Lester Prosper: ''We love the fan love''

 JAKARTA (Indonesia) - Lester Prosper was in the spotlight in the recent November 2020 Window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers. There had been some buzz surrounding his potential debut for a couple of months, but that finally became a dream finally became a reality when he took the court against Thailand.

As athletes, we do it for ourselves, but any athlete will tell you that we love the fan love. We love that. That drives us. That fuels us.

From the Caribbean islands to playing for Indonesia at the Asia Cup Qualifiers in Bahrain, it's easy to say that Prosper's journey has been a wild one.

When you see Prosper throwing down big dunks or knocking down wet jumpers, it's hard to imagine him playing any other sport growing up. It was even more surprising to learn in a recent talk on @FIBAAsiaCup Instagram Live how far off the first sport he played growing up was from basketball.

"Well, my first sport is cricket because I'm from the Caribbean," Prosper revealed. "I was born in the island of Dominica, raised in the island of Montserrat which is a [British Overseas Territory]."

"But cricket was my first sport and I was a bad boy playing cricket. I was really good. I'm still a bad boy to this day," he added with a grin.

Prosper mainly plays the center position on the hardwood court nowadays. Back then on the cricket field, Prosper was also at the "center stage" of the matches.

"I'm a bowler. I'm an all-around  player, but mostly a bowler. My main thing to do is get the wickets."

"When I was younger, I'd say [I could bowl] about 75 [mile per hour]. Actually, right now it's probably in-swing,  out-swing about 80 miles per hour. Not too fast, because I haven't been practicing in a while."

Prosper has since traded in throwing wicked, fast underhand bowls to powerful, high-flying tomahawk dunks and it all started when he moved to the hotbed of hoops, New York.

"I grew up without my parents when I moved to the states so I was in a group home for all that time," Prosper started as he told the story of how he got into basketball. "The kids that were in the group home, the sport that they mostly played was basketball. I had to learn how to play basketball. It was wild basketball. It wasn't organized or anything. It was wild but it was actually like therapy for us, so I did it and I started playing and I fell in love with it."

However, it wasn't until another trip back to the Caribbean before Prosper took the next step forward in his basketball journey. He had been too raw to stick on to his high school team and  found himself back in the islands, wondering what was in his future.

"I'm like 'Man, what am I going to do in the Caribbean? Should I go back and play cricket? I'm 18 years old, what am I going to do?'," Prosper said.

He eventually ended up playing in a tournament which would eventually send his path back to New York.

"I actually ended up playing a game against Allan Houston. What I started doing was shooting threes. I was making my threes and I was just a tall skinny guy that was shooting threes and was just very, very athletic. Super fast and very athletic. Then, one of the coaches came over to me from an [NCAA] DIII college. It's called State University of New York, Old Westbury."

"They locked me in the gym and they just had me training, training, training, getting better, getting stronger."

When the opportunity came for Prosper to shine, he seized it and never looked back.

"The first year, one of the guys in practice, he was the top high school players. He came to our college and he was like very highly recruited by other colleges. He ended up getting in to a fight with his girlfriend, put his hand on her, and he got kicked out of school. They didn't have another center and that was my opportunity right there."

"The next two games, I ended up having a triple-double with blocks. I had 14-15 blocks in one game, I think. Like 18 points and 13-14 rebounds and then I broke some record or whatever or tied some block records. Then I got on ESPN and all of that."

"Now, I'm starting to go all like 'Ok, maybe this is for me'. I started training harder than ever."

"I just started picking up the game and then it went from there. I started going to New York City, playing in these tournaments at 145^th. I started playing at Dyckman. Nike Pro-Am. I just got tougher being in New York City and that's why I kind of have this New York attitude."

In addition to that New York attitude, fans might also notice the sweet southpaw shooting from Prosper as well as the nimble footwork. This should come as no surprise to those who know who his favorite players are.

"I actually have two favorite players. They do not play anymore but it's Chris Bosh and definitely Akeem Olajuwon. Bosh is very, very versatile. He's a lefty like me. Akeem also. The footwork, the jump shot, the 15-foot the 20-foot, and just being relentless."

As if that was not a scary combination of skills already, Prosper also has his eyed locked on another top-tiered current talent that he might be looking to learn from.

"Right now, I actually love watching Jokic, I love watching him."

"What I'm actually starting to implement a lot now especially with my teammates is just moving the ball," he added about his favorite basketball plays. "Making about 3-4 passes and then incorporating the extra pass. That makes you unstoppable, San Antonio Spurs basketball."

Most of the fans have already seen the highlights Lester Prosper's first points ever in an Indonesia national team jersey. If you haven't already, make sure to check it out. It's a big time banger.

It looks awesome in retrospect, but as Prosper retells it, the play didn't start out initially as planned and could have ended up either way.

"Basically, people know I hardly miss midrange shots. Everybody knows that I hardly miss midrange shots. When that thing went off the side of the backboard, I got so upset. I was like, I never shot off the side of the backboard! I know that all my guys at home that were watching the game, they were going to give me jokes when I went home so I had to do something after."

"I actually just got lucky and it just bounced back to me. I just saw the lane open up but Chanatip [Jakrawan] came over to help. I just had to extend and go over him, you know? Because it was either he was going to block it or get dunked on. If he had blocked it, it would have been all over FIBA also but I came out on the right end."

In the end, it turned out to be a smashing debut for Prosper: 19 points, 13 rebounds, 2 steals, and, more importantly, the a 90-76 win against rivals Thailand.

"We were mentally strong," Prosper said of the win. "We came out and we were down about 15 at some point, but we fought our way back and then we ended up winning. Shout out to Thailand, too. My respect to those guys."

"They are a tough team. They played three games, so you have to give respect to anybody, any team, that comes out and not back down like that. I give respect to Thailand and that's me speaking from myself. Also, I know a lot a lot of our players are saying the same thing. They give respect to guys from the Thailand team."

Indonesia will be playing Thailand one more time in the upcoming Window of the Asia Cup Qualifiers. They will also be playing Korea and the Philippines one more time as well, completing the matchups in Group A.

Prosper is always hungry for a good match up and he has a few in mind that he's looking forward to.

"Ra Guna is cool. We come from like a same but different - we're hungry - kind of background. That's going to be dope playing against him. He's a good guy respectful guy and all his accomplishments in Korea is pretty top notch. And Kai Sotto."

But whoever Prosper is going to go up against, there's one thing he doesn't want to forget.

"Let's have fun! It's fun. Basketball is fun."

"We'll compete. Of course, Korea always comes out to compete. The Philippines always comes out to compete. Now it's our turn. This is a different team. We're stronger. We're bigger now. We're not just going to be a pushover like how it's been the last couple of years. We're really going to come out to fight all the guys."

The competitive fire will always be there, but there's also one thing that Prosper is missing dearly.

"I miss the fans."

"Like game time when Brandon Jawato's on the court and we're dancing and we're entertaining. You know basketball is all about entertainment. Fans pay to come see a game and they want to be entertained. That's what I miss and that's a significant part of me playing here and playing anywhere in the world. Just being able to entertain the fans and make the kids go home with a nice smile."

He recalled a specific moment with the fans in Indonesia that has just left him craving for the return of the fans to the stands ASAP.

"So me and Jawato, we do this little bird call, it's like a little bird call thing like 'BRRRR!!!'. When we walked into the stadium one time, the whole section just went 'BRRRR!'. I was like 'What the hell is going on?!'. It was crazy but it was cool!"

The fans are a big part of the game and sometimes it's that extra motivation that high-energy players like Prosper needs.

"Obviously, we miss the fans. We miss the crowds. We miss that kind of atmosphere. Everybody in the world misses that atmosphere. It should be an amazing time and the adrenaline gets flowing when the crowds there."

"We want to hear the crowd. I miss the crowd. I miss them talking, talking [smack]. I love that."

"Cheering you on, you entertaining them and then you put a smile on the little kids faces, the mother's faces, the father's faces."

"I miss that man. I miss that. You have to understand. I know I've been around the block in the game but the fans are what really brings out the best in us. As athletes, we do it for ourselves, but any athlete will tell you that we love the fan love. We love that. That drives us. That fuels us."

That's the kind of energy Prosper is expecting to absorb when Asia Cup 2021 comes around the corner. Indonesia will be the hosts the premier event in the region and Prosper is looking forward to see the fans rush back to pack the stands whenever the situation allows them.

Don't disappoint him.

Make sure to check out the full talk with Lester Proster for more on his favorite movie, music, number, his brotherly connection with Brandon Jawato, and more on Asia Cup IGTV!

FIBA