Up and coming: Lee Reilly

YOU DON'T need to be a fanatic to know that basketball boasts some of the world's finest athletes, highest-paid players and most infamous stars but you also don't need an honours degree in sociology to know that outside of a school gym there isn't much of a basketball culture here in Scotland.

The result is that, while we may live in a time where people from Europe's supposedly less privileged countries are coming to Edinburgh in search of opportunity, young talented Scottish basketball star Lee Reilly may have to travel in the other direction to realise his full potential trying to make a career in the sport he loves.

"The NBA is obviously a bit far-fetched, I'd still want to try and aim for that but realistically it's going to be very hard as only, like, 30 guys make it every year", said the Edinburgh-born 17-year-old. "I'd love to play somewhere like Lithuania where basketball is big, or even most countries in Europe. The British league is not great and I want to get away and play at as high a standard as I can."

In order to play in one of the better professional leagues in Europe, Reilly must first try to impress coaches and win himself a scholarship to play college basketball in America. It won't be an easy task as Edinburgh Kings players are somewhat off the radar for most US institutions and Reilly admits he may have to do a school year in America in order to get himself noticed but it is something he is determined to do in order to improve his game.

"Over in America the facilities are just much better and, because it is a massive sport, there is just much more opportunity. Even at high school the gyms are better and you're playing in front of bigger crowds. I'd get the chance to play against better players and constantly as well, not just three or four times a year. High schools in America play November until March but the schedules are packed, they play three times a week where as right now we play once a week."

Reilly is still thankful for his hometown club, the Edinburgh Kings, for improving him as a player. He has now played three full years at junior level and led the team in points scored, assists, steals and minutes on the court last season when he was also coming off the bench to play for the club's senior side. The step up to senior level also helped Reilly improve his game as he grew to love a new position when he was switched to point guard.

"At point guard you are basically in control of the team. At first I was a bit nervous about shouting at these bigger, older guys but the coaches just told me 'you're the man, you have to run the game so just boss them about'. It gives you a lot of responsibility, and I like that. Plus, with point guard, you have to set up people and, as much as I like scoring, I like setting someone up and seeing them score as well. I still like scoring though."

Reilly grew up in a house with two basketball-playing parents and a big brother who also took to the sport. It instilled in young Lee a love for basketball that has stayed with him throughout his life and, despite a strong liking for football, he defied his local culture and stopped playing the nation's favourite sport in order to concentrate on his basketball. That decision is not something you are likely to see repeated by other young talented athletes, which is unsurprising given the difference in the amount of opportunities available. Even at a young age, Reilly has his own strong views on how British basketball needs to improve so we can produce more world-class players like Chicago Bulls' Sudanese-born British forward Luol Deng.

"Britain needs facilities, it needs more funding and it needs to try and get more people interested. People tend to lose interest after the age of 16 and even before then it's hard to get them interested anyway, they need to try and make it more attractive.

"To play and practice it's very difficult because you need a free hall to begin with, then you need to pay an amount to rent it and even then it's only for something like one hour. It means that, outwith organised training, you don't have much time to do your own training and work on your game. And basketball at school is terrible, it's more like rugby, nobody knows the rules, it's ridiculous. There's travelling all the time and you only ever get a foul if someone gets punched."

DATE OF BIRTH: 11/03/1992

AGE: 17

BORN: Edinburgh

KEY MOMENT: Winning the European Championships at under-16 and under-18 level with Scotland.

INSPIRATION: My big brother, who is just about to come back after spending a year at a high school in America.

ASPIRATION: To play at a high level of professional basketball in Europe.