The small big-man of Nagpada - at 5’11’ - Moontasir hardly ever was the tallest - has the stock harsh criticisms for new boys who’ve struggled to match up to the 22 internationals who emerged from the same court in the last five decades. He threw his hands up recently when he found a young player worrying more about his ‘Salman Khan hair-cut’, than his rebounds.

But, having observed the downfall over the years - frustration paving way for shock, turning into helplessness, Moontasir believes that NBA will have to invest the time and commitment into its boys, enforce strict regimens, if they are to restart the assembly-line of basketball internationals. Shahid Qureshi was the last to make the grade, and that was a decade ago.

The late coach Bachoo Khan’s red-hot iron discipline might be hard to recreate twenty years after he passed away, but NNH reverted to their blue-yellow colours this year, and are hoping that the return to their original vests-and-shorts might bring some luck. “We always played in blue and yellow when we were on top,” says NBA’s Noor Khan, recalling the heydays. A small tweaking_superficial even_but its the familiarity with the colours that NBA expect will herald a resurgence. “It’s got to be a good team, of course, but we are trying to go back to our lucky colours,” Khan adds. The team responded with a 72-40 drubbing of its first-round opponents in the ongoing tournament.

Discipline was at the core of NNH teams, and Bachoo Khan who on his deathbed had asked the ex-internationals to come together and take up the coaching mantle, would have approved of the recent disciplinary action taken against a bunch of seniors who were verging towards groupism. “No matter what your calibre, Bachoo bhai always insisted on discipline and punctuality in the team,” says Afzal Khan, a former giant on the court and current coach.

Moontasir and Afzal Khan both played in Bachoo Khan’s restrictive tournaments - the Azad Cup exclusively for under-5 feet, and the Furtado Shield for those who’d shot up higher - upto 5’3” - the nursery meets for young tyros.

But what worries both is the more than 6feet-tall fencing that was forced to come up around the NBA court owing to the surrounding hutments. “Earlier, 200 people would line up outside to watch the action, some children would naturally get hooked to the sport and join in. Now since we’ve had to enclose it, that very important means of attracting new talent is gone,” Moontasir says. NNH always had the flair though - better ball handling and movement, court sense, more instinctive, skilful, though they never possessed tall players to rebound. “We had freelance players as against dour percentage ones, and that really endeared us to the crowds,” Moontasir says.