Features

Sam the man

The Jordanian basketball player who once managed to beat the NBA’s Most Valuable Player leads Jordan’s national team to the 2010 FIBA World Championship.

Issue: Jan, 2010

words: Mousa al-Shuqairiimages: Humzah Azouqa

One could point to the arrival of Sam Daghlas onto the Jordanian basketball scene as the defining moment of the new era in the country’s sport – when amateur athletics took a back seat to professionalism. The new glut of funding opened the door for the recruitment of Jordanian players who had been living and training abroad, and Sam was among the first to return “home”.

Sam left Amman as a 7-year old only to return in the early 2000s as a pro baller with NBA aspirations. Despite the ongoing debate about this money-pumped strategy – one that ended with the federation being dissolved by the Olympic committee – there is no doubt that Sam and his fellow players have managed to pile up a few achievements. The biggest of them all, of course, a spot at the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey next summer.

NOX: First, congratulations. How do you guys feel about being in the World Championship?

Sam Daghlas: It’s a great honour. We are really proud to be part of what could be considered one of Jordan’s biggest athletic accomplishment ever. But unfortunately, with the dissolution of the federation and the current disarray the game is in, we were not really able to enjoy it. We have no idea what’s going to happen, but we need to start on a preparation programme as soon as possible. It’s been five months since we returned from China with the qualification spot, and we’ve lost a lot of valuable time. We’ve also missed out on great opportunities to promote the game locally, and we’ve lost many sponsors who where interested in sponsoring our national team. It is just a sad situation.

NOX: And who do you think is mainly responsible for the mess, the Olympic Committee who dissolved the federation or the federation itself for adopting a questionable policy?

SD: We’ve got a feeling that the Olympic Committee does not care much about the national team or basketball as a whole. Look, our qualification spot was in jeopardy as FIBA was considering revoking it, and the JOC did not move. So they removed the previous federation; it is their responsibility to come up with an alternative, and not just any alternative. They need to bring in a federation with better personnel than the last one (if they think there was something wrong with the last group), and not just a bunch of ex-players. Running a basketball federation has so many elements, from management to marketing and public relations.

NOX: So you agree with the previous federation’s approach, even when it meant ignoring the local leagues?

SD: I have great respect for Tariq Zu’ibi. The man was not afraid to take a risk and he invested in one goal – reaching the World Cup. And he achieved it. There were some things that could have been done differently and I’m still a strong proponent of a competitive league that builds the base of the game.

NOX: What about coach Palma? For that salary, he didn’t seem to have left a mark on many players…

Sam: He is an accomplished coach at international level, with significant achievements with every team he’s been involved with. I would say that the most important thing he brought to our team was discipline. The bottom line is he was brought in to take us to the world cup, and he did his job.

NOX: So if Ayman Deiss doesn’t make five straight three-pointers against Lebanon, Palma’s evaluation could be a whole lot different…?

SD: And if we don’t go 1 for 12 in the first half against Iran, we’ll probably end up finishing in first place. This is basketball and that’s why it is a great game; anything can happen on any given night. But what matters the most is that we have a very good team and everyone who watched those qualifiers could testify.

NOX: But don’t you think that our team relies too much on three-point shooting, a risky affair to say the least?

SD: You live by the shot and you die by the shot! But, when the players are practising shooting every day and they are making those shots, you would expect them to make the same shots in game situations. But for our team, we do not exactly have post-up players who can bang the ball inside. Our best post-up player was Zaid Abbass and he is undersized for the front court positions

NOX: Speaking of size and position, you are a little tall for a point guard; how did you end up being in the playmaker spot?

SD: My high-school coach in San Diego saw something in me and in the way I saw the court. I think I benefited from playing soccer when I was a little younger, too. But since I made the varsity team as a freshman in high school, this has been the position I played, and it has always been my only demand whenever I considered joining a team. Even when I was talking to NBA scouts.

NOX: You’ve attended summer camps with the Sacramento Kings and the Phoenix Suns; how did that go for you? Is it true that the NBA is more about connections than talent?

SD: There is definitely an element of that, but there are also timing and other circumstances. After the summer camp with the Kings in 2003 they were willing to sign me but they already had three point guards. So they suggested I play for their NBA development team in Idaho until they have a vacant roster spot. But I just couldn’t do the D-league. So I returned to Zain, but with a clause in my contract that would allow me to return to the NBA if the opportunity arises. At the Suns camp in 2004, I had the best basketball experience of my career, being around a great player like Steve Nash who was coming off an MVP season. I actually managed to get his team off the court when we were running 5-on-5 games in practice! That caught the attention of some scouts. Unfortunately I was only planning to stay three days in Phoenix and when I think about it now, I wish I stayed. But I never regret my decisions.

NOX: So are you happy now with the way your career has unfolded, and with your success? 

SD: Absolutely. I can say that I have won every regional title on the club or the national level. I have had a chance to work hard and accomplish a lot. The only regional title missing is the Dubai tournament which hopefully we can win next month!

Having
played his role to perfection in the first two games with 5 assists in
each game, the 29-year-old point guard was forced out of the third game
with an ankle injury when Zain played Satria Muda on Friday.

But
he put paid to any fears saying “Not to worry. I’ll be back soon” as he
spoke to S Mageshwaran of FIBA Asia on the sidelines of the 20th FIBA
Asia Champions Cup.

Excerpts

Three back-to-back wins in as many days is a good start…

Happy to start with such a record in a long championship. But I think the real test will come in the quarterfinals.

Our last game in the group (against Al Arabi) is a nice way for us to head into the play-offs.

Winning
the opening three games has given us a good feel conditions and boosted
our confidence. We have to consolidate on this from now.

But a lot of top players are getting injured during the tournament…

Did you notice one interesting point in that? It’s all happening to WABA teams.

I
think the injuries are a result of the long season behind us. We have
been playing continuously almost right from October. Our local league,
then the WABA qualifiers and then the Arabs…

And then we have the camps with the National Team.

This is the case with most of the top WABA teams, especially from Jordan and Lebanon.

But then these are the hazards of professional sport.

There
was a time when we wanted more and more games. Now, I think it’s the
other way around. And our local leagues are getting more and more
intense.

We definitely need an off-season. All the more so,
because all the players these days are very professional about
utilizing the off-season.

What do you think you need to do more to win the championship here?

I think we are doing OK as a team.

But
we are not able to put away our opponents. That’s very important if you
want to win the championship. Call it killer instinct or whatever, we
need to get that spring in our steps.

But like I said the real road to the title begins tomorrow.

I guess and I hope we’ll come along well together.

Isn’t Zain this time virtually the Jordanian National Team?

It’s
a deliberate move to prepare for the FIBA Asia Championship in China,
which will also be qualifiers for the 2010 FIBA World Championships.

We
(Zain) anyway were almost the Jordan National Team. Now with Zaid Abbas
from ASU) and Wesam Alsoos (of Al Riyadi Amman) on loan we completely
the National Team.

And our coach (Mario Palma) is also the NT coach.

We are working hard to book our ticket to Turkey.

Your thoughts on current Asian basketball.

I
think we have come miles from where we were some five years ago. But I
also think we have miles to go before reaching the European standards.

Many of our countries are having very strong and professional leagues now. But I still feel we should regional leagues.

I personally think a WABA league is overdue for the last five years or so.

Also I think we need to pick and choose our imports. No point in picking any foreigner just because he is a big name.

Teams
have to build their core on their local players and then choose the
foreigners to fit where they think they need that player.

To put
it in a nutshell, we need leagues across regions even if not entire
Asia. And we need to build the base of our basketball on our local
players.