N.B.A. Pick From India Makes Entire Village Feel 7 Feet Tall

[Recursion]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/30/world/asia/satnam-singh-india-nba-basketball.html

In this sleepy Punjabi village, no one was surprised to see a seven-foot-tall Sikh farmer striding the narrow lanes toward the local Sikh temple on June 25. The farmer, Balbir Singh Bamrah, is a familiar presence in Ballo Ke, and something of a local curiosity.

But the other worshipers at the temple, known as a gurudwara, were a bit perplexed by the prayer the guru offered for Balbir Singh’s household. He stood over the farmer, his wife and his daughter, and prayed for peace, prosperity, health — and that Balbir Singh’s son would be drafted.

“They didn’t understand what the N.B.A. draft was,” said Sarabjot Kaur, Balbir Singh’s 23-year-old daughter. “They only realized later.”

On the night of June 25 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn — which, some 7,000 miles away in Ballo Ke, was the next morning — the Dallas Mavericks selected Satnam Singh Bhamara in the second and final round, making him the first Indian-born player ever to be drafted by a team in the National Basketball Association. It was reported that the 19-year-old athlete, who is two inches taller than his father, would start out with the Mavericks’ Development League team, the Texas Legends.

Well, all the best to him, though being drafted by the Mavericks is not a lucky start...

[Bonx]

1. I watched him play summer league ball. Definitely a project.