Charlotte Observer

FOR ASPIRING PROS, PATH TO EUROPE HAS PINEVILLE STOP
BELLE JOHNSTON CENTER HOSTS PRACTICES

FOR TEAM USA BASKETBALL PLAYERS
BERNIE PETIT, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Charlotte Observer, The (NC)
2007-09-09
Section: SOUTHMECK
Edition: THREE Y
Page: 4S

Pineville is known by many in the Charlotte region as the home of Carolina Place Mall.
But for dozens of former college basketball players from across the country, it's known as the last stop before Europe. For two days last week, Pineville's Belle Johnston Center served as the practice location for the 14 former college players that comprise this year's Team USA Select Basketball roster.

Most of these players know the NBA is beyond their reach. For them, Team USA Select Basketball could give them the opportunity to latch onto a European basketball team and see the world.
"You can see Paris, you can see Prague, but you haven't really seen the world until you've seen the Belle Johnston Community Center in Pineville or the Showmars (on Lancaster Highway)," said south Mecklenburg resident and team coach/general manager Sean Kilmartin.
Kilmartin and close friend David Lawrence of Charlotte started Team USA Select Basketball 10 years ago to help college players further their careers by showcasing them to teams and scouts in exhibition games throughout Europe.
Players are selected for the team through a series of national tryouts, with the final tryouts each July at the Dowd YMCA in Charlotte. After team members are selected, players convene in Pineville before starting their European tour.
Athletes from Atlantic Coast Conference schools such as Duke (Tony Moore) and Clemson (Shawan Robinson) have played in the program, as have players from local schools such as Belmont Abbey, Davidson and UNC Charlotte.
This year's team left Thursday for London and is scheduled to play 20 games in 21 days in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Finland.
"Our schedule makes the NBA schedule look like a cakewalk," Kilmartin said.
Still, that's what it will take for the team's players to showcase their skills to as many European teams and scouts as possible.

It's all about the jobs.
The way it works, Kilmartin said, is that representatives from various European basketball leagues looking for American players will scout the exhibition games. Sometimes those representatives will offer his players contracts on the spot; others will get tryouts.
"The whole reason we do this is to get (our players) jobs," Kilmartin said, who added that the organization does not accept any fees for helping place players on European teams.
Kilmartin, who is 6-foot-7, played at Appalachian State in the 1980s and professionally in Europe for three years. He met his wife, Jane, in Europe and they moved to south Meck, where he's owned a brokerage firm for 12 years.
He went from a walk-on as a freshman to a team captain as a senior at Appalachian. He said that after graduation, he wasn't ready for a real job, so he grabbed at a chance to play professionally for a team outside of London.
While playing against each other in a tournament, he and Lawrence, who also played for Appalachian, talked about how both were traveling Europe because of basketball.
Kilmartin said the two then made a "good-buddy" promise that if they ever had the chance, they'd help other players get the same opportunity.

Competition ramps up.
Ten years ago, with the help of international contacts and former international players Nicholas Melissaris and Mike Palladino, Kilmartin and Lawrence fulfilled that promise and organized Team USA Basketball Select.
Now 45, Kilmartin has witnessed basketball's growth throughout Europe and has seen the increased level of competition throughout the continent. While many American players focus on moves they see on SportsCenter, their European counterparts are working on the fundamentals.
He said he stresses this difference to his players and urges them to work on the more subtle parts of the game.
Sharing what he's learned and what he's observed in his numerous trips to Europe since that time is important.
So is helping as many players as possible continue their careers. "It doesn't matter where a player gets his start," Kilmartin said.