Cameroonian boys only get into basketball at the age of 18, the counterattack path from training camp to Eastern Conference Finals MVP

Siakam recently won the MVP of the Eastern Conference Finals, averaging 24.8 points per game is higher than the team leader Halliburton. He is only 29 years old this year, but has won the championship once and has the fastest-progress player award. Who would have thought that he had never touched basketball before he was 18 years old?

He was born in Cameroon, where he has never had an NBA player before. Until 2008, a local named Bamot was selected and became the first Cameroonian to go to the NBA. Bamot later held a training camp in his hometown and discovered Siakam in 2011. At that time, Siakam had never even touched basketball, but his physical condition was particularly good, two meters tall, long hands and long legs, and he ran fast.

Bamot brought Siakam to the United States and asked him to practice football while learning English. Two years later, Siakam went to college to play, averaging 12 points and 7 rebounds in the first year, and rose to 20 points and 11 rebounds in the second year. He was selected by the Raptors in 2016, when he was only 22 years old, only four years after his first time touching basketball. After joining the NBA, Siakam slowly played out. The year the Raptors won the championship in 2019, he averaged 19 points in the finals and scored 26 points and 10 rebounds in the sixth game. But everyone was kua Leonard at the time, and his average of 28 points and 9 rebounds per game was so dazzling.

In the sixth game of the Eastern Conference Finals this year, Siakam scored another 31 points to help the team win the series. This time his data was finally recognized and he got the MVP. In the past, everyone thought he was a blue-collar worker with good defense, but he didn't expect his offense to be so stable.

He is now the core of the Pacers, the person on the team who is most familiar with the finals. He was still a young man when he won the championship in 2019, but now he is the pillar. Interestingly, Bamot, who brought him into the NBA back then, played several teams in the NBA but never won the championship.

Siakum's story shows that talent and hard work are indispensable. He can start from scratch because he met Bole and worked hard to practice football. Now that he is the representative of African players, perhaps more NBA players will be produced in Cameroon in the future.

Many people remember Leonard's excellence, but Siakam's data has actually been very stable. His three-point shooting percentage has increased from 31% when he just entered the league to 37% now, and his ability to key balls is getting stronger and stronger. At the critical moment of this year's Eastern Conference Finals, he had the highest positive and negative values ​​in the fourth quarter.

Bamot held a training camp in Cameroon that year, but he might not have expected to train the MVP of the Eastern Conference Finals. African basketball is developing rapidly now, and players in Senegal and Nigeria play in the NBA. Siakam's success has given more African children hope.

His current contract will be several years away. If he continues to play in this state, it is not a dream to enter the best team in the future. Compared to those players who have been practicing football since childhood, it is really not easy for him to become a monk and still reach this level halfway.