A call worth appreciating

“When I was young I played quite a bit of cricket. I bowled a bit but overall,I was quite keen to become a wicket keeper. It seems a bit awkward because tall guys aren’t supposed to be able to bend very well but I managed it. Infact that wicketkeeping probably made me more flexible and that was a great quality to have in a tall player. So you can say that cricket helped me become a good basketball player,” says Longley,currently in India for a basketball clinic.

Hardwork and dedication

Playing in a roster packed with NBA Hall-of-Famers like Michael Jordan,Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman,Longley wasn’t the best player on the court but managed to keep his place through heart and hard work.

“It helped that I was playing with some of the greatest players of all time. When they raised their game,I too managed to raise my own game. Greatness inspires greatness. If Michael was the best shooter,my job was to make sure he got enough passes. I set up screens and played defence when the team needed it,” says Longley. The Australian’s job extended off the court as well. “If you asked coach Phil Jackson,he would probably say I was the glue in the side. Michael could talk to me as could Dennis. I had to make sure that Dennis didn’t go to too many parties and at other times it was to go along with him. He would often do some weird things like wear women’s underwear but we would manage somehow,” he says.

Longley was part of a generation of foreign players who first managed to break into the NBA,says the journey from Perth to the NBA was challenging. Basketball was a minority sport in Australia,and Longley acknowledges that his was an example of being at the right place at the right time.

“I was lucky because I was playing the game at a time when the NBA was expanding. I rode the crest of the wave. I was selected for college in the USA,because a coach from a university there had come to look at another player but liked the way I played instead,” he says.

Longley admits that fact he was a seven footer made him an easier sell. “I would be lying if I said being big wasn’t an asset. But it wasn’t the only thing that got me to the NBA. There were maybe twenty seven-footers who passed out from college along with me. You need to have passion for the game. If I was shorter,I would have developed in a different way,and maybe still found a way to make it,” he says.

While acknowledging that the game has similarly low profile in India,he says people are not inherently good at a sport because they are from a specific region.

“When I think about it there isn’t much difference in the skill level of an NBA player and a player in Australia or even the Philippenes. Where those guys are way ahead is in their basketball IQ. They just play so many games. Shooting hoops in your backyard may improve your skills but playing competitive games will give you experience,” he says.

And he doesn’t agree that only an Indian in the NBA can turn things around for the sport in the country. “Saying that India needs to have a player playing in the NBA before Indian’s start picking up basketball ,is the wrong way to go about thing. I would rather feel that getting families to start playing local leagues. I didn’t have any Australian playing in the NBA.

But my father used to play in a local league and watching him play,motivated me to start playing the game as well. When this sort of league setup takes shape in India,it is only a matter of time before you send someone to the USA. It doesn’t matter what sort of game you are playing,It could even be three-on-three. But you need to have fun,” he says.