Winners of Miller Lite Pro Basketball Challenge Move to Next Step

Miller Lite and the NBA Development League have named the 30 finalists of a challenge that offered participants the chance to be a pro basketball player.

The winners of the “Miller Lite Go Pro Challenge” will compete for a shot at pro basketball stardom in the D-League pre-draft camp later this month.

The winners got this far by submitting three-minute highlight reels showing their court skills and telling their personal stories to the NBA.com site (Promo Xtra, June 7, 2007).

A panel of basketball experts selected 29 of the 30 finalists, with one chosen by votes of fans who viewed the videos at NBA.com/GoPro.

The 30 prospects will be among 200 players invited to the D-League camp to be evaluated by coaches and scouts from NBA teams prior to a fall draft.

“Basically it’s an opportunity for the players to get out in front of coaches and scouts,” an NBA spokesperson said.

After the camp, some of the prospects will be featured in five-minute vignettes on NBA TV leading up to a one-hour special on Sept. 24. That special will track the players who excel and those who don’t in taking a shot at their dreams of playing pro basketball.

NBA forward Mikki Moore, a former D-Leaguer and Miller Lite’s official spokesman for the promotion, will be on hand to provide the players encouragement and tell them about his own unusual path to the NBA.

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