An Israeli king of Kings

November 13, 2009 - 12:51 PM by David · 1 Comment
Filed under: General 

Thunder Kings BasketballWhen Omri Casspi became the first Israeli basketball player to make the NBA this year with the Sacremento Kings, it was a pretty big deal. And for most, it was the end all – even if he never gets to play and is cut after a year, it was still an accomplishment.

Who would have thought that, just a few short weeks into the season, the 21-year-old Casspi would spark the Kings to become a respectable NBA team, coming off the bench to score three-pointers, grab rebounds and generally play with more fervor than just about anyone else on the court? Probably only a few people, including Casspi and his coach, NBA great Paul Westphal.

“There’s nothing like the passion of a rookie. And from what I’ve seen, there are few rookies as passionate as Sacramento’s Omri Casspi,” wrote NBA.com writer Drew Packham this week in ranking Casspi as the seventh top rookie so far this season. Westphal even said,
“He’s going to make it in this league. He’s going to have a long career.”

The 6′ 8″ Yavne native has earned a strong following among Kings fans and a huge following among Israeli basketball fans in averaging almost 10 points per game. He’s also helped fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv, his old club where he averaged 12.8 points and 4.6 rebounds forget about the scandal unfolding following the suicide of team manager Moni Fanan.

More importantly, Casspi has proven to be a huge image booster for Israel. Fans wave Israeli flags at his games, and NBA fans who don’t know Israel from India are suddenly discovering a connection close to their hearts.

And he’s become a darling among sportswriters, with the natural angles of an Israeli making it in the NBA and his already well-known prediliction for hummus. The Salt Lake City Tribune recently ran a profile of Casspi, calling him a combination of Jackie Robinson and Kobe Bryant, a pioneer, and Israel’s greatest player.

“[Maccabi Tel Aviv] is the biggest team in Israel,” Casspi said. “As soon as I reached my goals there — I was a starter and one of the main players — I decided to give the NBA a shot. … I was fortunate to be drafted and I’m fortunate to be here.”

“Everybody in Israeli is following me,” he said after the Kings’ shoot-around Saturday morning. “They are showing the games over there. So it’s great.”

Isn’t carrying the hoop dreams of an entire country a bit of a burden?

“Nah, it’s OK,” Casspi said. “Everybody is really supporting me. I’m enjoying it. I’m just happy that everybody is happy for me.”

Here’s one story that everyone, except for Casspi’s NBA opponenets, can all be happy about.

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Send the hummous to Sacremento

July 19, 2009 - 9:52 AM by David · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Food, General, Pop Culture, Sports, Travel 

Omri Casspi playing for Maccabi Tel Aviv last year. (AP)

Omri Casspi playing for Maccabi Tel Aviv last year. (AP)

While thousands of Jewish athletes are currently in Israel competing in the Maccabia games, there’s one Jewish athlete who’s in Las Vegas making Israelis proud – our first NBA player Omri Casspi of the Sacremento Kings.

The New York Times ran a weekend piece on Casspi as he plays in the NBA summer league and adjusts to life without a local cell phone and without the creamy hummous which Americans still don’t seem to know how to make.

He just received a $4,500 bill for about two weeks of calls, which is expensive even by N.B.A. standards. He needs new chargers for all his gadgets. But he is struggling most to find comfort food.
“Hummus,” Casspi said, with a hard h and a long u, stressing the first syllable in a way that conveyed utter seriousness. “You don’t have that here, though.”
A reporter insisted that the chickpea spread is widely available in grocery stores in the United States, but Casspi — who was drafted last month by the Sacramento Kings — smiled dismissively.
“Man, I tried it; that’s all I can say,” he said last week during a break in the Kings’ summer league schedule. “I will bring some from Israel, maybe. I’ll let you taste it and you tell me.”

No Israeli has ever played in the NBA, and until last month, none had ever been drafted in the first round. When the Kings took Casspi with the 23rd pick, he became the first Israeli to secure a guaranteed contract, which will almost assuredly make him the first to play in an NBA game.

According to the Times’ story, Casspi is ready to take on the mantel of the great Israeli hope – both for Israelis, and American Jews proud to see an Israeli in the NBA and already sporting NBA jerseys with Casspi’s name written in Hebrew.

“I think all the eyes and ears in Israel, in basketball in Israel, are focused on me now,” he said, sitting behind a desk in his hotel room in Las Vegas. “There is big expectations, and all the Jewish community in the States is really excited about it. So I think there’s a big responsibility with it.”

Once the NBA season starts, there will likely be alot of 4 am wakeup calls in Israel, in order to get up and watch the Kings games, who have quickly turned into the country’s most popular basketball team next to Maccabi Tel Aviv.

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