I guess Mr.Ed plan to get Thon into the NBA quickly did not work.

and he's how old ?????

He's going to wait till he's in his 30's to play NCAA?

Dude will be like 28 if he ever reaches the league haha

Really surprised to see how much flak our youngsters cop.

Bahaha that's gold

"Haters. Guy will most likely end up legit and same people will wonder why he doesn't call Australia home!"

bahahaha he already doesn't call Australia home.

Aussies are pretty stupid. Sudanese are a pretty tall race and Aussies think that if a kid is tall than he must be over aged.

I'm seeing 25 of February as his bday. No idea where you got June from

I stop growing at 14.

Yes

Maker was just named MVP of the NBA top 100 camp.

His age had nothing to do with his height. When refugees come over to Australia with no documents/certificates they essentially fill out a form and "guess" the birth date. Then if they move States they apparently sometimes fill out here forms again.

It's not a bad thing. A 12 year old who doesn't speak English can say they are 10 To give them a few years to learn the language etc.

In Thons case it's been heavily rumoured he's about 3-4 years older than his "Birth Certificate".

Take it for you will. This is why many believe he's like 23-24 and its a theory as to why he moved to canada to play as the U.S. was looking to investigate.

These rumours plus "hear say" from the local community in which he used to play Bball with in Perth lead me to personally think he's not the age he is advertised at.

It has nothing to do with racism what so ever.

It's not about Australian kids, it's about NBA teams making million dollar investments on a "kid" who is billed as 19/20 but is actually closer to 25. That's a massive can of worms.

At a more domestic junior level, yeah it's not really fair, but at the same time it should make younger kids better by having to play against physically bigger kids.

I did this as part of my junior development. I'd have a team that plays in my age group in one competition, then they'd have an elite team of all the best kids from that age group in one team playing at a higher age group.

RMQ....interesting comment....I guess that the "elite" kids you mentioned are really the ones who choose to play at Rep level. Also as an observation, perhaps we need careful about talking about "elite" with kids. If the above model was the rule Andrew Bogut would never have made the cut as it was only in his under 18 phase that he began to be identified as "elite".

There's not a different set of rules, there's presumably no historical birth records for some people. If some kid was born locally and raised in a cave by wolves, someone would estimate their age too. So be it.

The NBA can do their own research. There were questions about Yi Jianlian in the past. Hell, people question Greg Oden's age.

What hope do talented young Australian born kids have

RMQ:
I can tell you are not a refugee and you are not familiar with the process.
To keep you from continuing to appear as an uninformed Yobo,I will walk you through the process.

When a Sudanese refugee (let's say Thon who came here at 6yo by all counts) comes to Australia they are processed by the United Nations where their age is determined by documents or a medical procedure. That document and process is accepted globally by western nations.
I'm sure you could not pass a 6 year old as a 3 or 2 year old if he dropped his age by the 3 to 4 yr difference you stated.
Upon landing in Australia, you receive your permanent residence document which places you within the immigration system. But prior to you coming, your records are sent via computer to Australia and it must match that record when you land. In about 5yrs you receive your citizenship and your passport. Now I'm sure 2yo Thon did not hack the system and change his records.

Now to get in the U.S. it is like trying to get into Fort Knox. Thon to be a student in the U.S. must have a valid Australian passport with a U.S. student visa. Since September 911, this process is stringent and Thon being very high profiled would have been sent home.
It was never rumored that Thon left the U.S. to go to Canada because the U.S. was looking to investigate. That is plain silly. The rumor was that he was going trying to get to the NBA quickly or the Canadians were trying to poach him to play for their national team (which I believe).
As for the community where he lived, you know what happens when someone is successful. Jealousy sets in for some and others support.
Another point, Thon played for the NSW State team as a bottom age 6'10"kid. He would have had to provide legitimate citizenship documents. Are you accusing NSW of cheating and being part of this conspiracy: Thon the 6 year old change his age to 2 to learn English, came to Australia because his parents saw him as a big time basketball prospect, is now on the run to Canada, and has tricked NSW, Andre Lemanis, the U.S., and Canada. Really?!

Furthermore RMQ, you really must care about the NBA losing money. Come on man!

Shayok - no I'm not a refugee and no I'm not familiar with the process. I am also not an uninformed yobo.

People are quite sensitive about this subject. It's really just a singular case about a singular player at this point.

I've got me information from people in basketball circles, and it is assumption on your behalf to assume they are "jealous".

Either way - if Thon gets picked up high in the draft and makes an impact in the league than it's good for basketball in Australia. And that's what everyone should want.

Everyone acting like I'm saying all refugee players have an unfair advantage. I'm not saying that all.

My point is, I believe that Thon Maker is older than what he is billed at. If the end game is making the NBA he might be a 25-26 year old rookie that's billed as low 20s.

I just find his situation odd, so naturally I speculate. My speculation leads to nothing but conversation. Some people can do it in a constructive manner, others revert to name calling.

And to the comments about 'elite' and domestic etc. Again jumping to conclusions.

In WA we have our State League Clubs. These state league clubs run junior competitions and from these junior competitions they pick out the kids with the most potential to be part of their WA basketball league programs. When I was a junior part of our training was to play as our State league team in older age groups. Is it the best method - maybe I don't know, I'm far removed from it now and don't have kids.

All I know is the system has produced some talents - Cam Tovey, Tom Garlepp, Tom Jervis to name a few that have made it to NBL level.

How is this a Race issue at all #082 and #086?

All RMQ has done is question his actual age, which is something a LOT of people in WA have been doing. He lived here before NSW.

You cite procedures etc and thats great, but people lie all the time and get away with it. i could go and quote many instances of people on Death Row due to lies, just like your straw man argument with Black QB's. They both serve the same purpose, to try take away from the actual issue.

Same questions were asked of Dikembe Mutombo in the 90's, Thon is not blazing a trail for anyone except himself, as he should.

I forgot to put my name on the 2 post above.
1st thing 1st answer the questions except the "fairy godmother" joke.
What I pointed out that there are procedures the preclude such things occurring if a person such as Thon chooses to participate in coming to Australia at 6, representing NSW as a State player, getting a student visa to the U.S., participating in high profile events where identification is required, moving to Canada, and being invited to play for Australia by the head coach of the national team. Maybe those in Perth did not know him when he arrived in Australia and later formed opinions.
As for the race issue, this age question would not be an issue if someone from Eastern Europe (let's say Bosnia where there was war)came to Australia. People are quick to run away from their racial bias and accuse others of playing the race card. The assumptions made are in the same arena as the racism that appeared in the document on Moon.

Why question his age? Because his size/skills seem abnormal?

Did you ask the same of Kevin Garnett (considered a freak when he declared), Oden, Yao, Yi, etc.

Not sure where the outrage/concern stems from? Who's going to get burnt but a mega-rich sporting club if his age is out?

If he represents Australia, there's no loss there. Crawford showed that you will be picked on your merits as much as development potential anyway.

The only problem here is the rampant and entrenched nepotism and cronysim in Australian Junior basketball.
Too many influential parents, who've had their little johnny pegged as "the next Luc Longley" since he was 3 years old, and for some insane reason believe the way to ensure his NBA draft future is to whiteant all the players who are better than their little darlings.
It's no wonder so many talented juniors just give up on the sport and switch to AFL,

And yes, the racism is so thick, you could slice it.
And yes, it is the ugly, pig-ignorant, "they took our yerbs" mentality that predominates.

Thon gets picked on because he's black, NO other reason. The fact that he was born in Sudan is simply ammunition. Similar BS was thrown at Nic Naitanui, and he was born in PENRITH!
Years back, people slung the exact bullshit at David Wirrpanda, claiming he was "really 20" when drafted as a 16yr old. (Which would have made him 34 when he retired, quite an impressive feat.)

And what do all these people have in common? It's NOT being born overseas, NOT even their height (Wirra was only 173cm) no, its the colour of their skin. Pathetic.

And the stupid thing is this. If any kid has even a smidgen of the potential to be an NBA draftee, he'll be more than good enough to play college ball, probably on a scholarship, and beyond that if he has the talent, then the scouts will find him. Trying to protect little johnny's place on a representative team is not only pointless, its counter-productive. We should be EMBRACING kids like Thon and demonstrating Australia's credentials as a talent incubator.