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The seventh wonders
Matthew Coutts, National Post · Tuesday, Jun. 15, 2010
TORONTO — It was the first day of Canada Basketball tryouts and Sim Bhullar had survived about 30 minutes of a regimen designed to bust ankles and break sweat.
Seventeen junior team hopefuls were running sharp cuts the length of the court at a practice last week and Bhullar was lagging noticeably. Endurance and footwork are not his strong traits. Watching the behemoth 7-foot-4 teenager carry his 285-pound body 80 feet is exhausting in itself.
Eventually the drills changed focus, moved under the basket and Bhullar was in his element. His opponent, leaning against him like a wall, received a pass and made a move around the imposing centre. When the shot went up, Bhullar effortlessly pushed the ball aside.
For Canada's basketball program, Sim's height makes him a rare commodity. Even more rare is that it has come to them twice. Sim's brother Tanveer, at 7-foot-2, is trying out with Canada's cadet team for players under 17 years old.
"They are talented players; it's not like they are bereft of skills," Roy Rana, the cadet team's head coach, said recently. "They have a good foundation to work from. And the size is unique. They are among the biggest people on the planet. They are big, big people."
There is a saying in basketball circles: You can't teach size.
You can't teach players to have skyscraping height or the bulk of a tractor-trailer to park under the basket. What you can do is teach them how to patrol the post, box out opponents and suck in rebounds like a vacuum. You can bulk them up if they are too slender for physical play or trim them down if they are too heavy to jump off the ground.
You can't teach size, but you can teach a player to use it.
And that is what Canada's national program has with the behemoth Toronto teenagers born to Indian parents of perfectly normal height. You will notice their shoulders hovering above the heads of their Canadian cohorts.
If you look at the current rosters for every NBA team you will find a little more than 40 players listed on or above the seven-foot barrier. But whittle the list to those who match or exceed Tanveer's 7-foot-2 and there are a total of five. The number of players taller than Sim is best summarized in two words: Yao Ming.
"It is a lot easier to score," Sim says, when absurdly asked how height benefits his game. "It makes the game easier because they are not as tall as you."
There are endless possibilities for the Bhullar brothers: U.S. college ball, the national program, maybe the NBA some day. If that dream comes true -- and both boys say it is the goal -- they would be the first players from Indiaborn parents to play in the big show. The international marketing potential has been compared to the effect Yao had on China when he joined the NBA in 2002.
Tanveer, who sat out this particular practice with a brace on his right foot, says it is an honour to be considered for Canada's national program.
"It's great to play for Team Canada because you get to represent your country and make a name for Canada," he said. "Right now it's all about the United States because they are so good. You want to compete with them."
Canada Basketball will keep its eyes on how the brothers progress. They currently split their time between high school ball in Pennsylvania, where they attend a private prep school outside Pittsburgh, playing with a Toronto-based AAU program in the summer and, starting last week, with the national program.
The Canadian cadet team has a place in the FIBA under-17 world championship tournament in Germany beginning on July 2, while the junior team is playing in the FIBA Americas under-18 championship in San Antonio starting on June 26.
"They are very unique. It is not every day we have the ability to work with kids of their size that show that much potential. There is a lot of excitement in Canada for them," Rana said. "They have nice touch around the rim. Their mobility is improving daily. They certainly have a chance at playing at a very high level."
The Bhullar brothers moved from North York to Saltsburg, Pa., last year to attend the Kiski School, where their father felt they would better their chances at a college career.
Just as the brothers are works in progress for Canada Basketball, they are part of a new foundation at Kiski, which is well-known for its academics but, until recently, not at all for its basketball program.
Daryn Freedman, a former NBA staffer with the Philadelphia 76ers and the New Jersey Nets who also assisted John Calipari at the University of Kentucky, was lured to Kiski last summer and set about establishing a program that would make the colleges take notice. He wanted young, raw talent to develop. He got that when a former colleague introduced him to the Bhullar brothers.
"Sim was so out of shape and Tanveer couldn't leave the ground," he said. "With Sim, with the weight he was carrying, it was hard for him to get up and down the floor. He would go for three minutes and he didn't have the stamina to keep up."
But you can't teach size. Freedman knows that. He has worked with the likes of Marcus Camby and Montreal native Samuel Dalembert, and he saw enough talent in the Bhullars to know they were the real deal.
What was better was that Sim and Tanveer knew their limitations, their shortcomings as players, and were willing to work. When asked about their downsides, Sim pointed to his conditioning, while Tanveer said he needed to develop an explosive first step, like his idol Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs.
Over the course of the season, Freedman ran the Bhullars into shape. Sim dropped 30 pounds training in the morning with the school's wrestling coach. Tanveer learned to jump, if only slightly, and opened up the world of dunking.
By the end of his sophomore season, Sim was averaging nearly a triple-double, with 16 points, 14 rebounds and eight blocks; Tanveer, a freshman, had moved from the bench into the starting lineup next to his brother, averaging 12 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks.
"We always know Sim gets the ball first," Tanveer said. "We usually do high-low together because no one knows which one of us to guard. I can take the shot or pass it to him."
West Virginia, Duke, Florida State, Kentucky and LSU are among the schools that have reportedly expressed interest in the brothers, specifically Sim, who has two more years before he graduates high school. The number has probably tripled in the past month, Freedman said. Universities have been calling just to say they want the boys to consider them when the time comes.
"I expect both of them to be able to do whatever they want. They can go wherever they want ... Just the fact that Sim is so dominating, he will have options. There is no question when you see him. This kid is without a doubt right now a prospect."
Tanveer, meanwhile, is considered among the top prospects in the 2013 graduating class, ranked first out of Canada, and considered by ESPN's college recruiting experts to have a higher ceiling than his brother.
"Is he going to be better than Sim? I don't know. But he's going to be better than he is now, and a lot better than when he came to Kiski," Freedman said. "When he's a junior, I think he is going to be completely unstoppable."
Matthew Coutts, National Post · Tuesday, Jun. 15, 2010
TORONTO — It was the first day of Canada Basketball tryouts and Sim Bhullar had survived about 30 minutes of a regimen designed to bust ankles and break sweat.
Seventeen junior team hopefuls were running sharp cuts the length of the court at a practice last week and Bhullar was lagging noticeably. Endurance and footwork are not his strong traits. Watching the behemoth 7-foot-4 teenager carry his 285-pound body 80 feet is exhausting in itself.
Eventually the drills changed focus, moved under the basket and Bhullar was in his element. His opponent, leaning against him like a wall, received a pass and made a move around the imposing centre. When the shot went up, Bhullar effortlessly pushed the ball aside.
For Canada's basketball program, Sim's height makes him a rare commodity. Even more rare is that it has come to them twice. Sim's brother Tanveer, at 7-foot-2, is trying out with Canada's cadet team for players under 17 years old.
"They are talented players; it's not like they are bereft of skills," Roy Rana, the cadet team's head coach, said recently. "They have a good foundation to work from. And the size is unique. They are among the biggest people on the planet. They are big, big people."
There is a saying in basketball circles: You can't teach size.
You can't teach players to have skyscraping height or the bulk of a tractor-trailer to park under the basket. What you can do is teach them how to patrol the post, box out opponents and suck in rebounds like a vacuum. You can bulk them up if they are too slender for physical play or trim them down if they are too heavy to jump off the ground.
You can't teach size, but you can teach a player to use it.
And that is what Canada's national program has with the behemoth Toronto teenagers born to Indian parents of perfectly normal height. You will notice their shoulders hovering above the heads of their Canadian cohorts.
If you look at the current rosters for every NBA team you will find a little more than 40 players listed on or above the seven-foot barrier. But whittle the list to those who match or exceed Tanveer's 7-foot-2 and there are a total of five. The number of players taller than Sim is best summarized in two words: Yao Ming.
"It is a lot easier to score," Sim says, when absurdly asked how height benefits his game. "It makes the game easier because they are not as tall as you."
There are endless possibilities for the Bhullar brothers: U.S. college ball, the national program, maybe the NBA some day. If that dream comes true -- and both boys say it is the goal -- they would be the first players from Indiaborn parents to play in the big show. The international marketing potential has been compared to the effect Yao had on China when he joined the NBA in 2002.
Tanveer, who sat out this particular practice with a brace on his right foot, says it is an honour to be considered for Canada's national program.
"It's great to play for Team Canada because you get to represent your country and make a name for Canada," he said. "Right now it's all about the United States because they are so good. You want to compete with them."
Canada Basketball will keep its eyes on how the brothers progress. They currently split their time between high school ball in Pennsylvania, where they attend a private prep school outside Pittsburgh, playing with a Toronto-based AAU program in the summer and, starting last week, with the national program.
The Canadian cadet team has a place in the FIBA under-17 world championship tournament in Germany beginning on July 2, while the junior team is playing in the FIBA Americas under-18 championship in San Antonio starting on June 26.
"They are very unique. It is not every day we have the ability to work with kids of their size that show that much potential. There is a lot of excitement in Canada for them," Rana said. "They have nice touch around the rim. Their mobility is improving daily. They certainly have a chance at playing at a very high level."
The Bhullar brothers moved from North York to Saltsburg, Pa., last year to attend the Kiski School, where their father felt they would better their chances at a college career.
Just as the brothers are works in progress for Canada Basketball, they are part of a new foundation at Kiski, which is well-known for its academics but, until recently, not at all for its basketball program.
Daryn Freedman, a former NBA staffer with the Philadelphia 76ers and the New Jersey Nets who also assisted John Calipari at the University of Kentucky, was lured to Kiski last summer and set about establishing a program that would make the colleges take notice. He wanted young, raw talent to develop. He got that when a former colleague introduced him to the Bhullar brothers.
"Sim was so out of shape and Tanveer couldn't leave the ground," he said. "With Sim, with the weight he was carrying, it was hard for him to get up and down the floor. He would go for three minutes and he didn't have the stamina to keep up."
But you can't teach size. Freedman knows that. He has worked with the likes of Marcus Camby and Montreal native Samuel Dalembert, and he saw enough talent in the Bhullars to know they were the real deal.
What was better was that Sim and Tanveer knew their limitations, their shortcomings as players, and were willing to work. When asked about their downsides, Sim pointed to his conditioning, while Tanveer said he needed to develop an explosive first step, like his idol Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs.
Over the course of the season, Freedman ran the Bhullars into shape. Sim dropped 30 pounds training in the morning with the school's wrestling coach. Tanveer learned to jump, if only slightly, and opened up the world of dunking.
By the end of his sophomore season, Sim was averaging nearly a triple-double, with 16 points, 14 rebounds and eight blocks; Tanveer, a freshman, had moved from the bench into the starting lineup next to his brother, averaging 12 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks.
"We always know Sim gets the ball first," Tanveer said. "We usually do high-low together because no one knows which one of us to guard. I can take the shot or pass it to him."
West Virginia, Duke, Florida State, Kentucky and LSU are among the schools that have reportedly expressed interest in the brothers, specifically Sim, who has two more years before he graduates high school. The number has probably tripled in the past month, Freedman said. Universities have been calling just to say they want the boys to consider them when the time comes.
"I expect both of them to be able to do whatever they want. They can go wherever they want ... Just the fact that Sim is so dominating, he will have options. There is no question when you see him. This kid is without a doubt right now a prospect."
Tanveer, meanwhile, is considered among the top prospects in the 2013 graduating class, ranked first out of Canada, and considered by ESPN's college recruiting experts to have a higher ceiling than his brother.
"Is he going to be better than Sim? I don't know. But he's going to be better than he is now, and a lot better than when he came to Kiski," Freedman said. "When he's a junior, I think he is going to be completely unstoppable."
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