Sim Bhullar will be first PIO to play in NBA

WASHINGTON: Gursimran "Sim" Bhullar, a clean-cut Sikh lad who stands a towering 7 feet 5 (and 400lbs at his peak weight) without a turban, will become the first hoopster of Indian-origin to play in America's National Basketball League (NBA), the pinnacle of hoop dreams for basketballers around the world.
The wide-bodied Sim has been on the fringes of the league for several months now after California's Sacramento Kings signed him up for the summer team last year, but he has broken into the A team this week with a 10-day contract, according to the NBA grapevine.
"A celebration for Indians who love hoops... @SimBhullar2 making NBA history," tweeted Kevin Negandhi, ESPN's sportscaster and himself the first commentator of Indian origin in the US.
Bhullar, 23, is correctly speaking a Canadian national, born in Toronto to parents who left Punjab in 1989 looking for better opportunities. Over six feet themselves, they bequeathed additional inches to their three kids, two boys and a girl, all of whom went on to become basketballers.
Sim and brother Tanveer both played for New Mexico State in the NCAA (a highly regarded collegiate tournament that is a forerunner to NBA), while their sister Avneet bailed out pursue a law career.
Sim made the leap to the NBA "B" league last year, appropriately perhaps to the Kings, one of four teams from California (LA Lakers, LA Clippers, Golden State Warriors are the other three) based out of Sacramento, the state capital whose surrounding area also has a large Sikh population.
The team is also co-owned by the Indian-American tech tycoon Vivek Ranadive, part of whose mission is to popularize the sport and the NBA franchise in India.
As it turns out, part of Sacramento also falls in California's 7th Congressional district which is represented by Ami Bera, the lone lawmaker of Indian-origin in the US House of Representatives.
The Bhullars themselves visit India fairly often, attracting gawkers wherever they go on account of their enormous height. In fact, according to US NBA statisticians, Sim will be the tallest player currently in the NBA, and will be tied for the sixth-tallest player ever, just two inches shorter than Gheorghe Muresan and Manute Bol, who hold the record at 7-7.
In fact, few Asians have played in the NBA over the years. The most recent and most famous of them, China's Yao Ming (2002-2011) propelled NBA's expansion into table tennis and badminton country through Houston Rockets, and both the league and Sacramento Kings will be looking to Bhullar to do the same with India.
All this comes at a time players of Indian-origin are slowly making their mark in NCAA, the stomping ground for prospective NBA players, going beyond the academic domain they excel in.
Aside from the Bhullar sibling Tanveer, this year there are at least four other hoopsters of Indian-origin in the college league, including Arizona State's Sai Tummala, Eastern Washington University's Venkatesha Jois, University of Southern California's Samer Dhillon, and University of Maryland's Varun Ram.
But the honor, by several inches, of becoming the first person of Indian-origin to tip over to the NBA goes to Gursimram Bhullar.
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