Localisation of naturalized players or naturalizing 'local' players?!

KUALA LUMPUR (Mageshwaran's AsiaScope) - The above headline is not meant to confuse you. It’s a mere statement of reality of the approach many teams in fray at the 27th FIBA Asia Championship to be played in Manila from Aug 1-11 have taken in utilizing the opportunity available through Article 21 of the FIBA Internal Regulations.

Nine out of the 16 teams in the competition at the Filipino capital will field players with acquired citizenship to strengthen their quest for one of the three slots available for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup. That by itself is an unprecedented number. It’ll be the first time in FIBA Asia Championship history that more than half the fray will field naturalized players!

Further, the road taken by at least seven – with a strong possibility of the number increasing to eight – of these nine teams in choosing their naturalized player is one of choosing players from pool already known to them. For starters, none of these naturalized players are any less local than the others in the team – apart from their country of origin that is.

Let’s begin with the one team where the naturalized player is really foreign – Jimmy Baxter for Jordan. Even here I really wouldn’t term Baxter completely unfamiliar with Jordan or vice versa, with the 198-cm guard having plied his trade in Petrochimi’s colors in the neighboring Iran as recently as 2011. And add to that the familiarity he enjoys with coach Vangelis Aleksandris – both having spent considerable time in the Greek League, Baxter certainly won’t be an unknown quantity for the Al Nashama fans.

Next is the border-line case I mentioned above – this is in Qatar. The GCC powerhouse has three candidates (wow!) for naturalization. One of them – Trey Johnson – has already donned the National Team colors and played a crucial role in helping Qatar win the bronze medal at last year’s 4th FIBA Asia Cup at Tokyo (Japan). The second one Boney Watson is as Qatari as everybody else in the team, having led Al Rayyan to two titles in three competitions in this year’s QBF season. But the strongest candidate, according to hints dropped by coach Tom Wisman is Jarvis Hayes.

All the other seven teams have players who have all “been there, done it” in the respective domestic leagues.

Starting with Bahrain’s CJ Giles. The American has been a part of Bahrain’s domestic powerhouse Al Muharraq for more than a year now, not to forget his previous experience with Duhok, Petrochimi, Al Ittihad and Al Riyadi Beirut all teams from the same region. Thus, when CJ dons the Bahrain colors, if he does, his teammates will certainly not be unfamiliar for him.

Similar are the cases of Lebanon’s Loren Woods, Kazakhstan’s ‘Triple J’ Jerry Johnson or Chinese Taipei’s Quincy Davis.

Each of these players have spent at least two seasons playing for local clubs in the countries that are naturalizing them.

Woods, apart from his long experience of playing for various clubs in Lebanon and West Asia was an integral part of coach Slobodan Subotic's scheme of things at Al Riyadi Beirut in the 2012-13 Lebanese Division A League, averaging 14.4 points and 11.7 rebounds in the 35 games he played for the Manara giants.

Davis, a 206-cm center, who is being naturalized by Taipei particularly to add size to their roster, had an average of 18.9 points per game leading Pure Youth to their second successive title in the Taipei SBL. A year ago, he averaged more than 16 points per game in Pure Youth’s maiden title.

Jerry Johnson played exactly a similar spearheading role in BC Astana’s success for two successive years in the Kazakhstan Division 1 League.

That takes us to East Asia to talk about the naturalized players Korea and Japan are likely to field.

Korea, have for a while, mastered the art of choosing players for the National Team only from the pool that plays in the KBL.

Therefore, the presence of Moon Tae-Young (earlier known as Greg Stevenson), his elder brother Moon Taejong (Jarod Stevenson) who almost single-handedly powered Korea to the bronze medal at the 26th FIBA Asia Championship at Wuhan (China) in 2011 or Lee Seung-Jun (aka Eric Sandrin) is not at all surprising. For the record, Moon Tae-Young was a part of the Mobis Phoebus team which won the 2012-13 KBL title, while his brother formed a part of the roster in Incheon ET Land Elephants. Lee played for Dongbu Promy.

Japan’s JR Sakuragi is so familiar with the Japanese fans that his earlier name of Henderson is almost forgotten. The senior pro will join hands with his Aishin Sea Horses coach Kimikazu Suzuki, this time charting out the plans for the Hayabusa.

Last but not the least is Marcus Douthit, who although hasn’t played much within Philippines, has been a part of the team for almost three years now. Selected after a serious scrutiny by the then National coach – the venerable Rajko Toroman – Douthit has spent enough time with the Gilas to be called as Filipino as the next man in Chot Reyes’ squad.

This is not a campaign to influence the other seven teams to field naturalized players. But should they opt for naturalization in the future, the above method seems fool-proof and certainly helps in overall development.

So long…

S Mageshwaran

FIBA Asia

FIBA's columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

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