New Canadian basketball documentary shows polarizing sides of grassroots basketball in Toronto
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00:00 Hey everyone, Aaron Rose here from Sports Illustrated.
00:03 I wanted to share a trailer to a new Canadian basketball documentary that came out earlier
00:07 this week.
00:08 It's the story of three Canadian boys who are trying to navigate the grassroots basketball
00:12 world.
00:13 Take a look.
00:14 Basketball in Toronto, the sky's the limit.
00:19 My mindset is not to be the 29th best player in the country, to be number one.
00:24 Right now on the basketball front, we're like the biggest state in North America.
00:29 This year, media's watching you play and they're critiquing you.
00:33 The target's on your back now.
00:36 I got a chance to chat with the film's director, Ryan Sidhu, who said he wanted to use the
00:48 documentary to ask what it means to make it in basketball.
00:51 Throughout the film, we kind of play with this idea of making it.
00:56 And it's like, well, what is making it?
00:57 Because now in Canada, it's like, hey, Corey made it, and Corey's from down the street.
01:01 Andrew Wiggins made it, Jamal Murray made it.
01:03 I can make it too.
01:05 And I think it's obviously a beautiful story that kids believe they could make the NBA
01:10 and they could make it.
01:11 But I think the definition of making it needs to change a little bit because if by 16 years
01:18 old you know you're not going to make it, well then you're a failure.
01:21 But if we change the definition of making it, maybe that means you can make it as a
01:26 basketball reporter and still get paid to cover basketball.
01:31 You can make it as a filmmaker making documentaries about basketball.
01:34 You can make it as a referee, a coach.
01:36 You can still be involved in the industry of basketball and get paid from basketball
01:40 and be around the game.
01:42 And that could still satisfy your love for the game.
01:45 After the project, Sidhu said it made him feel differently about the basketball world.
01:49 It really complicated my relationship with the business side and how I view it.
01:55 I, it's sad because what's happening is that basically the kids are becoming a commodity
02:03 at 12 years old.
02:04 And so you know, seeing the kind of trickle down effect from you know the top of the basketball
02:10 industry down to the youth level, it was just a tough pill to swallow to see just how much
02:18 of a business it is and how exploitative it is.
02:20 The full documentary can be found on the National Film Board's website or their YouTube page
02:25 as well as Red Bull TV.
02:26 Thank you.
02:26 [BLANK_AUDIO]