Shooting guard Josh Okogie has assured that the D’Tigers can ‘potentially win’ gold in the 2020 Olympic Games coming up in Tokyo, Japan from July 24 to August 9.
The Nigerian basketball star who spoke at the Rising Stars media parley as part of activities to mark this year’s NBA All-Star weekend stated that jettisoning personal glory and playing as a team under new Coach Mike Brown would boost the team’s chances of finishing tops in Tokyo.
He said: “I think Mike Brown will bring a lot into the Nigerian team. He has been around for a long time and he has trained a lot of good teams. He knows how to win, he knows what the winning culture is and hopefully, he can bring that kind of mentality into our team and help us get some wins and do well in Tokyo.”
The former Georgia Tech student said that there is more to African players other than athleticism, adding that African players can also play good and competitive basketball.
“I think a lot of people see Africa players from the angle of athleticism. They don’t really know that we are good basketball players and I think our job is to go out there this year at the Olympics and prove that we are just more than athletes. We have to show that we can actually compete and potentially win the Olympics,” Okogie explained.
He noted that Brown would bring a lot of experience into the Nigerian team as he urged his teammate to buy into the project of making the Nigerian team great again: “I know what Brown will bring to the table and I am looking forward working with him. I think we all have to come on board.
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“We all have to be locked in and buy into the project and play unselfishly and give up personal things for great achievement. I think we have shown that we can compete by playing well at the World Cup last year.”