MISSISSAUGA– It seems only logical that Raptors Super Fan Nav Bhatia was recently appointed the team’s Community Ambassador in April. This honour stands as a testament to his 20-year involvement with the Toronto Raptors. Bhatia of South Asian descent and a proud Sikh recently spoke with Mark Bairos for an HHC exclusive interview discussing the magnitude of fellow South Asian and Sikh Sim Bhullar who is on the verge of entering the National Basketball Association. It would automatically make Sim the tallest player and the first ever South Asian to play in the NBA.

Rumors swirling across NBA circles are that Bhullar’s hometown Toronto and Sacramento (owned by the league’s first Indian owner) are front runners for the Canadian prospect.

At 7’5 tall weighing 350 pounds, Bhullar’s emergence in the NBA would be a boom for increasing the popularity of the game in India, with a population about 1.2 billion, including five million who play basketball. Also Toronto and Sacramento due to their notorious large Indian communities.  Sim spent two years at New Mexico State before declaring for the NBA draft.  Now at 21 years old he hopes to hear his name called on draft day June 26th.

Nav Bhatia watching an NBA game in the company of Canadian rapper-actor Drake

A permanent fixture on the base line and known across Canada as Super fan, Nav Bhatia tackles the topics brewing in Toronto. More specifically within Toronto’s South Asian community, where folks are  anxiously waiting to see where Bhullar will end up this November.

HHC: Fact or fiction? Brampton, ON born Sim Bhullar entering the NBA draft would be a marketing boom in Toronto and India.

Nav: I think it will definitely make a splash in Toronto and also India being the first South Asian to enter the NBA. It would be a big thing.

HHC: Talk around NBA circles is that Toronto and Sacramento have emerged as front runners for Sim. Both markets have strong Indian roots. Kings the first ever Indian owner and Toronto a large South Asian community. Where do you think he can make a bigger splash?

Nav: Definitely Toronto. We have a very strong passionate fan base in the South Asian community. This is something that started 20 years ago. When I first went to a game there were hardly ten people, I was the only guy wearing a turban at the game. Now as you see in the seventh game Brooklyn versus Raptors we had 1500 people inside maybe 50-100 turbans. Then outside by the stage there were about another 12, 000 people there and about thousand of them were South Asian people and about 30-40 people with turbans there. In Toronto I think it could make a big splash right now because we are the number one leader in the NBA with the South Asian community. Raptors have brought the game to a next level in the South Asian community.

HHC: Nav, you think the South Asian community is more into basketball then say hockey at this point?

Nav: This is our number one game in Canada now, not hockey, basketball. When I was in Brooklyn I was talking to the Director of Public Relations he said he hardly saw 10-15 people of South Asian background that were Brooklyn fans. We had more South Asian Raptors fans in Brooklyn then there was Nets fans. HHC: Larger population of South Asians in Toronto or Sacramento?

Raptors Superfan: Nav Bhatia a proud South Asian and Sikh on the road representing Raptors faithful.

Nav: It’s larger in Toronto. Also more educated about basketball now than before. For the last 14 years we have been doing a South Asian game night. I first started in 1999 at the Air Canada Center when Vince was here. He helped us promote what we call Baisakhi Day so we have done a bit. 14 years later DeMar, Jonas everybody is helping us out. Players and fans are into it. Especially the Sikh community. I’m a Sikh, I’m a visible minority, visible South Asian guy so people relate and enjoy the fact I’m a Raptors ambassador for the their foundations and community too and its helped draw more South Asians in the arena.

HHC: Yourself and the Bhullar brothers are Sikh. Alot of people in the South Asian community are crossing their fingers that you reiterate to the Raptors the ramifications of pulling strings to bring Sim Bhullar on board. Fair assumption?

Nav: I have told members of the Raptors organization to considerate but at the end of the day I’m just a fan. This organization has to decide. HHC: Thanks for elaborating on the South Asian community and their bond with the Raptors. When Sim visited Toronto last week main stream media created no awareness of that. Consensus was his future in the NBA is a long shot. Sportsnet’s Michael Grange even wrote a piece saying maybe Sim is too big for the modern NBA game. What’s your thoughts?

Nav: I don’t think the number 15th player on the roster makes much of a difference. There was guy by the name of Stone, who hardly played. Maybe two points the whole year. He will definitely do better than that.

HHC: Fact or fiction if Sim would be selected 55th overall by Toronto can he make more money off endorsements in Toronto then his salary as a second rounder?

Nav: That’s a no brainer. Not rocket science. People know that. As a fan I think it might be the #1 jersey in the world. We have over a billion people in India.

HHC: How does basketball compare to cricket? If you can get a fraction of the cricket audience that’s a lot of people.

Nav: I turned from cricket to basketball. Last time I watched a cricket game was maybe twenty years ago. Very possible.

HHC: I imagine then the Raptors winning an NBA championship headlines your hoop dreams? Where does witnessing a South Asian in the NBA rank with that?

Nav: I have received so much love and blessings from the almighty but I still have three dreams. I told Sim four years ago my three dreams. First was for the Raptors to win an NBA championship, I’d like to see the day. Second would be my boy Vince [Carter] to win a championship and the third will be a South Asian guy, especially a Sikh to play basketball in the NBA. Maybe for the Raptors. Sim is a Sikh. I’m getting older so the more dreams I can fulfill now the better. Sim could be the first dream to come true.

(Left to Right: Tanveer Bhullar, Sim Bhullar & Nav Bhatia)

HHC: How about Tanveer the younger Bhullar, recent report in the Can India quoted you saying perhaps he could enter the 2015 NBA draft. Is that Tanveer’s target? Or just you see him as maybe a potential professional too?

Nav: I think next year he will also be declaring for the draft. It depends on how he does this year in school. Last year he didn’t play much. I just met up with them in Las Vegas last week where they are training. They are like my kids or like my nephews. It will be a dream come true if he can get into the NBA. I hope it’s the Raptors because I do believe that it will be a win-win situation for the Raptors and of course for Sim because his dream is to play in the NBA.

HHC: Mr. Bhatia, your time today is appreciated. I speak on behalf of many basketball purists across the country. We appreciate your passion and enthusiasm for the game and especially our beloved Raptors.

Nav: You know me, I’m a basketball nerd. I breathe basketball, I’m a nut and an addict of basketball. I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I don’t womanize. But I Raptorize. That’s it.