Why Omony is Uganda's best male baller of all time

LET'S TALK BASKETBALL

Stephen Omony believes he would have ended up in the NBA if had he been born in the US. What do you think? Is the man largely regarded as Uganda's greatest  basketball player of all time right to hold onto such a hypothesis?

Many who saw Omony at his peak - when he played above the rim, on the post and the perimeter with single-minded brilliance - might be inclined to entertain the notion. After all, if Omony could become so good in an environment so limited technically, financially and so on, how far would he have gone if he was born with the basketball spoon in his mouth?

Omony in action

His game

At 6ft6, athletic and immensely gifted, Omony had all the physical foundations for greatness. Yet as the above-mentioned claim about a potential NBA career shows, his self-belief was probably the most defining feature about him. He always believed he was the best on the court - or at least as good as anybody else.

Omony's favourite phrase about tough opposition was something along the lines of "They are human, they bleed just like us..." It is that mindset that took him  from a high school prodigy at Kitante High School to becoming the captain of the legendary Uganda Silverbacks, who played at the 2015 Afrobasket Championship in Tunisia and again two years later in Senegal.

Achievements

That tournament probably remains the peak of Omony's career even if, as he confessed, it came when he was already in his 30s and incapable of attracting the kind of offers he might have attracted in his early 20s. Offers similar to but better than his deal with Seychelles PLS Hawks in 2001.

Omony could not summon the best of his attributes at the 2015 Afrobasket showpiece due to a combination of factors, including the fact that he was really no spring chicken, but he was far from a liability, as his 20-point, nine-rebound performance against eventual champions Nigeria shows. That, when all is said and done, was probably the game of his career.

When City Oilers got Omony for a four-year deal

Longevity

There were, however, many other heights. Besides winning five National Basketball League (NBL) titles and four in Seychelles, Omony was named most valuable player (MVP) in both countries once apiece although it should have been more. His first league title came in 1998 with the Falcons, his last was last year with the City Oilers. Do the maths and the conclusion is that his is an extreme case of top-level longevity.

Ugandan basketball has many greats, players who have played at a much higher level than Omony like Stanley Ociti, John Baligwaire and Brandon Ssebirumbi, but all of them represent a small chapter in the story of Ugandan hoops.

Aura

Omony was there when the modern-day FUBA league was taking off and he was there for the historic 2015 Afrobasket journey. He was the one who made what remains to this day for local basketball players a rare excursion into professional waters when he went to Seychelles.

And who can forget his return to Falcons in 2009 for sh72m?

Although it, as feared, turned out to be a bad deal for both parties, there's no doubt if the late John Ssimbwa had not run into financial trouble, he was prepared to fulfill his end of the bargain.

That deal is blamed for turning the love of Ugandan basketball players from the game to the money. But that it was Omony's fault. And who can say, with the benefit of hindsight, Omony was not worth the sh72m? Uganda's greatest? Are you kiddin?