A controversial basketball scout is offering migrants a crack at the big time, writes David Sygall.
This is a story that will challenge your concept of right and wrong.
It's in the sports section because it revolves around basketball. But it's about much more than that.
The characters include people from various layers of Australian basketball, from governing bodies and local associations, to another group you almost certainly haven't heard of. It centres on two people.
One is an enthusiastic but polarising coach named Edward Smith, apparently an Australian of African-American heritage, who, it is understood, has since 2005 taken eight children from migrant backgrounds to the US, promising big things - after they signed over their guardianship to him.
The other is his latest project, who, if you believe the hype - and it's hard not to when you see the online videos - could become a superstar. Thon Maker is a 214 centimetres - that's 7 foot in the old scale - 16-year-old from Sudan. His illiterate parents live in a village in what is now South Sudan. His uncle, a local administrator, organised for Maker, his younger brother and aunty to escape the civil war to Uganda when Thon was five, from where they were accepted as refugees by Australia. They settled in Perth.
The story is complex, like the issues it raises. We'll pick it up in 2009, after Smith had been working with Ater Majok, also a Sudanese refugee. Majok had joined University of Connecticut but, after missing a season due to visa problems, played poorly and the pair fell out.
Smith asked Mayor Chagai, who runs the South Sudanese Australian National Basketball Association in western Sydney, to help mediate.
But it was too late.
''It was all over the NCAA (college system),'' Chagai says. ''Ater was very upset. And Ed was angry because he put so much into Ater. He knew Ater had huge potential.'' Majok later told friends Smith had been controlling and had challenged the UConn coach on his training methods. Majok left UConn - against his will, he said later - and left Smith. He played one summer league game for the Los Angeles Lakers and, later, for the Perth Wildcats and Gold Coast in the NBL. He now plays in Belarus. It was the closest any of Smith's ''foster kids'', as one insider described them, came to the big time.
Smith was frustrated but inspired. Another US-based Sudanese Australian, Majok Majok, told Smith of potential recruits in Perth. Smith told Chagai he wanted to start a development program for Sudanese kids from across Australia.
It seemed a great idea. Domestic basketball authorities knew of the potential talent, but none had genuinely acted. The children couldn't afford registration fees and almost all were living with uneducated and poor relatives who, Chagai says, ''know nothing about nothing, especially sport.'' Smith took Majok Majok's advice, went to Perth and returned with one boy. Fairfax Media has opted not to name the boy or his school.
Through a friend of a friend, Chagai organised a scholarship for the boy to a top Sydney private school and he kept training with Smith each week. However, when the child was selected for the Australian under 17s, things turned sour. Smith refused to let him play. Chagai argued, but there was no use, as it emerged that the child's uncle and aunty had signed a contract handing Smith guardianship rights.
''I rang them to ask if they understood what they had signed,'' Chagai says. ''They had no idea. All they knew was that this man was smart, nice, and said he would look after [the boy], feed him, clothe him, put him in a good school. They don't understand contracts. They thought they were doing the best thing.'' After a short legal stoush the contract was cancelled and Smith lost control, but the child missed his chance to represent Australia.
Smith returned to Perth. This time, it seems, he wasn't going to make the same mistake. He found Maker, then 14, playing soccer and offered his illiterate aunty to feed, clothe and educate the boy in Sydney.
However, throughout 2010 and 2011, Chagai claims, Maker was not enrolled in school.
''I said to coach Smith 'Let him go to school','' he says. ''Ed's wife did some tutoring for Thon at home, but he needed to go to school.'' C hagai says, above all, Sudanese families want their children to be educated - to the point that they would endure family break-ups, as Maker's had. Smith persisted. He went to St George Basketball Association, paid the fees and enrolled Maker. The boy soon dominated on the court and made friends off it. However, just before the team's play-offs, the pair suddenly left to attend a talent camp in Texas.
Over the next 18 months, Maker attended three schools, two in Louisiana, and is now at Carlisle School in Virginia. It is believed Smith has moved his family to the US.
Maker is rated the No.2 pick in the 'class of 2016' and is already fielding college offers. It appears he is getting a good education and perhaps building a sporting career.
At a junior camp this month, Maker impressed again and was quoted in the The Augusta Chronicle saying: ''It's tough because you got some of the top players in the whole country. … But I'm not scared of that.'' Chagai says he has ''respect'' for Smith because he is investing money, time and effort to develop children like Maker.
''No one else in Australia is doing that,'' he says. ''Basketball Australia, Basketball NSW, they say the kids should go through the system, but they cannot get into the system. They can't buy the shoes, the registration fees, they don't have parents to look after them. You cannot stop them from going with someone who is willing to do that for them. That's why I can't blame coach Smith. The concern is that he controls them and looks for financial benefit. It's not healthy in some ways. That should not drive his efforts. He has too much control [to the point] where no one can access the kid. But, people like us, most of the people in our community, we have no alternative. You can't stop someone who gives the kid something.'' Chagai fears if Maker tries to break free of Smith's control, he will meet the same fate as Ater Majok.
''It is emotional, psychological. He had issues as a child [from the war], like all of us, which affect him, and then this. Thon has no one at all, really. He's totally separated from his parents.'' After making enquiries, Fairfax Media received an email from Smith answering questions, including one about his mixed reputation.
He said Maker's progress had been ''astounding'' and ''his adaptation, assimilation and implementation of my development program has been far more rapid than any of my past pupils'', which he listed as including forwards Aleks Maric, Ater Majok, Martin Iti and Majok Majok.
''Thon is beyond happy. It is a dream come true for him to train and compete at this level,'' Smith said. He listed the several camps and academies Maker had been selected to in the past year, including the NBA Players Association top 100 camp and LeBron James Skill Academy.
He said college basketball was ''three years down the road'' and the focus was ''increasing the challenges Thon will face on the court and in the classroom''.
He said he did not see a viable option for ''people like Thon to succeed in Australia''.
''Australian junior basketball is beleaguered by politics and a Mom and Pop approach. The complexion of a rep program, elite training program, or State team will hardly change from under 12s to under 18s. The same kids are promoted time and time and again. I feel that there is so much untapped talent in Australia.'' On the questions about his reputation, Smith said: ''I can't control the thoughts of others so therefore they are not my concern. My concern is for lives of the young people and their families whom I try to assist in achieving their dreams. This year I had Mathiang Muo and Femi Akinpetide graduate from universities in the United States. Femi achieved his Masters Degree and Mathiang, who was on the path to be a welder or trades person when he was in Australia, now has a career choice and recently signed to play for the Perth Wildcats.
''To date I have accessed and assisted players from Australia in achieving over $3million in scholarship monies from United States high schools and universities. Aleks Maric who couldn't play a lick of basketball when I met him, spent two years with in my development program and was called up to the world team and has made millions in Europe.
T here are other kids with Maker's potential. Chagai and a couple of others pay towards court costs at Kevin Betts Stadium in Mt Druitt, where on Friday night, brothers Deng Gak, 15, and Gorjok Gak, 16, each 206cm, and their friend Deng Acouth, 16 and 203cm, are slam-dunking and rejecting shots. Fifty or so Sudanese kids watch on, applauding each time one does something spectacular. You just know that if someone - anyone - offered them a chance to progress their careers, they would give their all.
Basketball great, Andrew Gaze, says Basketball Australia ''has recognised and is trying to cultivate the Sudanese kids, with their athleticism, their desire, and their instinct for the game''.
''There's a lot of these kids coming through, who we hope will keep developing and become Boomers at some stage. They provide a level of athleticism that historically we haven't had.'' Gaze says he remembers seeing Maker playing for NSW at the U16 National Championships ''and, yes, he is very good''.
However, Maker might never wear green and gold. Steven Icke, the Basketball Australia general manager of high performance, admitted the governing body had ''lost a little bit of contact with him''.
''There's not a lot we can do,'' Icke says. ''There's a bit of conjecture whether it was done legitimately … but Thon, from what I understand, signed over to Ed Smith his welfare and guardianship.
We're not sure how he's progressing. He was injured for a while, we know that much. It's a real tough one.'' Icke says BA tries to keep track of Australians overseas, but there are 152 players in college now and it's hard to tab them all.
''We like to track them as best we can, as much for their welfare as basketball development,'' he says.
Depending on who you talk to, Smith is either a saint giving forgotten children opportunity, or he is a misguided control-freak looking for treasure. The people at the St George Basketball Association lean towards the former. Association president Ray Barbi says Maker will ''go all the way'' to the NBA and Smith had taken him to the US ''straight away to get a good education and good coaching''.
Con Angelis, assistant coach of the U16s, says Maker and his ''caretaker'' Smith worked hard after team training sessions. But Angelis, who sometimes drove Maker to and from training and games, says the boy seemed happy and passionate.
''If he didn't get something right, he would keep practising until he did,'' Angelis says. ''He was strong-minded.'' St George representatives coach, Luis Claudio Catarino, found little problem with Smith.
''It's a fantastic story,'' Catarino says. ''Ed was like a full time coach as well as a guardian. Thon had never played but he started to be coached three, four, five times a week through Ed. He was able to do a lot of training away from our twice a week training. You can already see he'll play in the NBA.'' Some others are less optimistic. The gist from those who didn't want to be quoted was that Smith is a dedicated coach with a good heart, who gets his students fit and strong. However, against better competition in latter stages, their fundamentals fall down.
Logistically, he has little understanding of the proper pathway to elite sports levels and doesn't listen to those who do. He has been barred from at least two local associations for bad behaviour and antagonised many in the Sydney basketball community.
The biggest concern, however, are the contracts he has families sign.
One insider said arrangements were often that Smith would be he paid sums as the child reached each level, such as college or further.
''We're all entitled to carve out a living, but this is a real grey area,'' one source said. ''There are many Eds around offering the bright lights of the US. But none of them seem to know the true requirements.'' Another said: ''I've dealt with him and I don't see him as a negative person. He will make money from Thon, for sure, but why not? He's helped him a lot.'' Basketball NSW chief Daniel Martinez wouldn't single out Smith but issued a warning to parents.
''I'd say to all parents, if your children are being offered opportunities in the USA or anywhere else through agents or managers, you should do due diligence and check with BNSW as to whether or not it's a good thing.'' But that's not so easy for people like Maker's illiterate aunty.
Chagai hopes basketball authorities will seek a better understanding of the issues his community deals with and properly invest in the Sudanese children, who love the game but have little opportunity other than waiting for talent scouts like Smith to come along.
''There are a lot of kids who could be like Thon if someone put some work into them and sponsored them,'' he says.
''I think Thon is lost to Australia, but my dream is that some of these kids will play for the Boomers one day.''
Step it up Cal drop off bigger bags.
