The road to a possible 17th Olympic men’s basketball gold medal has brought Team USA to Abu Dhabi, where LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Co enjoyed their first practice in the capital on Saturday ahead of their upcoming exhibition games against Australia and Serbia.
Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairman of Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, greeted the squad and gave them a heartwarming speech ahead of their training session, wishing them luck and inviting them to soak in the culture during their stay in the UAE.
James is no stranger to the Middle East and is looking forward to taking to the court at Etihad Arena against Australia on Monday, July 15, and Serbia two days later.
“I’m excited to be here once again. I spent a little time in Saudi Arabia, I was in Dubai as well, and now being here in Abu Dhabi. I’m looking forward to playing in the game on Monday, playing the game on Wednesday, and seeing the reception that we get for Team USA. I’m super excited. It’s always a treat,” said the two-time Olympic gold medallist and four-time NBA champion.
Players like Anthony Edwards, Jrue Holiday, Tyrese Haliburton are all repeat visitors to Abu Dhabi, which has become a vibrant hub for basketball in the region.
Edwards came to the capital twice last year – once with Team USA during the summer ahead of their FIBA World Cup campaign and once with the Minnesota Timberwolves for a pair of pre-season games against the Dallas Mavericks in October.
“I told them it’s super fun, the people are very welcoming, it’s a dope place to visit,” Edwards shared with his USA teammates before they touched down in Abu Dhabi on Friday.
The Timberwolves guard said he planned on hitting the beach post-practice while Curry, Devin Booker, and recently crowned NBA champion Jayson Tatum went to Yas Links for a round of golf.
Tatum is one of three Boston Celtics players who have made the USA roster, with Holiday and new addition Derrick White – who has replaced Kawhi Leonard – also facing the challenge of getting ready for the Olympics so soon after their championship win over the Dallas Mavericks.
Holiday faced the same situation three years ago at the Tokyo Games, where he was coming off a title victory with the Milwaukee Bucks and went straight into a gold medal run with Team USA at the Olympics.
“You rest when you can, you take care of your body when you’re not on the court. There’s a lot of things you got to do, just icing and stretching and massages and things to take care of your body,” said Holiday.
“Doing your best just trying to get away from basketball, mentally escaping. Me, I do a lot of things with my family. We have fun. A time like this, we try to enjoy Abu Dhabi, try to enjoy the culture, so that you kind of get away from the basketball a little bit.”
Head coach Steve Kerr is back in Abu Dhabi but with a different group of stars to the one he led at the World Cup last year. USA placed an underwhelming fourth at that tournament but then proceeded to build an elite squad that is Dream Team-esque and is the outright favourite for gold in Paris this summer.
“We definitely built the roster with more size, more physicality, we’re trying to put the best defensive players and defensive team on the floor as much as possible,” explained Kerr, who has the likes of Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis and Kevin Durant at his disposal.
After beating Canada in their first exhibition game in Las Vegas last Wednesday, USA will take on Australian and Serbia in Abu Dhabi before flying to London for friendlies against South Sudan and Germany.
The Nikola Jokic-led Serbia team will also be USA’s first opponent at the Olympic Games in France, which means Kerr will probably choose not to show all his cards in their exhibition clash on Wednesday.
“I think the main thing is we’ve only been practising for four days, and then we had one game. So this is really more about us and not worrying about our opponents,” explained the Golden State Warriors coach.
“This whole week is very important for us, practice time. So I don’t think we’ll plan anything special against Serbia [in Abu Dhabi], it’s more just continuing to get better.”
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The story of Edge
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, established Edge in 2019.
It brought together 25 state-owned and independent companies specialising in weapons systems, cyber protection and electronic warfare.
Edge has an annual revenue of $5 billion and employs more than 12,000 people.
Some of the companies include Nimr, a maker of armoured vehicles, Caracal, which manufactures guns and ammunitions company, Lahab
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The years Ramadan fell in May
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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