New Jamaica Basketball Association president Ajani Williams said the appointment of former Chicago Bulls and Boston Celtics player Sam Vincent as the coach of the national men's and women's teams should take the country to the next level.

Vincent's contract will run for two years and the high-profile former Charlotte Bobcats coach hopes that that will be enough time for him to fully take Jamaican basketball to higher heights as he believes strongly in the talent of Jamaicans.

The 1983 and 1985 Michigan State University MVP, who also represented Seattle and Orlando during his NBA days, accepted the job to guide Jamaica, confident that with the growing wealth of talent overseas the country can become one of the major forces in the game.

"Even though basketball is not the number one sport, there's incredible talent here and... I was intrigued by the opportunity to come here and provide some of my experience in basketball, to get the national teams on the international scene," Vincent explained.

The American, who arrived in the island last Friday, will focus on implementing programmes to help develop all aspects of the local game.

"I'd really like to see a structure in place from the grassroots all the way to the top where their work ethics... and quality of basketball is very high, as well as the yearly production of players that go into the colleges in the US or overseas to compete in Europe," he told the Observer.

"Sam has a broad experience as a coach and he wants to develop basketball across the island, outside of the national team... so he'll do a lot of work on helping to develop coaches, players, referees and management," he explained.

Vincent chose Jamaica because he has a good relationship with the JBA president and is intrigued with the level of talent and skill local players possess in a variety of sports. He said he is always eager to give back to the sport.

"If you look at my history with national teams, I've worked with South Africa, Nigeria and it's a real nice treat to go back to these communities and work with some of these areas in terms of giving back," he declared.

The veteran coach admitted his knowledge of Jamaican basketball is limited, but he insists that with the assistance from Williams and his staff, including former coach Julian Dunkley, who is now his assistant, he should have no problem getting familiar with the local fraternity.

"My knowledge of the game locally is not very high and I think that's where I'll spend some time... to understand what's going on with the professional leagues and to understand how to get involved with amateur leagues.

"But most importantly, we need to help grow the local coaching base because I think it will be important for us that we have strong local coaches developing grassroots basketball in this country," he added.

Vincent said at the end of his tenure he wants to be top of the Caribbean and become a strong competitor in the Americas.

"... I really believe that with the level of players Jamaica has in the USA collegiate programmes and with the identification of a few more players abroad and here locally, there should be an ability in the next few years to really move to the top of the Caribbean... and start moving up in the Americas," he emphasized.

According to Vincent, it is an exciting time for him and he is looking forward to meeting both coaches and players and getting around the country to see where he can take local basketball.

Clifford Ray - also an assistant to the Boston Celtics and one of the best 'big men' coaches in the NBA - will be part of Vincent's coaching staff. Vincent's first assignment will be preparing for the Caricom Championship scheduled for June.

"He'll be here for a week to two weeks for training camp some time between June 14 to 23," Williams told the Observer, adding that Vincent will use his contact with superstar Michael Jordan to procure sponsorship through his Jordan/Nike shoes and clothing brand for the national teams.

"He believes he can convince Jordan to make that step and if he (Jordan) does and he likes what he sees, it could go a step further in him sponsoring some of our local leagues," Williams disclosed.

Vincent resigned as special adviser to Reggie Williams (the vice-president of Disney Wide World of Sport) to become the head coach of Cape Town Kings in South Africa for three seasons before he was named coach of South Africa's men's and women's teams.

He also had stints with club teams in Greece and the Netherlands before taking over the Nigerian women's national team in 2003 where he led them to the FIBA African Championship that same year and secured a berth at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.