay  @DavidMacKayNBA on Jul 27, 2016, 2:54p 27


Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Ezeli reportedly could not come to terms on contract insurance with the Nigeria Basketball Federation.

 TWEET SHARE (18) PIN
Portland Trail Blazers center Festus Ezeli will reportedly not be joining the Nigeria D’Tigers for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, according to Nigeria Basketball.

NBA champion and new Portland Trailblazer Festus Ezeli will not join D'Tigers this summer according to his camp.

— Nigeria Basketball (@NigeriaBasket) July 26, 2016
Adekunle Binuyo of Basketball Within Borders cites a lack of "reasonable insurance of his NBA contract" among the reasons for Ezeli’s absence.

"A source close to Ezeli’s camp told Basketball Within Borders that one of the reasons the 6’11 center is unable to join the Nigerian team is because the Nigeria Basketball Federation could not come to terms with Ezeli on reasonable insurance of his NBA contract."

This is not at all uncommon, though it does little to quiet concerns about Ezeli’s history of knee problems. The 26-year-old had surgery to reinforce the ligaments in his right knee in 2013 and surgery to clear debris from his left knee in 2015. Many have speculated that the Trail Blazers were able to sign him to an inexpensive contract in free agency because of future health concerns, in which case, it makes sense for Ezeli to play it safe.

Binuyo also reports that Ezeli’s Trail Blazing teammate Al-Farouq Aminu is presently at training camp with the Nigerian team, though insurance information is not available.

H/T: Dan Graves

[Player]

Now getting info that insurance might be a problem for Al Farouq, possibly same problem with Festus. Insurance could cost anything from $30000 per player. If someone from the sports ministry can't foot this bill it will make it very difficult for us to go after NBA players.

But we had an NBA player for the last Afro basketball , did they as for insurance then?

Only had to deal with one player, now its two and they just signed a new deal so insurance money probably doubled.

[F360]

For the CE's that aren't on twitter/aren't checking youtube

I believe this is courtesy of Player's site. (Player are you in Houston?)

[/video]

[/video]

[/video]

[F360]

I missed Nigeria's practice today(and every day this week smh, Player you still working with the ladies team? They need you to work with the senior men's team as their media officer too. The lack of communication is terrible).

Anyway, made it to team USA practice and got to talk to the USA players about the Nigerian team.
I didn't get to ask Carmelo if he felt any remorse for what he did to us in 2012 and if he would take it easy tomorrow but the rest

Klay Thompson

You wish Festus was playing so you could get the win over him?
I wish (he was) so we could beat em good. I’d love to hold that over Festus. I understand he badly wants to play but he’s doing what’s best for his health. Playing 80 to 100 games is not easy so I understand why he’s not here but I know so badly he wants to play in the Olympics before it’s all said and done.

What's the goal for team USA heading into the final tuneup game?
We just wanna look great and get our wind up. I think we’re all in great shape now that we’ve had four games under our belt so It’s like our final tuneup game, treat it like a medal round game. Don’t take Nigeria lightly, they got athletes, guys that played in the league.

Do you know any of the Nigerian players?
I know they got Ike (Diogu), I remember watching him at ASU(Arizona State University) he was really good in the Pac 10, I know he’s had a good pro career, he played in the NBA for a couple of years.

Durant

On what he and the team hope to get out of the game
We just wanna keep getting better. We probably made four threes last game and hopefully we make more than that this game. We just wanna play fast. Defensively we been
great. Teams probably been shooting less than 35 % on us but everything's been smooth man.

Draymond

On Festus not playing
I wish he was, I’m thrilled about this experience to be able to play in the olympics and i know he had been talking about it for quite a while but at the end of the day he’s gotta take care of his business first and maybe he gets an opportunity to play in the next go-round.

On the Nigerian team
I know a few of the guys, I don’t know how to say Josh’s last name(Akognon) but he can really stroke it. I know obviously Al-Farouq. I know Ike, I don’t know him but I know of him. There’s someone else on the team I know. (Chamberlain Oguchi?) I’ve heard of him but there’s one more guy. Mike Umeh. I know Shane Lawal. Michael Gbinije. Oh Ben Uzoh, he played with the Kings right (Nets) yeah I know quite a few.

[Ugbowo]

Looks like Al Farouq is not going either.

[Dammy]

NTA to beam D’Tigers friendly with Team USA live On July 31, 201612:01 amIn News, SportsComments Nigeria’s national basketball team, the D’Tigers are set to take on the USA Men’s National Team on the August 2 as part of the USA Basketball Showcase. Kwesé Free Sports, which is part of Econet Media, has signed an agreement with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA Network Service) to broadcast the game live at 01:00am Nigerian time on the 2nd of August. Anyone with a television set will be able to tune in and watch the game anywhere in Nigeria for free. The official game can also be streamed live on the Kwesé Sports website and it will also be streamed via the same platform. “We are excited to be able to bring Nigerian fans all the action live from Houston. Our business is founded on the principle of giving African sports fans access to exclusive and premium sports content. Through this agreement with NTA, more fans will be able to engage with their national team and have access to live content from USA Basketball,” says Joe Hundah, CEO of Econet Media. According to NTA, this is a particularly important sports broadcast event for Nigeria. “This is a first for Nigerian basketball and for Nigerian TV. It is important because fans from all over the country will be able to view this live international game on NTA. Thanks must go to Econet Media and Kwesé Free Sports for choosing NTA as their broadcast partner for this game. I have no doubt that fans will be watching to support the national side and we are glad that we can bring the game to them in the most accessible way possible,” adds Abdulrahman ibn Mohammed, General Manager for Sports at NTA. This is the latest exciting development following Econet and the NBA in April announcing a multiyear partnership to provide the most expansive NBA coverage ever across sub-Saharan Africa beginning within the 2016-17 NBA season.

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/07/nta- ... -usa-live/

[Dammy]

Looks like Al Farouq is not going either.

Why?

[Ugbowo]

Looks like Al Farouq is not going either.

Why?

I'm not sure. The statement released by the Trailblazers was weird. He is unhappy at some things. Will find out more today.