There is something very attractive in British hoops. Raw but with plenty of potential, physical yet pleasant to watch, pick-up like but still team oriented. Basketball especially in England is evidently growing and has become a more admired sport over the years. Basically it is on pace to become the second most popular discipline in UK. According to research from 2015, 32% of children between 11-16 years old play regularly. This number was way bigger (52%) for ethnic minorities which can bring some comparisons to Canada and its recent basketball growth. There is still plenty of investments to make and building the culture simply takes time as it needs to be deep-rooted in community. However foundation is getting stronger and nothing speeds up the process like successes down the road.
Speaking of them, summer of 2017 was very prosperous for Great Britain. They took by storm almost all of the Division B FIBA Youth Championships. U20 team finished third in Oradea, U18 was runner up in Estonia and only U16 felt short to promote but was just one bucket away from repeating the achievement of older age groups.
One of the main contributors during the tournament in Tallinn at U18 stage was Kayne Henry – Mccalla who caught the eyes of talent evaluators in his NT debut.
“My experience in Tallin was very memorable. It was the first time representing my country and I did it proudly. I believe it’s been the biggest thing I’ve been apart of throughout my journey in basketball. Our main focus in Tallin was just to do our best, play our hearts out and have no regrets. We did exactly that and ended up getting a promotion which was one of our objectives.”
Every summer we witness breakout performances of players who were previously out of radar. Some of them missed big tournaments because of injuries and other just turned out to be physical late bloomers. Did Mccalla expect himself to become such a hot name?
“Personally me gaining the attention I did as well me standing out that much was a big surprise for myself. I just went there to play and do my thing. I was just trying to make my country proud so I wasn’t really expecting to stand out as much as I did.”
Scout were also not predicting him to become a stud. With so many exposure opportunities nowadays and considering online informations spread majority of the discoveries can be described as good not great. It was different with Mccalla who emerged as a Top potential and some spectators did a double take when they saw him in action.
“With me it’s always been about potential. I had my first outburst roughly around the start of September after taking part in the Deng Top 50 Camp. After that really and truly I just became more confident meaning I had change in mindset. Not only that but throughout that year my athleticism started to develop. It elevated my game more which led to my late growth and allowed me to do more things on the floor offensively & defensively”.
Mentioned event also plays a big part in the development of basketball in the country. Consortium of coaches and affiliates all over the UK select most notable players and gather them together where they undergo series of individual drills, combine testing and games. What is it like from participant perspective?
“My experience there was my ice breaker. It showed my first sign of development as I’d been working out a lot during the summer prior to the camp. The Deng Top 50 did become competitive as Luol gave us words of advice before. He stated that during previous years of the camp players were just happy to be there for the free gear and such things. He told us don’t have that mind set. You can be friends off court but on the court it’s a different story and I believe this made the event a lot more competitive and aggressive which I find worthwhile”.
British prospect was ranked #3 which can suggest there are possibly more players on his level in the country. Mccalla thinks there is definitely talent to dig for the scouts but again emphasises the matter of working on mentality in order to step up the game.
I believe there’s a lot more out there that could be late bloomers but it also comes down to their confidence and belief in themselves”.
Very few can become great on their own. Often coaches play substantial role in gaining self-belief by given player. During U18s Kayne was often mentored on the sideline by HC Alan Keane.
“I am very grateful to him for believing in me and giving me that chance to showcase my talent. Big credit should also go to my two coaches who brought me into basketball and developed previously – Patrick Avorkliyah and James Markham”.
Kayne is a player with relentless motor. He seems to possess nearly neverending energy and can play extremely hard on both ends of the court. He is willing to press best opponents, tries to lock them down way above 3 pt line and never misses a chance to score in transition. His length allowed him to make a tremendous impact on D by getting into passing lanes and moreover he showed flashes as capable spot up shooter. On the other hand sometimes he got lost at times because of his own intensity and was not a threat at all in half court isolations. However his assets combined with hairstyle and not so much facial expression resembled a little bit of mid major version of Kawhi Leonard. Mccalla seems to be aware of similarities and even claims that he looks up to the Spurs Forward.
“Yeah my game is based on him. This is because naturally my play style is similar to his. I like to play defense and I take pride when playing D. Whereas offensively, I like to keep my game nice and simple. Nothing fancy as well. Just letting the game come to me.”
Currently Kayne is playing for Saint Jacinto College. Team was No. 1 seed in National NJCAA Tournament, finished 2016/2017 season with 33-2 overall record and three players signed National Letters of Intent with Division I teams. Can Kayne outachieve them and become effective player also on High Major level?
“I feel I could have an impact in a HM college and potentially NBA. I believe this comes down to me playing great defense, shutting down players. That’s also going to take a lot of harder work than so far as I feel I need to get stronger physically. Another factor for this me to succeed is that I’m not afraid to back down from anyone no matter how good, big or skilled they might be. I believe that better they are the greater the challenge. And I like to challenged.”
Let’s hope that this kind of mindset will do wonders also on the highest level.
