Tracy McGrady in Sudan

As a big basketball fan, I was greatly encouraged to read about this story:

John Horn of the Los Angeles Times writes about "3 Points," a documentary looking for a distributor.

The topic is Tracy McGrady's travels in Africa, especially Chad, where he encountered many refugees from Darfur:

McGrady organized a visit, working with documentary filmmaker and photographer Josh Rothstein and humanitarian John Prendergast of the Enough Project. Yet it's not simply what McGrady observes during his trip that anchors "3 Points," which was just completed and is now in search of a broadcast or theatrical distributor. Rather, it's how he reacts to the tragedy that he witnesses: He doesn't really know what to do.

After encountering children playing soccer without a field, McGrady says he'll pay $1,000 for a new pitch only to be told that green grass isn't really the refugees' greatest need.

"A lot of the film has to deal with his being out of his element," says Rothstein. "And he realized that was maybe the most important part of the trip for him."

McGrady's journey was both personal and emotional. To visit the barren camps, he had to forsake any number of usual niceties. That included McGrady's having to sleep in a tent for the first time. His trying to get along without air conditioning. Eating food that wasn't prepared in a four-star restaurant. As McGrady's wife, CleRenda Harris, notes in the film, "Tracy is definitely stepping out of his comfort zone."

But it wasn't all such trivial concerns. He had to worry about land mines. Listen to stories of rape, murder, torture. And his eyes were quickly opened.

Precisely because he is not an expert in Sudanese politics, the 29-year-old McGrady can serve as a conduit for the audience. He may be supreme on the court, but he's like almost everyone else when it comes to the outside world: He's unsure of what's going on.

"People are really hesitant about expressing that they don't know something -- but what's the big deal?" McGrady says in an interview to discuss the film. "I'm not ashamed about that at all. And my going out and saying, 'I don't know a lot about this' will make people feel OK that they don't know about it, either."

The film is being shown to NBA players. Reportedly Derek Fisher, Jermaine O'Neal, and some other players have each given $75,000 in response, as has McGrady. That amount is said to be the cost per new school for refugees.