Prospects get chance to shine in Basketball Africa League

They’re refining skills of young prospects at the NBA Academy inAfrica. The vocabulary, too.

“There is a word that really we don’t like, which is ‘raw,‘”said Franck Traore, head of basketball operations for NBA Africa.“When you have an African player going to the U.S., they say‘raw.’”

Several academy prospects are playing in the new season of theBasketball Africa League, hoping to gain valuable experience in aprofessional setting and show that their game is more polished thanmany think.

Now in its third season, the league was created by the NBA inpartnership with FIBA to help grow the sport in Africa. It’s athree-month, Champions League-style competition for African clubteams.

They added a twist last season with each of the 12 teams beingassigned an academy prospect — called the “BAL Elevate” programthat’s in place this campaign, too.

The young players have to earn minutes on rosters full ofveterans. It’s another opportunity — along with various tournamentsthat the NBA Academy shuttles the kids to around the world — forthe prospects prove themselves.

Academy alum Babacar Sane played in the BAL and other eventslast year and jumped to the G League Ignite, where the 6-foot-6Senegalese player is in the first season of a two-year contract.Thierry Darlan, a 6-foot-7 point guard from the Central AfricanRepublic, is expected to do the same.

Sane and Darlan — both considered future NBA draft picks — arehelping change the profile of African recruits.

“It’s not a hurtful word or anything,” Traore said of the “raw”tag. “But we’re trying to develop programs so when an Africanplayer developed here on the continent gets to the U.S. or anywhereelse in the world they have the skillset — the same or even betterthan what we have in the U.S. We’re getting to that point at thismoment.”

GAME CHANGE?

At 6-foot-3, Joy Ighovodja isn’t the typical recruit out ofAfrica. The 18-year-old Nigerian will be playing next season atOral Roberts, which lost to Duke in the first round of the NCAATournament.

“I’ve not really seen point guards coming out of Nigeria,” saidIghovodja, whose 6-foot-10 wingspan intrigued scouts last summer atthe NBA Academy Games in Atlanta.

“The normal thing people think is Nigeria, Africa as a whole,we’re good on defense, run the floor,” he said. “The mentality isthey have these big strong guys that get rebounds and play in thepaint — not point guards.”

Ighovodja, who is playing with the Abidjan team for the BALseason, is a lefty who started playing basketball four years ago,initially as a shooting guard. Coaches like him as a point guard,he said, “to create opportunities for myself and my teammates” withhis speed, athleticism and ball-handling.

His team, the ABC Fighters, has advanced to the playoffs in Maybut the teenager has played in only one game so far under coach LizMills.

“I just have to gain the coach’s trust. I’m getting there,”Ighovodja said recently.

Other academy guards include Modou Thiam, who averaged 7.8points per game for Nigerian team Kwara, and Aginaldo Neto.Although Neto is not playing in BAL, the Angolan is “one of thebest upcoming point guards that we have,” Traore said.

“We’re just looking at everybody — it’s not even size orposition,” he added. “Right now, the game is going position-less.Here, we identify by potential.”

BAL GAMES

The academy has bigs in the BAL, too.

Rueben Chinyelu (6-foot-10) is making significant contributionswith Stade Malien before the 19-year-old Nigerian heads toWashington State. He is averaging 5.4 points and a team-high 8.8rebounds per game. More than half of his rebounds have been on theoffensive end.

Ulrich Chomche (6-foot-11) is averaging 1.6 blocks and 20.5minutes per game for Rwandan team REG, along with five points andseven rebounds per game. The 17-year-old Cameroonian also played inBAL last year and does not lack confidence.

Khaman Maluach (7-foot-1) of South Sudan is only 16 and helpedSenegalese team A.S. Douanes advance to the playoffs. Maluach is astrong finisher, a rim protector and has flashed 3-point range.