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Original Article published on the Jewish News Syndicate

Washington Wizards head coach Scott Brooks started Wednesday’s pre-game media session with great news for Israel’s Deni Avdija. The 6-foot-9-inch Israeli forward, drafted No. 9 by the Wizards in the recent NBA draft, would be in the starting lineup in the Wizards’ first regular-season game against the Philadelphia 76ers.

“Deni has done a great job throughout camp. He has shown us a lot,” said Brooks. “I know he is only 19, but he plays with a passion and determination that I like. I like his toughness. It wasn’t a given. He really earned it.”

Avdija was likely a mix of energy and excitement before the game, telling his coach that “it doesn’t seem like a regular game with no fans.” Unlike last season, which took place in the NBA bubble in Florida, teams will play this season in arenas across the country, mostly without a live audience.

Avdija saw a lot of action in his NBA debut. He played 28 minutes and hit two three-point shots for a total of seven points and four rebounds, and made many passes to teammates in his NBA debut. The Wizards held on to a narrow lead throughout most of the game, but the nail-biter turned sour for them. The game was tied at 103 with 1:28 left. Even three-point-shot master Avdija couldn’t turn the game around when he entered for the final time with 42 seconds left on the clock. The Sixers closed out the season opener 113-107.

Brooks was disappointed with the loss though thrilled with Avdija’s performance. “We slipped up in the fourth quarter and gave up 40 points. We turned the ball over so many times—20 turnovers are a lot.” But he’s quick to point out about his rookie, “I thought he was fantastic,” despite some nervousness. “There were some butterflies. He cares, he is passionate, and he wants to do good. I think he played well. He makes winning plays and he cares about winning.”

Avdija denied the butterflies, reporting he “didn’t have any nerves. It is great playing in my first NBA game, regardless of the loss. To complete is a dream come true.”

He told media in a post-game press conference: “I am glad I came from Israel and the whole country is behind me.” He also thanked Israeli fans for staying up until the middle of the night to watch the game, and in Hebrew said, “Thank you, I love you!”

Avdija is already beloved by his teammates; stars Russell Westbrook and Bradley Beal have taken him under their wings. Brooks reports, “Brad and Russell coach him a lot.”

And they certainly seem happy with what they see. Westbrook told reporters that “Deni’s going to be good. My job is to constantly stay on him and challenge him to be great!” Beal has reassured Avdija that he will have “good, bad and in-between games,” before adding, “I like his competitive spirit. He doesn’t back down.”

Avdija on the court, December 2020. Credit: Courtesy of the Washington Wizards.

‘Opportunity to give back to the community’

Westbrook is also looking after Avdija’s education off the court. Avdija, who has a Jewish mother and a Muslim father, spent this past Monday after team practice delivering Christmas presents in the local community. Brooks playfully told reporters how Westbrook told Avdija and fellow rookie Cassius Winston: “Take a shower, and let’s go! You guys are coming with me.”

Westbrook notes that “when you get in this league, you need to understand how the community supports the team and how important it is to be able to give back in the difficult times we are in. They are rookies, so it is their first round of community events. I wanted to make sure they had an opportunity to do something and give back to the community.”

Coach Scott Brooks during a Washington Wizards game versus the Charlotte Hornets, Dec. 14, 2016. Credit: Keith Allison/Flickr via Wikimedia Commons.

Avdija spoke with reporters in a car while en route to deliver Christmas presents. He spoke candidly about his time in D.C., as well as his teammates. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic, coupled with his personality, has made it difficult to experience his new hometown.

“I am not a party guy and am not going out a lot, but I enjoy having fun,” he relates. “I’m not experiencing it much right now because of COVID. The city is kind of closed. Hopefully, things will go back to normal.”

Still, Avdija is finding ways to experience American culture nonetheless. His first meal in the United States was at Chipotle, and in a playful series of Tweets, the Wizards acknowledged, “Yes, Deni was on Chick-fil-A duty,” purchasing food for his teammates. He is also getting practice driving, though he admits to not yet feeling confident behind the wheel.

And he’s enjoying getting to know his teammates. “Everybody’s good with me,” he says, a bit reluctant to name players he is closest to. When pressed, he added, “I can say two guys came from the same situation as me, Cassius Winston and Anthony Gill. Cassius came from college, and Anthony came from Europe. We need to be there for each other and support each other. I think we’re going to be great friends throughout the season.”

Avdija has so far sung “Happy Birthday” in Hebrew to a teammate and publicly lit Hanukkah candles. He acknowledges “talking a lot about the great things about Israel,” though feels he hasn’t yet “brought my culture” to the fore. He says he hopes to share “food, songs and habits” of Israel with his teammates soon.

For now, the hardworking player will return to practice. As he told Brooks and Westbrook before the recent Christmas event, “I have things to do. I want to do more shooting!”

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Read the original Article Published On The Jerusalem Post

The Brooklyn Nets have opened the National Basketball Association season at the Barclays Center (capacity: 17,732) in front of no fans. In contrast, Amar’e Stoudemire – the Nets’ new player development assistant and former NBA, Hapoel Jerusalem and Maccabi Tel Aviv star – performed in front of 2,000 fans on Monday night, December 21. The crowd assembled on Zoom for a UJA Federation New York-sponsored discussion, “Amar’e Stoudemire: His Practice On and Off the Court.”

The likable Stoudemire, a six-time NBA All-Star, NBA Rookie of the Year with the Phoenix Suns in 2003, and a bronze medalist with the USA Olympic basketball team in 2004, recently returned to New York after many years living in Israel. Stoudemire is a co-owner of the Hapoel Jerusalem basketball team and he was the playoff MVP for Maccabi Tel Aviv as it secured the 2020 Israeli championship.

Stoudemire is also a proud Jew, deeply committed to combating antisemitism, and works to strengthen relationships between the Jewish and African-American communities. He shared his intriguing journey to Judaism and Israel with the event attendees.
From a young age, Stoudemire’s mother said: “You should keep the laws of Moses. We are from the tribe of Israel, brought here [to the United States] as slaves.” Stoudemire admits that he “didn’t know what she meant by that.”

At age 14, he reported, “I started davening to the Torah.” He continued his Bible studies through high school and continued his studies when selected ninth overall in the NBA draft at the age of 18. When he was 24, he “began gravitating to Judaism. This is what I was searching for, but I was doing it on my own. Judaism gave me structure.

”Stoudemire first visited Israel in 2010.“I came to learn Torah and discover my Hebrew roots, to see what I was reading.”

Stoudemire was always intrigued by the prophets of the Hebrew Bible.

“I loved how they carried themselves and how they were righteous and wondered, ‘How do I get to that level?’ It was over for me. I was hooked.”

Stoudemire and family moved to Israel in 2015. Coming to Israel meant a drastic lifestyle change.

“It was a truly humbling experience. I went from traveling on an NBA private jet to using buses. I was an A-list celebrity who went to fashion shows, the Met Gala, Jimmy Kimmel and David Letterman. I was living the dream!”

Stoudemire feels the move to the Middle East was worth it.

“I made the decision for the sake of Torah.”

Stoudemire signed a two-year deal with Hapoel Jerusalem in 2016 and helped the club win the Israeli Basketball League Cup that year. In June 2017, he helped the team win the 2016/17 Israeli Basketball Super League. He retired briefly in 2017, considered a return to the NBA in 2018, only to return again to Hapoel Jerusalem for the 2018/19 campaign, when he had a standout season.

In 2019, Stoudemire signed with the Fujian Sturgeons of the Chinese Basketball Association and played 11 games before returning to the US.

In January 2020, Stoudemire was back in Israel, and signed with Maccabi Tel Aviv with whom he won the championship. When asked about his preference for Jerusalem or Tel Aviv, Stoudemire, who lived in Jerusalem for three years and Tel Aviv for one year, offered a thoughtful reply.

“Jerusalem is a great place. I was able to study and go to yeshiva on a consistent basis. And Shabbat is elevated 20 times in Jerusalem. Tel Aviv has a coastline with beaches, and beautiful places to hang out. And it is closer to basketball. I love both equally,” said Stoudemire diplomatically.

Stoudemire recently returned to the United States and was hired in October 2020 by Steve Nash, his former Suns teammate and the new head coach of the Nets.

Back in America, Stoudemire continues to be a proud, committed Jew and lover of Israel, and he is involved in combating antisemitism.

He reported that his Hebrew is “not bad,” noting that it is “a little rusty” but that “[I] can still carry my weight.”

He is founder of Diversity U, “an organization and educational platform I started based on eradicating antisemitism. It teaches the attributes of Torah.”

Before the start of the NBA season, he was living in Miami, where he is pursuing a master of business administration (MBA) degree at the University of Miami.

“I also learn Mishna and daven [pray] at the Miami Beach Kollel,” he reported.

Now in Brooklyn, he said he has “a couple of chavrusos [learning partners] in Flatbush, and I study Mishna online.”

In addition, he speaks fondly of his Zoom learning partners in Israel.

“They are hard-core – they stay up til 4 a.m. [Israel time] to learn with me.”

Stoudemire recently had the opportunity to see his old friend and teammate, Deni Avdija when the Nets and Washington Wizards faced each other at a December 13 NBA pre-season game. Israeli Avdija was recently drafted by the Washington Wizards in the ninth overall pick.

“My guy, Deni – we were both ninth picks – we share that. And we played together last year on the Maccabi Tel Aviv championship team. We have been close friends since then!”Avdija is fond of Stoudemire as well.

“Amar’e was a big part of me, a big part of my game. The amount of experience and knowledge he gave me is [through] the roof.”

Stoudemire is 38, old enough to be 19-year-old Avdija’s father.

“He was a professional. He always came first to the gym,” Avdija said. “We were always talking about things. I was always asking about the NBA and he always answered me, no matter what the time or no matter how tired he was or angry he was, he always sat with me and answered my questions.”

On Monday, Stoudemire was introduced to the UJA Zoom event by Ido Aharoni (Aronoff), Israel’s long-time consul-general in New York. Aharoni first met Stoudemire many years ago when he attended a New York Knicks game with Israel basketball legend Tal Brody.

The two became dear friends and Aharoni introduced Stoudemire to the late Prime Minister Shimon Peres. The Zoom crowd shared Aharoni’s positive feelings about Stoudemire. Aharoni described Stoudemire’s many professional, educational and charitable accomplishments in the US and Israel.

“He has a huge heart.”

And that is an attribute that always plays well, on or off the basketball court.

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The Original Article Published On The Jewish News Syndicate

The Israeli basketball star notes that he is “excited to play against the NBA greats—all the guys I played against when I was little … in video games!”

Israel’s Deni Avdija recently moved from Israel to Washington, found an apartment, met with the media at a Washington Wizards press conference and ate his first meal at Chipotle Mexican Grill. “I really liked the idea of Chipotle. I like to eat healthy. And it was kind of healthy!”

Avdija, the 19-year-old Maccabi Tel Aviv phenom, was taken No. 9 overall by the Wizards in the recent NBA Draft. The 6-foot-9 inch, 225-pound forward is excited to play in the NBA and understands what it means to make it to the most elite league in the sport and to represent Israel. “I worked so hard to get here. I am here to show Israelis there is no limit.”

In a pre-season debut on Sunday night at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., he played a near-perfect game to the delight of fans—Israeli, Jewish and otherwise. The Wizards have also embraced Israel, where basketball is one of the nation’s top sports, and launched a Twitter account in Hebrew.

Israeli-born Liron Fanan, a scout for the Cleveland Cavaliers and the director of player development for the Canton Charge of NBA’s G League (and a minor league affiliate of the Cleveland Cavaliers) stresses the importance of Avdija drafting so high and playing in the NBA for Israelis. “It is a great accomplishment for Israel to have another Israeli in the NBA. When Omri [Casspi] went, it made a huge impact. We see where Israel basketball has gone in the 11 years that he played. It got bigger and better, and pushed kids to believe it is possible and to give their all—not just to see basketball as a hobby, but they can dream about the NBA. Deni is a vivid example of it. He probably watched Omri at night and dreamed!”

She also points out that another Israeli was picked in the recent NBA Draft.

“Yam Madar is also a great player. I think Deni helped Yam as well since scouts were watching Israel basketball more,” she says. “This is huge for Israel basketball.”

Madar was drafted by the Boston Celtics and will remain with his current team, Hapoel Tel Aviv of Israeli’s Premier League, for at least one more season. “It puts Israel on the sports map in the world and gives kids reason to keep trying their best,” adds Fanan.

Avdija spoke with the media about the contrast between growing up and playing in Israel, and now playing being on a bigger stage in a much bigger country. “I grew up in a comfortable environment where everyone knew me,” he says. “Now is a new beginning, a new career. It’s like starting over again. I am a tough kid who has been through a lot. I am ready!”

And he will have the support of the local Jewish and Israeli communities. Casspi, his mentor and friend who played 11 years in the NBA, has helped prepare Avdija for the experience. Casspi is well-known for representing Israel and Judaism in a positive way, including speaking with and signing autographs for his many fans, and for bringing fellow NBA players to visit Israel—often with a visit to his parents’ home for a meal. Casspi has also participated in Basketball Without Borders, a program sponsored by the NBA and other organizations that brings together the top 60 or more boys and girls ages 17 and under from 22 countries. The group traveled to Israel in 2017.

Once it is deemed safe in terms of the coronavirus, Avdija is looking forward to interacting with audiences. “Israeli fans are the best,” he exclaims. “There are Israeli and Jewish fans in the United States, and I will have their support. I will represent Israel and the Jewish community the best as I can.”

‘A major chapter in the country’s basketball story’

Matthew Levitt, a Fromer-Wexler Fellow and the director of the Jeanette and Eli Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism & Intelligence at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, appreciates both Avdija’s basketball skills and the educational prospects his playing in Washington have to offer. “It will also be an opportunity for D.C. sports fans to get to know an Israeli athlete who reflects aspects of Israeli culture they may not be familiar with,” he said. “Israeli society is about more than conflict and religion. The child of a Muslim father and Jewish mother who grew up on a kibbutz, Avdija may challenge some common misperceptions about Israel. He will certainly challenge those assigned to defend him on the court!”

Marc Stein, the NBA correspondent for The New York Times, notes a wonderful irony in Avdija, a Maccabi Tel Aviv star, who is now joining the Washington Wizards. “People may not remember that the Wizards, then known as the Bullets, were the first NBA franchise to play Maccabi in the late 1970s, and now Deni goes to the nation’s capital as the first NBA lottery pick in Israeli history,” he writes. “It’s a great opportunity for him because the Wizards wanted him badly and never thought he would slip to them at No. 9, and it’s obviously a major chapter in the country’s basketball story.”

An additional irony is that Avdija joins the team whose name was changed from Bullets, stemming directly from the sadness then team owner Abe Pollin felt when his dear friend, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, was assassinated by a bullet in 1995.

While eager to start his NBA career, Avdija realizes that he will miss a lot of things about Israel, including friends and family. He quips that he will also miss good Israeli hummus, but adds that “hopefully, good guides will show me some.”

One reporter on the recent Zoom media session pointed out that there indeed is a restaurant that serves the iconic Middle Easter dish very close to the Capital One Arena. Avdija was pleased.

He also acknowledges he will miss Israel’s stunning shorelines. “I love to go to the beach, but it is not an option. I will find new hobbies for sure.”

The youthful Avdija playfully notes that he is “excited to play against the NBA greats—all the guys I played against when I was little … in video games!”

In fact, he continues to be positive about all that awaits. After all, he declares: “You gotta do what you gotta do!”

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Original Article Published On The Jewish News Syndicate

“I thought, ‘Whoa, you are in the Barclay Center, playing against all those players you saw on TV, and now you’re just playing against them on the court,” said the 6-foot-9-inch Israeli forward.

Coach Scott Brooks liked what he saw in his newest player, Israeli Deni Avdija, during the short Washington Wizards pre-season. He decided to start Avdija in the first NBA pre-season game on Sunday evening against NBA legends Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets. Brooks wasn’t sorry—Avdija was flawless in his NBA debut at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Avdija, sporting No. 9, kept excited Israeli fans up until after 3 a.m. as the Wizards nearly battled back against the Nets. They were unfazed by the 119-114 Nets victory. They stayed awake to see their 19-year-old future NBA star. The 6-foot-9-inch forward scored 15 points in his 24 minutes, shooting with 100 percent accuracy. He was three-for-three from three-point range and scored six points from the field. Avdija also had four rebounds and had two assists.

Brooks like what he saw.

“I liked that he competed,” he said, “that he took the challenges and that he was playing against some high-level players who have had a lot of success and experience in this league, but he took the challenge. I talked to him before the game and said the only pressure I will put on you is that you will go out there and play hard. I said, ‘You do that already, so the pressure is gone. That’s how you gain respect from your teammates, opponents and referees. Go out there and play hard, and don’t complain about anything.’ I think he did that tonight.”

Brooks admired his perfect game, though is mindful that won’t happen every time. “He’s not going to go every game and not miss a shot, but he played the right way; he wasn’t looking to force anything. If there was a pass to make, he made the pass; if there was an open shot, he made the shot. He drove when he had to drive. He was solid, and in order to have success in this league, you really got just be solid. If you are solid, you will have big-time success in this league.”

Avdija was proud of his performance and confident, although he acknowledged some initial nervousness when he stepped out onto the court. “At the beginning, I thought, ‘Whoa, you are in the Barclay Center, playing against all those players you saw on TV, and now you’re just playing against them on the court. It was cool at the beginning. I think my teammates were with me and pushed me forward, and as soon as I broke through, I felt comfortable. I played hard, and look what happened.”

‘It was a helluva journey to get here’

Avdija reported that his confidence comes from his three years playing professionally in Israel in the EuroLeague.

These days, he said, he is “repping a lot and keeping up with my mechanics. What is going to happen is going to happen. If I have the confidence, I am going to shoot it, so I may as well not be afraid.”

Avdija also has the support of his teammates. NBA veteran Russell Westbrook didn’t play on Sunday, but appeared to be sporting a clipboard and offering guidance on the sidelines to his teammates.

Brooks said he is “always into the game and was helping one of the young players.”

Avdija appreciated that. “He brings a lot of happiness and smiles and makes us love the game. He is a super competitor; he will always be there, and he is someone to learn from. I am glad he is on my team.”

The Wizards will play two more pre-season games (both at home against the Detroit Pistons) before starting their shortened season on the road on Dec. 23 against the Philadelphia 76ers. Unlike last season, NBA teams will not play in a special bubble in Florida. Each team will play 72 regular-season games, which is 10 games fewer than in a typical, 82-game NBA season.

The reality of Avdija’s journey from Israel to the NBA is beginning to set in for him. “It is amazing; it is a dream coming true,” he said. “I worked so hard for it.”

He knows that fans, family and friends don’t fully understand the effort required to get to the place he’s in now, saying “it was a helluva journey to get here.”

Avdija explained that “four years ago, I was just a kid going up to the professional league. I was so nervous about going to the court and scored one point. I woke up early and stayed late to shoot. I was in the gym while my friends were hanging out. That’s what brought me here, and that’s why it’s so fun. I see what it brings me, so I’ll never take my foot off the gas.”

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