Muggsy Bogues, the shortest player to have competed in the NBA, has dispelled the perception of millions of diminutive Indians who think they can’t be good at basketball. He sees potential in the “clueless” kids here and thinks they can go all the way up with proper guidance.

Bogues, all of five feet three inches (1.60 metres), played for 14 years in the world’s toughest basketball league before retiring in 2001. Spending his 47th birthday with school kids in the national capital, Boques, nicknamed “the short guy”, told IANS that he could relate to the short-statured Indians and how they can go about it if they are serious about taking up basketball.

“I was told that I was not going to make it and that I should try something else as my height was not enough for basketball. I was told why am I wasting my time, that’s precisely why I want to tell the kids here that they should let all that stuff pass over their heads, let it go out,” Bogues told IANS in an interview.

Bogues summed by saying that being in India was the best way he could have celebrated his birthday, adding that lack of inches should give the kids self-confidence and the will power to succeed.

“If you are not tall, the importance of having the self-confidence and believing in you becomes even more important. You are capable of doing anything you wanted to do. These kids remind me of the time I was growing up. Even If I don’t share the same culture with them, I see the stigma is the same — short guys are not expected to play a game that is normally played by six and seven-foot tall guys. I heard the same line when I was growing up. So you give these guys some hope and inspiration, they can go ou there and play,” said Bogues.

Kids who turned up for the NBA clinic at a popular school here were left awestruck as Bogues taught them how to dribble, pass and shoot. The Baltimore-born hoopster saw some raw talent with zero knowledge of the game.

“You see some potential out there, both in the both and girls. It is a matter of keep working at it from a young age as opposed to when they are 17-18 years old. The more information you are going to give them, the more excited they will be about the game. Especially when they start doing things they thought they could never do. That is what happened today, I explained to them what the game is all about, and they got excited.”

Bogues stressed the importance of identifying your strengths early.

“You can be short and slow, and you can be short and fast but without knowing much about the game. They have got to realise their strengths. I understood my plus points very early, that quickness and passing were my strengths. The kids here don’t know what their strengths are right now, they need to be nursed carefully.”

Bogues was spotted by Washington Bullets in the 1987 season and went on to play for for Charlotte Hornets, Golden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors.

As Indian basketballers continue to struggle to make a mark at the world stage, China have made their presence felt with the likes of Yao Ming and Wang Zhizi featuring in the NBA and now Yi Jianlian is following in their footsteps by signing up with reigning champions Dallas Mavericks.

Bogues feels the Indians will have to go a long way before they catch up with the Chinese.

“Once they get to the level of the Chinese, they can walk into the NBA,” he said giving the Chinese standard of play as the benchmark for the Indians. “Look, not only the Chinese are playing in the NBA, even the Americans have been signed by the Chinese League.”

The former pointguard also tested the skills of the US Congressional delegates visiting India, Senators Mark Warner (Virginia), Michael Bennet (Colorado) and Tom Udall (New Mexico), and Representatives Joseph Crowley (New York) and Cedric Richmond (Louisiana), who all had a try at the basket.

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