With approximately 50 participants from as far away as Paris, the Bakersfield Jam held their first open tryouts of the season at their facilities in north Bakersfield on Aug. 28-29.
The Bakersfield Jam is a professional basketball team in the National Basketball Association Developmental League and have been in Bakersfield since 2006.
After day one, several players were cut and the teams were shrunken down. The newly formed groups scrimmaged with officials in a regular game clock type of environment.
Jam second year head coach Will Voigt, talked about what he saw from the participants.
“You always get a little bit of everything. We’ve got a guy whose flown in from France, we’ve got guys from the east coast, you’ve got local guys, you’ve got guys who’ve played professionally, and you’ve got guys who’ve never played professionally,” said Voigt.
“We took seven guys from our tryout camps last year, so this is a legitimate opportunity for these players,” said Voigt. “They’re trying to play in arguably the second most talented league in the world. Just because they can’t make it here doesn’t mean they can’t play professionally other places. And what I tell the hump guys as well is, ‘Maybe you aren’t good for us, but maybe you could play for other teams.’
“These guys pay money to be here and we want to do everything we can to give them value on that experience,” he said.
The tryouts cost each individual participant $200, which did not include the hotel and other expenses.
One of the participants was Julien Bakala, who had flown overnight from France and arrived by bus in Bakersfield half way through day one.
Bakala, a 6-foot-6 guard from Hermine Nantes Atlantique Pro, spoke about why he came to Bakersfield and what really motivated him to tryout for the Jam.
“I want to see my abilities against American players. To see if I’m supposed to be in the league,” Bakala continued. “Maybe, just maybe I can make it. I heard about the Bakersfield Jam and I said, ‘OK, maybe. I’m at a high level, and I believe I can make it.'”
Another professional player who impressed with a series of strong dunks was 6-foot-10 Augustine Okosun.
The center/power forward was born in Nigeria and played only four years of organized basketball before making it to the National Basketball Developmental League’s Austin Toros.
Okosun talked about why he left the Toros and chose to come to the tryouts in Bakersfield.
“Last year I played for the Austin Toros, but I moved to California and I want to stay out here, so I figured I’d come out here and workout for Bakersfield,” said Okosun.
Okosun talked about what he has learned from the tryout and what he thought his chances were.
“I think it’s very competitive and I think you really have to play to your best strengths, play to your advantage, where you know you can help the team and you have a chance at making it,” he said. “Overall I think it’s a great experience, and I think they’re [his chances of making the team] pretty good.
Brandon Sampay, an L.A. native who played college ball for Illinois State and then decided to play professionally overseas in Finland for Aanekosken Huima, was also a participant at the Jam camp.
“Just to come out here and play with a level head and pretty much don’t lose it for yourself,” said Sampay, a 6-foot-8 255-pound center/power forward. “It’s all on you to make this team, or at least get a call back.”
The potential players were split into six groups, learned two or three basic offensive plays, and ran the plays together in their groups.
After getting the plays down, the groups did light scrimmages among group members and eventually played timed scrimmages against other groups.
When all groups finished the timed scrimmages, they did live scrimmages with officials and a running clock.
The Jam has a second tryout in L.A. where their two NBA affiliated teams call home. That tryout is two weeks after the Bakersfield tryout, so team officials won’t say who made the final cut until after the L.A. tryout and after evaluations are made.
Voigt spoke about the expected turn out of that tryout.
“We’re at 30 pre-registered for L.A. and obviously they’re a bigger market and in the past we’ve had over 100 walk up,” he said.
After the tryouts, the players that have successfully impressed the coaching staff will have the opportunity to workout for the team during their training camp in mid-November.