the former commissioner mentioned expanding the league internationally.
could see some decent talent coming from the island in a few yrs. the way MLB did with the DR.
NBA
NBA to Host Development Camp in Cuba
Would become first major U.S. league to do business on island since thaw in relations
Fidel Castro plays basketball with students in 1970. Photo: Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
By
Ben Cohen
April 6, 2015 7:00 p.m. ET
The NBA will host a basketball development camp in Cuba later this month, making it the first major American sports league to conduct official business there since the thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations.
The four-day clinic in Havana, which starts on April 23, will be sponsored by the NBA and FIBA, basketball’s international governing body. The camp will be led by the Cuban men’s and women’s national teams, former NBA players Steve Nash and Dikembe Mutombo and former WNBA player Ticha Penicheiro.
Related
In addition, the league plans to invite two players and one coach from Cuba to an upcoming Basketball Without Borders camp, a community outreach program. It also will send Orlando Magic coach James Borrego and Utah Jazz coach Quin Snyder, among other NBA assistant coaches and team executives, for a training camp with the Cuban national teams.
NBA officials said that the league initiated discussions with FIBA and the Cuban Basketball Federation about a camp in Cuba’s capital shortly after President Barack Obama said in December that the U.S. and Cuba had agreed to restore diplomatic ties that had been on hold since 1961.
“It all came together pretty quickly,” said NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum, the top executive from the league office in the NBA’s delegation there. “We hope this is the beginning of a long and positive relationship with the Cuban Basketball Federation.”
The NBA isn’t as popular in Cuba as Major League Baseball, which likely will play an exhibition game there early next year, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred told The Wall Street Journal last month. The New York Cosmos soccer team is also set to play a game there on June 2 against the Cuban national team.
But there is a history of basketball on the island. Cuba won the bronze medal in men’s basketball at the 1972 Olympics—the same year that the Soviet Union famously beat the U.S. in the gold-medal game after a series of controversial call—but it last played in the Olympics in 1980.
The NBA has had two Cuban-born players, according to the league’s records. Andrés Guibert was the first, playing 22 games for the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons. He was followed by Lazaro Borrell, who played 17 games with the Seattle SuperSonics in the 1999-2000 season.
But the immediate goal of the NBA’s trip there this month isn’t to identify the league’s next Cuban-born players, Tatum said. “This trip is about growing the game globally,” he said.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/nba-to-...n-cuba-1428361201?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_sports
Fidel Castro seen in public for the first time in over a year
_______________________________________________
NBA taking its game to Cuba to ‘share values of game’
By Joseph Goodman
The NBA is going to Cuba.
The professional basketball league announced Tuesday that it is hosting a development camp in Havana April 23-26. Recently retired guard Steve Nash and NBA legend Dikembe Mutombo are among the players who will lead the four-day event, which the NBA trumpeted as the first visit to Cuba by an American professional sports entity since President Barack Obama announced plans to improve diplomatic relations between the two countries.
“We’ve seen the bridges that basketball can build between cultures,” NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum said. “We look forward to sharing the values of our game with Cuban youth and learning together through the common language of sports.”
Initial planning for the NBA’s trip to Cuba came together not long after President Obama’s announcement in December that the United States and Cuba would begin steps toward restoring full diplomacy between the governments of both countries. An advance team from the NBA’s league office in New York visited Cuba in early March. During those meetings, Cuban officials were enthusiastic about the NBA conducting a camp.
The big question: Will the Miami Heat play a preseason game in Cuba anytime soon? It’s certainly possible — the New York Cosmos soccer team is playing the Cuban National Team on June 2 — but there are no current plans for the Heat, or any other NBA team, to play an exhibition in Cuba, according to a league source. Major League Baseball has expressed interest in hosting a game in Cuba in 2016.
Though isolated in many ways from the United States for half a century, Cuba has fostered a strong foundation of basketball development through the decades. The men’s national team won a bronze medal at the 1974 Summer Olympics, and the women’s national team finished third at the 1990 FIBA World Championship. The women’s team most recently won the FIBA Americas championship in 2013.
In addition to the development camp for the Cuban men’s and women’s national teams, the NBA and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) also plan to refurbish three basketball courts during the trip and also conduct two youth clinics. The NBA’s trip to Cuba is in association with the Cuban sports ministry, Cuba’s National Institute of Sport, Physical Education, and Recreation (INDER) and the Cuban Basketball Federation.
“This is a great day for Cuban basketball and our federation,” said CBF president Ruperto Herrera. “To have both the NBA and FIBA collaborate on youth instruction and the development of the game in our country is magnificent.
“We thank the Republic of Cuba and INDER for opening the doors for these basketball camps that will end up benefiting the future of national and international basketball.”
In addition to the participation of Nash and Mutombo, WNBA legend Ticha Penicheiro will also provide instruction during the basketball camp. Other camp instructors include Orlando Magic coach James Borrego, Utah Jazz coach Quin Snyder, Utah Jazz assistant coach Brad Jones, USA Basketball youth development coach Don Showalter and Victor Ojeda, director of the Basketball Academy of the Americas.
“In the continued effort to strengthen our national federations, it is extremely gratifying to see Cuba serve as the center of a development camp of this magnitude,” FIBA President Horacio Muratore said. “This is a country that loves basketball and we are proud to work together with the NBA on this historic venture.”
Tommy Sheppard, the Washington Wizards’ vice president of basketball administration, along with New York Knicks associate athletic trainer Anthony Goenaga and FIBA Americas referee Geraldo Fontana also will conduct workshops for coaches, trainers and other sports professionals, according to a news release by the NBA.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nba/article17681831.html#storylink=cpy
NBA to put on four-day camp in Cuba
First major U.S. sports league to visit since restoring diplomatic relations
NEW YORK -
The NBA and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) announcing that they will host the first joint basketball development camp in Havana, Cuba April 23-26.
The NBA and FIBA will invite two players and one coach from Cuba to participate in the upcoming Basketball without Borders camp.
"We've seen the bridges that basketball can build between cultures," said NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum. "We look forward to sharing the values of our game with Cuban youth and learning together through the common language of sports."
Two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash, NBA Global Ambassador Dikembe Mutombo, and WNBA Legend Ticha Penicheiro will lead the four-day camp with the Cuban Men's and Women's National Teams, and community outreach projects in association with the Cuban sports ministry, INDER, and the Cuban Basketball Federation (CBF).
http://www.local10.com/sports/nba-to-put-on-fourday-camp-in-cuba/32237824
could see some decent talent coming from the island in a few yrs. the way MLB did with the DR.
NBA
NBA to Host Development Camp in Cuba
Would become first major U.S. league to do business on island since thaw in relations
Fidel Castro plays basketball with students in 1970. Photo: Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
By
Ben Cohen
April 6, 2015 7:00 p.m. ET
The NBA will host a basketball development camp in Cuba later this month, making it the first major American sports league to conduct official business there since the thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations.
The four-day clinic in Havana, which starts on April 23, will be sponsored by the NBA and FIBA, basketball’s international governing body. The camp will be led by the Cuban men’s and women’s national teams, former NBA players Steve Nash and Dikembe Mutombo and former WNBA player Ticha Penicheiro.
Related
In addition, the league plans to invite two players and one coach from Cuba to an upcoming Basketball Without Borders camp, a community outreach program. It also will send Orlando Magic coach James Borrego and Utah Jazz coach Quin Snyder, among other NBA assistant coaches and team executives, for a training camp with the Cuban national teams.
NBA officials said that the league initiated discussions with FIBA and the Cuban Basketball Federation about a camp in Cuba’s capital shortly after President Barack Obama said in December that the U.S. and Cuba had agreed to restore diplomatic ties that had been on hold since 1961.
“It all came together pretty quickly,” said NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum, the top executive from the league office in the NBA’s delegation there. “We hope this is the beginning of a long and positive relationship with the Cuban Basketball Federation.”
The NBA isn’t as popular in Cuba as Major League Baseball, which likely will play an exhibition game there early next year, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred told The Wall Street Journal last month. The New York Cosmos soccer team is also set to play a game there on June 2 against the Cuban national team.
But there is a history of basketball on the island. Cuba won the bronze medal in men’s basketball at the 1972 Olympics—the same year that the Soviet Union famously beat the U.S. in the gold-medal game after a series of controversial call—but it last played in the Olympics in 1980.
The NBA has had two Cuban-born players, according to the league’s records. Andrés Guibert was the first, playing 22 games for the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons. He was followed by Lazaro Borrell, who played 17 games with the Seattle SuperSonics in the 1999-2000 season.
But the immediate goal of the NBA’s trip there this month isn’t to identify the league’s next Cuban-born players, Tatum said. “This trip is about growing the game globally,” he said.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/nba-to-...n-cuba-1428361201?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_sports
Fidel Castro seen in public for the first time in over a year
_______________________________________________
NBA taking its game to Cuba to ‘share values of game’
By Joseph Goodman
The NBA is going to Cuba.
The professional basketball league announced Tuesday that it is hosting a development camp in Havana April 23-26. Recently retired guard Steve Nash and NBA legend Dikembe Mutombo are among the players who will lead the four-day event, which the NBA trumpeted as the first visit to Cuba by an American professional sports entity since President Barack Obama announced plans to improve diplomatic relations between the two countries.
“We’ve seen the bridges that basketball can build between cultures,” NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum said. “We look forward to sharing the values of our game with Cuban youth and learning together through the common language of sports.”
Initial planning for the NBA’s trip to Cuba came together not long after President Obama’s announcement in December that the United States and Cuba would begin steps toward restoring full diplomacy between the governments of both countries. An advance team from the NBA’s league office in New York visited Cuba in early March. During those meetings, Cuban officials were enthusiastic about the NBA conducting a camp.
The big question: Will the Miami Heat play a preseason game in Cuba anytime soon? It’s certainly possible — the New York Cosmos soccer team is playing the Cuban National Team on June 2 — but there are no current plans for the Heat, or any other NBA team, to play an exhibition in Cuba, according to a league source. Major League Baseball has expressed interest in hosting a game in Cuba in 2016.
Though isolated in many ways from the United States for half a century, Cuba has fostered a strong foundation of basketball development through the decades. The men’s national team won a bronze medal at the 1974 Summer Olympics, and the women’s national team finished third at the 1990 FIBA World Championship. The women’s team most recently won the FIBA Americas championship in 2013.
In addition to the development camp for the Cuban men’s and women’s national teams, the NBA and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) also plan to refurbish three basketball courts during the trip and also conduct two youth clinics. The NBA’s trip to Cuba is in association with the Cuban sports ministry, Cuba’s National Institute of Sport, Physical Education, and Recreation (INDER) and the Cuban Basketball Federation.
“This is a great day for Cuban basketball and our federation,” said CBF president Ruperto Herrera. “To have both the NBA and FIBA collaborate on youth instruction and the development of the game in our country is magnificent.
“We thank the Republic of Cuba and INDER for opening the doors for these basketball camps that will end up benefiting the future of national and international basketball.”
In addition to the participation of Nash and Mutombo, WNBA legend Ticha Penicheiro will also provide instruction during the basketball camp. Other camp instructors include Orlando Magic coach James Borrego, Utah Jazz coach Quin Snyder, Utah Jazz assistant coach Brad Jones, USA Basketball youth development coach Don Showalter and Victor Ojeda, director of the Basketball Academy of the Americas.
“In the continued effort to strengthen our national federations, it is extremely gratifying to see Cuba serve as the center of a development camp of this magnitude,” FIBA President Horacio Muratore said. “This is a country that loves basketball and we are proud to work together with the NBA on this historic venture.”
Tommy Sheppard, the Washington Wizards’ vice president of basketball administration, along with New York Knicks associate athletic trainer Anthony Goenaga and FIBA Americas referee Geraldo Fontana also will conduct workshops for coaches, trainers and other sports professionals, according to a news release by the NBA.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nba/article17681831.html#storylink=cpy
NBA to put on four-day camp in Cuba
First major U.S. sports league to visit since restoring diplomatic relations
NEW YORK -
The NBA and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) announcing that they will host the first joint basketball development camp in Havana, Cuba April 23-26.
The NBA and FIBA will invite two players and one coach from Cuba to participate in the upcoming Basketball without Borders camp.
"We've seen the bridges that basketball can build between cultures," said NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum. "We look forward to sharing the values of our game with Cuban youth and learning together through the common language of sports."
Two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash, NBA Global Ambassador Dikembe Mutombo, and WNBA Legend Ticha Penicheiro will lead the four-day camp with the Cuban Men's and Women's National Teams, and community outreach projects in association with the Cuban sports ministry, INDER, and the Cuban Basketball Federation (CBF).
http://www.local10.com/sports/nba-to-put-on-fourday-camp-in-cuba/32237824
