TEHRAN (2016 FIBA Asia U18 Championship) - Growing up in Denver and around the Nuggets of the NBA, Justin Bassey was exposed to a high level of basketball culture. Now the guard is hoping to bring some of that knowledge to the Thailand team at the 2016 FIBA Asia U18 Championship. 

Bassey is the son of a Thai mother and Nigerian father and has only been with Thailand team for a month ahead of the tournament in Tehran. But the Denver area native feels he has been very well received into his new family.

"I've enjoyed being on the team. They've all been super welcoming. We've pretty much become a family," Bassey said. "We're all really close. We love going out, talking and catching up with one another so it’s definitely a group of guys I'm very fond of. I'm looking forward to staying in touch with and building up on our relationship in the future."

The future is the present as well as Bassey is with a Thai team which is back at the FIBA Asia U18 Championship for the first time since 2006. 

"The team's expectations are to go out and play hard,” he said. "We don't know too much about the other teams and the talents that they are bringing forward but we expect ourselves to play the best of our abilities and to really show that Thailand can be a contender."

Thailand dropped their first game at the FIBA Asia U18s, losing 100-93 to India as Bassey scored a team-high 20 points to go with 6 assists. And the Harvard University-bound guard feels ready to take a leadership role.

"I'm expecting to lead my team, not only vocally but by example. Just playing hard, holding everyone accountable," Bassey said. "So when I tell someone to show up somewhere, be there. If there's a loose ball, I expect everyone to dive on the floor. I think that one of the better ways to lead, especially on the court, is by showing that I'm willing to do it myself."

Bassey grew up around the game, starting playing at around 3 years old in a YMCA basketball league. Bassey grew up looking up to Kobe Bryant and LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal. Bassey remembers watching Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony also playing for the Nuggets. 

"Just being able to go to those games and watch those teams with guys like Chauncey (Billups) and JR Smith, Melo, and AI, those were extremely fun times for me," he said. "Those guys really influenced my game and just having the opportunity to be around them and being exposed to their culture and how they conducted themselves and how they played was a big impact on how I want to shape my game and my personality."

Perhaps his closest relationship is with Billups as he played at the Chauncey Billups Elite Basketball Academy in Denver. 

"I love Chauncey. He's a great guy. He's an even better role model," Bassey said. "He's always been there for all of the guys on the team. He's always willing to support, coach or listen to anything that you have to say to him. So he's been a super vital part of my development as a basketball player."

Bassey said Billups is a major reason why he has achieved what he has until now. 

"I don't think I'd be nearly as good as I was if it wasn't for him. Really just nothing but appreciation and respect for Chauncey Billups."

Now it's time for Bassey to be a leader in Tehran for his mother's home country. And Bassey is excited about it.

"It'll be great to just be able to get on the court and play the game and really see how basketball in Asia has evolved and how it stacks up with basketball back home in the States," Bassey said. "I think it's an exciting time, it's a big stage. I'm representing a country that I can identify with and I'm very excited to just be on the court and play some games."

FIBA