The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

TALENTED guard Deyton Albury and forward Romad Dean are the two latest Bahamians selected to participate in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Basketball Without Borders Americas camp.

The 10th edition of the camp is currently underway at the Ivan de Bedout Arena in Medellin, Colombia. More than 60 of the top high-school age boys and girls from North and South America and the Caribbean are learning directly from NBA and FIBA players and coaches.

NIKE, a global partner of BWB since 2002, has outfitted the campers and coaches with NIKE apparel and footwear as they participate in the camp that got started on Monday and will conclude on Friday.

Current NBA players and former BWB campers Bruno Caboclo (Memphis Grizzlies; Brazil; BWB Americas 2013) and Jamal Murray (Denver Nuggets; Canada; BWB Global 2015), former NBA player Carlos Arroyo (Puerto Rico), former WNBA player Ruth Riley (U.S.), Colombian player Juan Palacios (Élan Chalon) will be among the coaches leading the campers.

Current NBA assistant coaches Zach Guthrie (Utah Jazz), Royal Ivey (New York Knicks), Keith Bogans (Westchester Knicks; G League), Dutch Gaitley (Charlotte Hornets), Daniel Santiago (Puerto Rico) and Dawn Smyth (Canada Basketball) will also serve as BWB Americas coaches.

Patrick Hunt (President of the World Association of Basketball Coaches; Australia) and Gersson Rosas (President of Basketball Operations, Minnesota Timberwolves; Colombia) will serve as camp directors, and Ernest Eugene (Orlando Magic) will serve as the camp’s athletic trainer.

Players and coaches will lead the campers through a variety of activities, including movement efficiency, skill development stations, 5-on-5 games and daily life skills seminars focusing on health, leadership and communication.

One boy and one girl will be named BWB Americas camp MVPs at the conclusion of the camp.

The Bahamas hosted the event for the first time in 2017 at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium with Kai Jones and Samuel Hunter selected to represent the Bahamas.

Bahamas Basketball Federation president Mario Bowleg said the NBA and FIBA could not have selected two better players in Albury and Dean to represent the Bahamas this year.

“The federation selected about five players, but the NBA did their own background check and based on stats and performances among their peers, they selected the final two,” Bowleg said.

“I don’t think right now we could have sent any two better players. Deyton Albury is one of the top high school guards in the country and Romad Dean is being looked at highly by colleges and universities right now in the Tip-Off Classic last year.”

Albury is a 17-year-old 6-foot, two-inch guard heading into his final year at Temple Christian and Dean is a 16-year-old 6-6-inch forward with the Tabernacle Baptist Academy Falcons in Grand Bahama.

Bowleg said based on what he’s seen, these two players certainly have the potential to play basketball at the collegiate level when they have completed high school.

“Both of them are very bright young men with good grades and the future is bright for them,” he stated. “For them to go and participate in an event like Basketball Without Borders in the region of the Americas will only be a feather in their cap.”

Two years ago when BWB was held here, Bowleg said only Hunter was selected out of high school in Canada. But they were able to convince the NBA to add Jones from Brewster Academy in Orlando, Florida.

Both players are now on their way to college.

Hunter, coming out of British Columbia Christian Academy in Coquitlam, British Columbia, will be in an Ole Miss Rebels’ uniform, while Jones will be suiting up for the Longhorns at the University of Texas.