By REYNALD MAGALLON
Three young and promising Filipino players learned a vault of valuable experiences after participating in the recently concluded NBA Academy Asia Development Camp held at the OCBC Arena in Singapore.
And one of them, Irus Chua, an unheralded to many but a kid brimming with potential to some, hopes to continue turning heads and making a splash.
The good-looking Chua, who made 121 points in a game at Milcu Got Skills, was joined by Henry Suico and Kiefer Alas, son of former PBA coach Louie and younger brother of NLEX star Kevin, played and competed against a select 30 players from 14 countries all over Asia during a four-day training camp.
It was an opportunity the 16-year-old, Grade 12 student of Brent International School made sure to take advantage of as he hopes to further develop his skills to complement an already lethal scoring touch that once saw him average 35 points in a tournament last year.
Although still standing just a shy under six-feet, it wasn’t surprising at all for someone who is a huge fan of bonafide NBA scorers in Lebron James and Luka Doncic.
But the camp, where he joined skills development training, exhibition games, and off-court activities, introduced him to a more team-oriented and defense-centric training.
This early, Chua is already gaining interest from the country’s top school but the young cager along with his father, Joseph, hopes that the camp, headed by NBA Global Academy technical director Marty Clarke and NBA Academy India technical director Scott Fleming, could open more doors for him to be part of other NBA developmental programs in Asia.
And girls? Sorry, he has no time for that yet, not too soon. Perhaps, in four years time.
