Basketball: American imports 'not NBA super stars' or they wouldn't be abroad

Lamar Roberson says washing the team's dirty laundry outside the house is never an option for him. Photo/Warren Buckland

Don't perform then pack your duffle bags for the next flight home is something Lamar Roberson is mindful of - but the new US import emphasises his coach and management aren't preaching that.

"In our team it's not all about Lamar Roberson, it's about the Bay Hawks," says the versatile forward from Louisiana. "That's a blessing because people know what we go through is really tough for Americans."

While he considers America the home of basketball and the world's best players hail from there, Roberson feels it's a team game and it's easy for fans to lose sight of that.

"People think you're LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and that's not the case because if it was I wouldn't be here. I would say I would be in the NBA so it's just about communicating that, really.

"If I score 40 points for the Bay Hawks then it's only 40 points because it's not enough to win the game . . . that's when I'm not the king, you know."

Roberson understands the collective will be frustrated if he doesn't go foraging for the ball or put himself in pivotal positions to initiate game-changing passages of play.

"That's when you'll find yourself with a teammate in the locker room with you saying, 'Hey you need to start channelling that basketball'."

But what happens in the locker room stays there, as far as Roberson's concerned.

"My motto is I never want the public to know there's a problem inside the house. Never.

"I was brought up that way. If there's a problem in the house, I keep it in there and consult my teammates and we sort it out because it's better for me that way.

"I'm a man and I'm going to respect you as a man or a woman but just keep everything in the house."

Roberson says no matter how much he might want to vent his spleen at someone else, washing the team's dirty laundry outside the house isn't an option.

"If I've got a problem with him I'll go to him. I won't even go to the coach."

Even the management doesn't know what's happening on the court because it has bigger fish to fry than worry about players.

While he's been training Roberson says the players started trickling in recently but it's imperative they all start working on their systems before playing powerhouses Wellington Saints tomorrow.

Physicality doesn't worry him because he came from Uruguay where he is was the only import in the league and muscling up was vital.

He once contemplated tattooing his entire body but his college coach talked him out of it.