Al-Farouq Aminu: The Next Goal is a Medal

Nigeria and New Orleans Hornets forward Al-Farouq Aminu travelled to Zambia to participate in the Sprite Slam NBA Development Camp last weekend. He spoke to NBA Africa about his Olympic experience, his Nigerian roots and what is next for Nigerian and African basketball.

On his participation in the Olympics…
It was an amazing experience. To see how far our team was able to go with a little bit of time we had together – it was an amazing thing. Hopefully we’ll get an invitation to Brazil and to the World Cup before that.

On what needs to happen for Nigeria to be more effective on the international stage…
It would be a mixture of two things, time and dedication from the players. Most of the teams participating in the Olympics have been together for a long time. We need to play more and more with each other and hopefully we will start being more of a dominant force in the world. Also, we would need to do a better job with developing players. There are a lot of good Nigerians, but a lot of them just don’t play with the team. So, that’s the dedication from their part.

On his desire to visit Nigeria…
I haven’t been able to go like I want to because of the limited time that I have and earlier, when I was in high school, it was the money. I’ve been trying to go all summer, but the time was never right. The first chance I’ll have I’m going to travel. I have a lot of family there, a whole bunch of family, so it would be great. It has been a built up thing at the moment. My great grandma was able to come (to the U.S.) when I was younger and she got to live with us for a little bit. She lives back in Nigeria and I would love to see her again and also my cousins. My family is big so there are a lot of people I would love to see. This is my first experience (in Africa), so I’m just taking it all in and I’m enjoying myself.

On what’s next for African basketball…
The next goal is a medal. Actually, no African team has ever had two wins, so first two wins and then a medal.