Saw the same article would be a shame but with that said you can't miss what you never had.

This all comes down to loyalty for me. Are you going to play for Australia, the country which took you from poverty and a war torn environment and gave you a livelihood. Or, are you going to play for Canada? A country you have been in for about a minute now? Not playing for Australia would seem pretty unappreciative in my eyes. Basketball Australia needs to jump on this now, and get these guys on a junior national team or into the Oceania qualifiers or they can blame themselves for losing them.

What is the schedule like for the Oceania lead up? Isnt there a camp set in the US?

Well, to put this in perspective, this isn't based on anything Thon has said. This is based on something the Canadian Basketball head honcho has said. It would certainly have me salty if they do play for Canada, but at this point, Thon and his controlling parasitic growth haven't said anything to the effect of him playing for Canada.

Which country isn't he going to play for...

If he doesn't believe he is in Australian, then f&ck him

Load of shit, is playing for AUS at nike hoop summit.

Olgun Uluc, an editor on the PnR site, met with Ed Smith (Thon's guardian) recently and has been assured the desire is to play for Australia and the Canada option isn't even being considered.

You can read some more prior to his conversation with Smith here:

Thon Maker won't play for the Australian U19 Emus; Other US-based players yet to commit

It is clearly obvious that Thon and his brother will play for Canada. You do not need official statements to figure this out... Oh well. We still have Humphries, and Thon is over-hyped anyway. And with his weight and body structure, he'll get destroyed in the NBA.

Jeebus - it's not a political statement, he'll play where he plays.

If it's Canada - enjoy it.

I think everyone should cool it. Firstly, there is a very long way to go before any of these KIDS represent the Boomers in an Olympics!

IMHO, If he wants to play for Canada, then really that is his choice.

How would any of you like Anons telling you what you should be doing?

I agree with that analysis of some posters treating Thon Maker as "Property" and feel that many feel he owes them something or is sort of a "slave" relationship.

The maker parents decided that after meeting Ed Smith, it would be better for Thon and Matur's educational and to a lesser extent, also better in their sporting careers going forwards to allow Mr. Smith to take both children to Australia to get a better education there.

Overtime it became more clear that as the children grew they would have a serious shot a pro basketball so the next step was to move the children to North America to continue with the best coaches and training facilities it the "meca" of basketball.

There is no indication that the makers were these desperate, broken children that were saved BT Australia by any aacounts. So this story should be about what's best for Thon and Mature and what do they want? What is the bestcmove for their careers going forwards?

I would think that the Canadian option is currently their best options going forwards to receive the funding, access to top notch training facilities and training that is needed to get to the next level. It would be impossible for them to fly back and forth to Australia on thief own dime at this point which is unfortunate for Australia and is something they are gradually working to fix.

In Canada we don't believe that new Canadians owe us anything and we have a great and growing African population that no doubt the Makers have had a chance to meet once in T.O. Canada is one of the most ethnic diverse nations in the world and in most areas there are no signs racism like many other countries. Canada would go crazy if Thon chose to represent Canada, but trust me one in Canada "expects" anything from him but to be himself and to do what is in his heart.

The interesting dynamic to all of this is that in the world of competitive Tennis, which I used to play as a kid, is exactly this way, all the time.

In Tennis eventually a senior tennis coach or ex tennis player discovers 1 or 2 very good young players that might one day have a chance at going pro, so they do the same thing as Ed Smith does. They usually move away to somewhere they can play all the time, (In tennis that is usually Florida) and basically spend the next 4 to 5 years training these kids for little money hoping that maybe if this kid goes pro it will open doors for him in the future, because all personal elite coaches no that this is a money losing venture in the end. Milos Roanic's coach said that this is exactly what he did for Milos and even though they remain tight until today, he could never personally mentor someone like that again. He estimated that it would have coated roughly $70,000 a year to train one elite child and admits that he only billed the Roanic' less than 20% of the cost should of been.

So in the end, if Ed Smith gets $100,000 so what? Just as long as he is listening to the Maker's wishes and is trying to help them.

There are many sports where it takes random acts of jeneroucity to identify and train young and talented promising stars, so how is what Ed Smith doing any different than any other youth coach..?

It is clear that Ed Smith is simply helping the kids get better, giving his opinion when needed on basketball related stufc and giving the kids more choices than they would normally have.

I think some people are just jelious, because this kid has so much potential and by moving to Canada he now sits as one of the most exciting prospects in a generation with no one pulling his strings or telling him #what to do."

He could go pro for a year in Canada/Europe/Australia/China...??

He could also stay another year and play a post-grad year in Canada than go pro. Or he could do college. I think it's clear that the Maker's are getting great advice and have been making great decisions all along by the number of option currently available for them.

I agree with that analysis of some posters treating Thon Maker as "Property" and feel that many feel he owes them something or is sort of a "slave" mastet type relationship.

The maker parents decided that after meeting Ed Smith, it would be better for Thon and Matur's educational and to a lesser extent, also better in their sporting careers going forwards to allow Mr. Smith to take both children to Australia to get a better education there.

Overtime it became more clear that as the children grew they would have a serious shot a pro basketball so the next step was to move the children to North America to continue with the best coaches and training facilities at the "meca" of basketball since it was clear now the kids had grown into real basketball players rather soccer.

There is no indication that the makers were ever these pore desperate, refugee children that were saved by Australia by any aacounts, the family made a lifestyle choice. So this story should really be about what's best for Thon and Mature and not of them "paying. Off" some made-up debyt thay they somehow owe Asyralia??


This should be about what do they want and what is best for their careers going forwards?

I would think that the Canadian option is currently their best options going forwards to receive the funding, access to top notch training facilities and training that is needed to get to the next level. It would be impossible for them to fly back and forth to Australia on thief own dime at this point which is unfortunate for Australia and is something they are gradually working to fix. Also the Canadian Team could be a serious gold medal threat in 4 to 5 years with a team based around him and Andrew Wiggens with a Roster of all NBA lottery picks. Unfortunately North America is just to far away to really care about what's going on in Australia so sponser and endorsement dollars would be much greater here.

In Canada we don't believe that new Canadians owe us anything and we also have a huge, vibrant and growing African population that no doubt the Makers have had a chance to meet once in T.O. Canada is one of the most ethnic diverse nations in the world and in most areas there are no signs racism like many other countries. Canada would go crazy if Thon chose to represent Canada, but trust me one in Canada "expects" anything from him but to be himself and to do what is in his heart.

The interesting dynamic to all of this is that in the world of competitive Tennis, which I used to play as a kid, is exactly this way, all the time.

In Tennis eventually a senior tennis coach or ex tennis player discovers 1 or 2 very good young players that might one day have a chance at going pro, so they do the same thing as Ed Smith does. They usually move away to somewhere they can play all the time, (In tennis that is usually Florida) and basically spend the next 4 to 5 years training these kids for little money hoping that maybe if this kid goes pro it will open doors for him in the future, because all personal elite coaches no that this is a money losing venture in the end. Milos Roanic's coach said that this is exactly what he did for Milos and even though they remain tight until today, he could never personally mentor someone like that again. He estimated that it would have coated roughly $70,000 a year to train one elite child and admits that he only billed the Roanic' less than 20% of the cost should of been.

So in the end, if Ed Smith gets $100,000 so what? Just as long as he is listening to the Maker's wishes and is trying to help them.

There are many sports where it takes random acts of jeneroucity to identify and train young and talented promising stars, so how is what Ed Smith doing any different than any other youth coach..?

It is clear that Ed Smith is simply helping the kids get better, giving his opinion when needed on basketball related stufc and giving the kids more choices than they would normally have.

I think some people are just jelious, because this kid has so much potential and by moving to Canada he now sits as one of the most exciting prospects in a generation with no one pulling his strings or telling him #what to do."

He could go pro for a year in Canada/Europe/Australia/China...??

He could also stay another year and play a post-grad year in Canada than go pro. Or he could do college. I think it's clear that the Maker's are getting great advice and have been making great decisions all along by the number of option currently available for them.

It's the people with little education that take issues with spell checking. People like myself you are university graduates and working in highly competive careers are often to busy in the real world to wory about his smart phone improperly using it's auto correct function and it leading to a few crammer/spelling mistakes.

I could care less if a few internet troles notice a few spelling or grammer mistakes on 3 page essay typed out on a one us one smart phone?? I actually prefer to weed those people out because I am speaking to the mored educated and informed audience.

As you go through post secondary and than head into your professional life and have thus written thousand and thousands of stuttered, grammatically correct, esays/reports eventually you to start to appreciate the freedom of writing an "un-edited"/un-filtered unbiased personal opinion on something the actually care about.

Yes I could have used an actual computer or even spell-checker but the entire point of that post was to finally give people online something to think about when constantly ripping apart a poor teenager that happens to be good at basketball.

He is a human being that did come from a tough part of the world and so far his only crime is being good at basketball but "open to playing basketball where it will most help him become to one day become professional basketball player"???

So the people who read my earlier post and immediately thought of the 3 to 4 auto correct spelling errors after reading it are not the people that I am reaching for here. It is the people who care about other human beings and respect everyone as being equal and free to choose their own destiny.

To me me that concept is much more important than "auto correct"!

Secondly, it's not an argument it is clear example of some people acting horribly to a couple of poor yong teenagers who have done no wrong.

An argument would involve 2 actual sides to an invigerating equation but my point was just bring to light some examples of horrible injustice to 2 young kids.

I could have argued that Thon was only in Australia a few years and has spent the bulk of the past 14 months in Canada and predominantly the US and Canada before that. The cost for him and his brother to attend the spe ial school in Canada as a foreign apicant would be roughly $40,000 a year for him and his brother yet we are providing everything for free?

So does he owe Canada than..?

No he does not owe anybody anything, he and his even you ger brother have themselves and their families who live in a dangerous part of the world to think about.

Whether either of them even tries out for our any of our national team's is irrelevant, we thank them for spending time in our country and appreciate them for any help along the way.

Canada has an extensive history in welcoming visitors or immigrants especially people from Africa as well as Australia. Thon actually mentions that he likes Canada so much because it reminds him of Australia so it's clear they still like Australia and are only going to consider possibly one other country,(Canada) if they do end up having to represent another nation.

Canada used to lose dozens of top athletes ea h year to the US and Canada so we know how frustrating it can be to lose an exiting prospect.

The good news is that Basketball Australia is starting to realize that they need to adjust their system fast or they could possibly loose out on more kids so they are adapting thief "requirements"

Soon the NBA all-star games will be like Nike Hoop Summit's and rookie softmore games and it will be all countries vs the US, so hey if he does plat for Canada he will likely be playing for an "amalgamated" "world" team soon anyways.

There was even a roomer after the lopsided U19 men's and women's plus and past world cup and olympics that Fiba may try a 4 continents theme because the US was hammering everyone.

As a basketball parity fan I am hoping for a team to rival and truly test the US in basketball. With the makers plus our stacked young team I would think Canada is really the only country to be able to do that.

Australia is not far behind and could easilly challenge for a top 4 finish in the world, but they could never truly challenge the US for Gold.

I don't think challenging for gold is really Australia's intention. We want to stand up and be counted. Be recognised. This wont happen in some 4 nations = 1 team scenario. We are here for medals, and here to punch above our weight.

As for the Thon Maker deal, it is indeed up to them who they represent... if anyone. But I couldn't help being a bit salty if they represent Canada. Basketball Australia need to work on making camps easier to get to for the Makers.

I caught up with a Melbourne based organiser of sudanese basketball this week and he told me that he expects Thon to put on the green and gold. More at:
http://melbourneunibasketball.org.au/news/2015/longhorns-basketball-club

Thon should definitely play for Canada. Did you guys see my 3 posters last game? Who wouldn't want to play for the next Jordan of this league? Australia's got an alright squad but Canada is going to be rejecting guys that would start on Australia by the time 2020 comes. Hell Thon might not even make team Canada and his bro probably won't.