Luc in the news again

Picture cred: nba.com, bucks.com
It's really hard to keep a good man down. Luc is in the news again with his great work in Africa.

Bringing the N.B.A. a Little Closer to Africa
By HARVEY ARATON
The New York Times
Published: September 8, 2009

The first-time counselor remembered exactly where he sat as a wide-eyed camper. He pointed to the spot and informed his audience that he was in that very space just six years ago.

The campers, about 70 strong, responded as if Luc Mbah a Moute had told them a joke.

“They laughed, like they couldn’t believe it was possible,” he said.

On the telephone from Johannesburg, Mbah a Moute (pronounced BAH-ah-MOO-tay) said he could understand the youthful skepticism, notwithstanding the living proof that one — if only one of a very large number — could make the leap from teenage African camper to N.B.A. millionaire and missionary.

Mbah a Moute, a Cameroonian rookie with the Milwaukee Bucks last season, was back in Africa last week as the first alumnus of the camp, which is part of the N.B.A.’s Basketball Without Borders program, to return to it as an N.B.A. player and counselor.

“The kids here are not like Americans because to them the N.B.A. is so far away,” said Mbah a Moute, a 6-foot-8 forward. “I remember that feeling. Even though some Africans have made it, you can’t actually grasp the possibility until you leave the continent.”

What were the odds for Mbah a Moute’s even being chosen to attend the first such camp in 2003 as a gangly 16-year-old from Yaoundé, Cameroon’s capital? He didn’t play basketball until age 14, when he and his twin, Emmanuel Bidias a Moute, began shooting at a backboard and rim on a streetlight pole in the Etoa-Meki neighborhood of central Yaoundé.

Within two years, Mbah a Moute was the best youth player in his country, with an invitation for the N.B.A. camp at the American International School of Johannesburg. (To continue reading this article as well as check out some cool pics of lrmm in action, click here)