Australia, insurance, car, home, live, holidays

"We're trying to find the best basketball players from around the world to bring them to Australia to make them NBA players,"Meeks said.

"We're going to put some upgrades into the locker rooms and we already put in some video technology,which allows me in New York to watch practise"

"The AIS was chosen for the point of focus because all of the NBA players that have come through the Centre of Excellence have worked out really well - it simply works here.

"But the academy was not launched because of the success of the Australian players in the NBA,it was launched because the success of the process."

Part of the agreement with the NBA ensures the academy gives five of its scholarships to Australian players,who will picked from the Centre of Excellence.

Basketball Australia chief executive Anthony Moore said their relationship with the NBA is now the strongest it's ever been.

"It's a fabulous opportunity for us to partner with the best league in the world,"Moore said.

"The power of the NBA and the credibility that brings combined with our Centre of Excellence program,which is world renowned,just makes for a fabulous partnership.

"You look at the current crop of Australian NBA players and every single one of them have been touched by this program in some shape or form,and that also goes for the WNBA.

"Adam Silver,the NBA commissioner,said that Australia was one of the markets he was looking at because we have a track record of producing elite talent.

"Every national federation from around the world always asks'what are you doing that makes you so good'and it's simply our program here at the AIS."

Moore said Australia has one of the most competitive sporting markets in the world and basketball must work hard to retain its best talent.

"We're in competition for talent with everybody,so whether it's Hugh Greenwood who came out of this facility and went to New Mexico in college,we thought he was destined for great things with the Boomers - but he chose AFL,"Moore said.

"Scott Pendlebury is another great example for us,he was offered a scholarship here and declined it and Patty Mills took his spot.

"Our challenge is to make sure we've got programs like the NBA Global Academy so if an athlete's deciding between sports,they chose basketball.

"The other big thing for our sport at the moment is we don't have a participation problem,we have a facilities problem,we don't have enough courts to put participants on."

More said Canberra export Mills was welcomed at the AIS any time and hopes the NBA star can spend some time with the new program down the track.

ACT sport