Ater Majok is somewhat of a success story. I would say it's probably because they're not put on the right path at a younger age of nothing else. Would be great to see some Sudanese Australians in the NBL. Would also be great to have some more teams too to enable this!

Probably has something to do with the fact these immigrants are relatively new to the country, and have never been involved with the sport at a coached level until recently. The fact that from a lot of what people have said in regards to work ethic and general attitudes doesn't help, plus district basketball costs $$$$$ that the families don't have.

well Basketball Australia needs to fix that... if a young guy, no matter what race, shows enough promise.. its BA's duty to get them on board I believe... this elitist streak in basketball is not going to do it favors

Talking from my experiences in my area/s (Wollongong, South Sydney, West Sydney, Sydney etc) It mainly comes down to money.

ts an issue that needs to be raised to Basketball Australia I think... having sudanese Aussie players will open the league up to a new demographic and will bring new athletes to the game.. in the long run it will be worth the investment

Not yet good enough.

Not good enough

There are a couple of lads with African backgrounds from Queensland playing higher level. One at college in USA and one an NBL DP who spent a year at another college. Not Sudanese but both these lads have taken the long, very expensive path through rep programmes to get to their current levels. They both had the required commitment and coachability from a young age.

It's in a similar vein that not many indigenous Australians are playing NBL. It takes talent, time and timeliness, money (lots of it!) and the ability to perform within a team structure to get ahead in basketball. Without those attributes a player could be a great street ball type player but just wouldn't make it any further than his local comp.

What are you talking about, Anon?

Indigneous Australians make up around half of one per cent of the Australian population, and generally are not genetically very tall.

Considering we have three indiginous Aussies currently playing in the NBL out of not very many total roster slots, plus Patty Mills and Nate Jawai succeeding overseas, I would say they are well and truly representated and succeeding above and beyond cultural or statistical expectations

It would be nice to see the relevant basketball bodies step up and help work with the Sudanese communities. It would be great to bring a bit of diversity to the game and try to bring some communities together.

Finance is definitely a problem with the families indeed. This game isn't cheap for families.

Considering we have three indiginous Aussies currently playing in the NBL out of not very many total roster slots, plus Patty Mills and Nate Jawai succeeding overseas, I would say they are well and truly representated and succeeding above and beyond cultural or statistical expectations

Yes we do and I commend them all for their excellent achievements. However for every one of these there are probably 20 times more that are unable to adhere to structure and systems, keep time, have the money, etc to reach that level. I have worked first hand with these youth, both male and female, even driving around the suburbs picking them up in time for their rostered games, including two of the five above. The talent level is certainly there as it is for the majority of African players.

I don't think those hurdles you mentioned are unique to indigenous players.

Plenty of poor, white australians who can't afford to play either.

It's a problem inherent to the way our club-based system works in Australia.

Not many people can afford to dish out $200 for annual rego, plus $12 a game every week (or more if playing in multiple age groups -- which the more talented kids tend to do to fast-track their development).

And that's just local ball, not even getting into travel for rep programs.

Basketball in the US succeeds in being more classless because of the school-based system.

When we say talented, we mean atheltic yeah?

Brett Rainbow (anybody???) was a terrific athlete, but he was as dumb as a rock, couldn't shoot and couldn't pass.

Andrew Gaze was talented, just not athletically (except for height).

Basketball is a very expensive sport; half-yearly club fees, team sheets every game, entrance fees etc. And this does not include tournaments! I am not surprised new immigrants cant afford it.

I think the next generation Sudanese (born here) will have a much better go of it (as is usually the case with immigrants)

Sudanese in Australia are relatively new. Give it 10 years and i'd imagine there will be a good bunch of them in the NBL and elsewhere.

I see a lot of young guys 12-15 who do nothing but play ball and are damn good, and will have a good shot at making it in a few years

I must ask the question, why no Sudanese Aussies in the NBL?

Why is there no NBL sudes when the game is so popular amoungst them? are they not being put through the pathways to reach professionalism?

I am glad that everyone has responded to my topic well and not by branding me some sort of racist, you cant hide from the fact that 80% of the NBA is black! its good to see everyones not wearing politically correct glasses and are seeing things the way they are. And I have to agree with Rhea.. 10-15 years time were going to have alot of Sudanese Australian Ballers popping up in the NBL and in other leagues and it is going to strengthen the game massively. With the technical skills we can teach them., and there natural gifts that few Australians generally have.. Expect there to be some african-Australians in future boomer teams

Give it a few years in Victoria there are few really good players playing at MSAC but they just seem to struggle with structure. Saying that they beat most one on one but when it is 5 on 5 struggle!

To start with, AIS should recruit and develop one.