New Delhi: Less than two months after taking on the India coaching job, Kenny Natt's intuition tells him that there must be a budding Yao Ming or LeBron James just waiting to be unearthed somewhere in the country.
The former NBA coach told Reuters that basketball, a minor sport in the world's second most populous country, needed its first superstar to inspire youngsters to take to the court instead of heading for the nearest cricket academy.
"Can you imagine 1.2 billion?" the former Sacramento Kings interim coach said, rolling his eyes upwards behind his spectacles.
"There has to be someone in some remote area, outside the cities. We will find them," he stressed.
"Basketball cannot be developed overnight. It was not done even in the US... we had Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul Jabbar. You need the Yao Mings," he said, referring to China's most recognisable athlete.
Natt has been an assistant coach at Utah Jazz and Cleveland Cavaliers, where he worked with LeBron James, but he was not ready to downplay the significance of the India job.
Great opportunity
"Who says this is unglamorous? This is a very glamorous job. It's a great opportunity to reach out and share all the knowledge with young, energetic group of players," said Natt, who signed a two-year contract in May. "I did not know what to expect prior to coming over. I had some clue that some of the guys are talented. To my surprise, they are a lot better than I thought.
"It's just a matter of instilling in them some of basic things... defensive and offensive techniques. They have the desire to learn and listen."
The former guard did not buy into the idea that it was too late to teach new methods to players already at a national level.
"We mould older players in NBA," he said.
"They are responding well. They know what I'm teaching them. It's NBA, it's the best basketball in the world and I'm teaching them what they would never get elsewhere.
Natt's first task will be to lead India at the FIBA Asia Basketball Championship in Wuhan, China in September.
