Actually, to define Brody as “great” in his years with Maccabi is overwhelming understatement, as the man’s career has weaved a thread through the club’s and, to an arguable extent (and o, it will be argued; see below) Israeli basketball history. A brief retelling of the man’s career highlights, then.

Though drafted by the Baltimore Bullets, Brody never played in the NBA and instead got with Maccabi Tel Aviv for the 1966-67 season. Maccabi immediately ascended to the European Champions Cup final four round with Brody starting in the shooting guard spot. Military commitments returned Brody to the ‘States for a couple of years and he played with on fifth-place Team USA at the 1970 FIBA World Championship.

Returning to Israel for good for the 1970-71 season, Brody was soon made immortal in Israel sports history by guiding Tel Aviv to the European Champions Cup in 1977, part of the franchise’s first triple-crown season and the country’s first major sports championship.

His post-game comments preserved a spot in history proper when he declared, in the face of certain geopolitical pressure from the Soviet Union throughout the competition with specific reference to Israel:

Which is typically translated along the lines of “We are on the map, and we are staying on the map – not only in sports but in everything.”
Brody won the Israel prize for contributions to national sport in 1979 and, since retiring from basketball in 1980, Brody has worked with various youth basketball programs; lately, he’s been linked with domestic politics among pundits and gossipmongers and last year was appointed goodwill ambassador of Israel.

Back to the present, then. The Algemeiner, described as “the fastest growing Jewish newspaper in America,” posted on Wednesday a nice interview with that “iconic figure in the world of sports” in which the former baller discusses everything from ancient (relatively) Israeli basketball history to Omri Casspi and namedrops Pat Riley, Adolph Rupp, Jerry Sloan and Moshe Dayan along the way.

Hopefully, Algemeiner won’t mind if BallinEurope throws in a hefty quote or three from the interview:

Said Brody on foregoing a possible NBA career to play in Israel: “Jerry Sloan had been drafted ahead of me and we had quite a good team in Baltimore. they were already loaded up at the guard position so I decided to take on the challenge of helping an entire country as opposed to just one team, and when I went to Israel I saw things differently then what I had imagined it would be like. I was a Jewish kid from Trenton, New Jersey and I was not expecting to see what I saw in Israel, so I told the people in Baltimore that I would take a year out of my life and go to Israel to try to take their game to another level.”

The real reason Brody fled USA?

Finally, here’s Brody, in part, on his latest gig: “[Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu asked me if I wanted to join in the efforts for Israel and if I was interested in a new position which did not exist at the time; I was to be ambassador of goodwill. It took them around a year and a half before they established the position and about four months ago the ministry of foreign affairs honored me with this status. I felt very proud that they asked me as a sportsman to take on this position. I have since then been around to many college campuses in North America speaking to the ball players and the students. I have visited Jewish organizations, and have even expanded to Africa American communities.”

The entire interview may be read here.

Meanwhile, Israel-based media outlet Haaretz – itself quite an extensive coverage-provider of domestic and Euroleague basketball – today published quite a screed against the awarding of the Israel Prize to Maccabi Tel Aviv CEO Shimon Mizrahi.

In brief, the Haaretz piece entitled “The State is he” on Mizrahi and his soon-to-be new trophy contains tidbits like the following:

“The members of the Israel Prize committee write: ‘His longtime activity … has brought prestigious national and international achievements. Attorney Mizrahi’s public activity in national and international forums has raised the prestige of Israeli sports in general, and basketball in particular.’

“This is in essence the official equivalent of the classic statement that Israeli basketball is nonexistent without Maccabi Tel Aviv, meaning without Shimon Mizrahi. Underlying this statement is the proposition that Israeli basketball would not have won European Cup tournaments and would not be known abroad without Maccabi. That is probably true, but the question is whether ‘Israeli basketball’ has in fact won European Cups and whether ‘Israeli basketball’ is in fact known abroad.

“The answer is no. No one in the classic European capitals knows about the tin-can hall in Holon and it’s doubtful that they have heard about the sensational merger between Hagalil and Gilboa. What is true is that Maccabi Tel Aviv has won European Cups and that it is known around the world.”

This is, in BiE’s opinion (and admittedly knowing few of the political specifics in Israel), something of a salient point vis-à-vis this recognition of Mizrahi. Continues the piece:

Wait, how did Freud get in here?

Freudian fallacies … what? What happened there at the end of that bit? Ah, never mind…

One more point to make, i.e. that Maccabi mostly wins by exploiting its New York Yankees/Manchester United-like tendencies, i.e. spend, spend, spend and then spend some more, that are actually detrimental to Israeli sport on the whole. To wit:

“In the realm of sports, Maccabi Tel Aviv has made a habit of weakening rival teams by taking their key players and sitting them on the bench; objecting strenuously to a salary cap in the league, which would have made it more egalitarian; signing a long-term contract with Euroleague, enabling it to be Israel’s almost-exclusive representative on the Continent; sitting down with players under contract for conversations about the weather just before playing against them ‏(see: Radisav Curcic‏); reinstating Pini Gershon to coach status despite his controversial remarks; and hosting the games of the league’s Final Four, as well as the State Cup championship on its home court at Nokia Stadium…”

What’s the connection to Tal Brody? Well, even beyond the club fraternity Brody shares with Mizrahi, there’s always the matter of Brody sitting on the “blue-ribbon panel of experts” which decided the prizewinners.

Wrote Haaretz some more: “Tal Brody has also been pressed into national service. Chairman of the prize committee, Brody admitted in an interview posted on the Walla! portal that he is ‘a member of the Maccabi board of directors, and in fact since my retirement from the game I have been helping Maccabi and have remained part of their system all along. I am Maccabi’s liaison with the NBA.’ In the next breath he made the usual mistake, declaring, ‘It’s true that I represent Maccabi, but in my opinion I also represent all of Israeli basketball.’

“The fact that Brody served on the committee is peculiar at best. Indeed, when it comes to the Israel Prize, one of the hard-and-fast conditions in the selection process is that the names of the committee members are confidential, to ensure that they are not subject to external pressure. Making Brody chairman is tantamount to completely ignoring that condition. And what is the point of secrecy when one of the committee members plays an active role in a body whose head he proposes as a candidate?”

(Sound of BiE’s head spinning. Enough with the political stuff, methinks.)

Taking his talents to Turkey

In total, Jones played with 10 different teams over nine seasons in the NBA, playing in the championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2007. After the 2008-09 season, Jones put in a short stint with NSB Napoli and later played with the Piratas, but only stuck with the latter for two weeks in which he scored 43 points in four games.

Jones’ activation for Aliağa Petkim is pending the requisite physical examination. The team is currently 5-12 and sits in 14th of 16 teams in the TBL standings.

Currently playing his trade in Slovakia, longtime Dallas area resident/former North Texas Mean Greener Adam McCoy is not only statistically crushing the domestic league there, he’s also seemingly in possession the same anti-gravity power Blake Griffin deploys on a nightly basis across the ocean.

After capturing local imaginations in a high-school career with Arlington Oakridge, the 6’3” swingman first played university ball with Mesa Community College; in Arizona, McCoy became a top-15 junior college player, making the NJCAA Region I second team after going for 18.4 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game in his sophomore year.

Transferring to North Texas University, McCoy excited local interest but the homer never received adequate playing time to blow up – and little indication that he could go off like he is in 2010-11 – averaging just about 12 minutes per game in two seasons. The 43% three-point shooting in his senior year may have raised a few eyebrows, but at 8.7 points and just 0.5 steals per game, McCoy ultimately was not the help some imagined he might be.

Showing at least marginal interest in the sharpshooter with kangaroo hops, McCoy was taken with the final pick of the 7th round in the 2010 NBA D-League draft by the Tulsa 66ers. On November 19, however, McCoy was cut loose along with four others from that team and was not picked up by any North American team thereafter.

(Indeed, as far as BiE can tell, the man dropped completely of the face of the basketball earth thereafter; if any reader can tell me what happened to the guy for the next eight months, please inform.)

But then 2010-11. McCoy has found new life with Slovakia Extraliga squad BK Iskra Svit. (And yes, those of you who’ve clicked the link at right; that’s the official website. Click all you want, you’re not going anywhere.) In fact, “new life” is a serious understatement as McCoy is playing a higher level of ball – in both senses – than he ever has before.

Statistically, McCoy’s line for Svit is impressive enough: His per-game marks through 26 games include a league- (and perhaps Continent-) leading 26.4 points on 49.3% overall shooting including 39.0% on threes and 78.9% from the stripe; 4.5 rebounds; and 2.2 stocks (steals plus blocks, stat courtesy Bill Simmons) in 36.2 minutes.

But forget the numbers, let’s go the ‘Tube, where some enthusiastic account-holders have been uploading highlight clip after highlight clip of the man’s aerial assaults. Go ahead and start with this excellent “Top 10 Dunks” reel;

Two questions: Has McCoy posterized every other player in Slovakia yet? And doesn’t it appear that he’s actually restraining himself from actually getting even higher? Perhaps like Griffin, McCoy secretly fears escaping the Earth’s gravity field altogether … but, hey, don’t take BiE’s word for it. More video evidence follows.

And more…

Unfortunately for his short-term future, McCoy appears to be saddled with a Los Angeles Clippers-like squad in Svit, which at 11-15 sits in eighth place on the 10-team Slovakia Extraliga table.

In the spirit of “last shall be first,” BallinEurope first congratulates Talbot “Tal” Brody. After his senior, All-America year with University of Illinois in 1964-65, Brody was chosen by the Baltimore Bullets as the no. 12 overall pick in the ‘65 NBA draft – but he forewent the opportunity to play ball in the big league, instead preferring to finish a graduate degree (imagine that happening today).

For the 1966-67 season, Brody began his career with Maccabi; the team immediately ascended to the European Champions Cup final four round with Brody starting at no. 2. Military commitments returned Brody to the ‘States for a couple of years and the SG played with the fifth-placing Team USA at the 1970 FIBA World Championship.

Returning to Israel for good for the 1970-71 season, Brody was soon made immortal in Israel sports history by guiding Tel Aviv to the European Champions Cup in 1977, part of the franchise’s first triple-crown season and the country’s first major sports championship. His post-game comments preserved a spot in history proper when he declared, in the face of certain geopolitical pressure from the Soviet Union throughout the competition with specific reference to Israel, the Cup victory to signify that “We are on the map, and we are staying on the map – not only in sports but in everything.”

In fact, here it is in what at least one source informs is “heavily American-accented Hebrew”:

Then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin personally thanked Brody for the championship and the sound bite, which has become part of Israeli discourse (not to mention political rhetoric and advertising). Brody would become the first athlete ever to be awarded the Israel Prize in 1979 and he retired from basketball in 1980, having guided Maccabi to the Ligat HaAl title every season in which he played. (Some things never change, eh?) He is today a member of the Israeli Sports Hall of Fame.

Since then, Brody has remained on the international basketball scene. In his early days out of playing, he acted as assistant coach and TV color commentator; today he is involved with a number of charities including Migdahl Ohr, for which Brody helped organize the recent NBA preseason games pitting Maccabi against the New York Knicks.

Seven others will join Brody in the National Jewish Sports Hall’s class of 2011, but honors to basketball’s two other representatives will be posthumous.

The Hall has called for Abe Pollin, longtime owner of the Baltimore/Washington Bullets/Wizards over 45 years taking him through a swathe of basketball history running from Earl “The Pearl” Monroe and Wes Unseld through to Michael Jordan – plus one NBA championship, in 1977-78.

Alan Seiden is known as the All-American who led the St. John’s Redmen to win the NIT championship in 1959, back when that tournament was a bit more high-prestige than the competition that languishes in the shadows of March Madness. Even more notable might be Peter Vecsey’s claim about Seiden, namely that he invented a certain expression now common in hoops parlance.

Claimed Vecsey in the New York Post in 2004, “On each and every ‘ground’ raid to the basket, Seidman would infuriate opponents by shouting ‘And One!’ regardless of whether he was actually fouled. Ask anybody who ever played against him … it was his sardonic signature saying.”

Some 48 inductees in the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame are from the basketball world, including Red Auerbach, Larry Brown, Red Holzman, Dolph Schayes, and original Harlem Globetrotters owner/general manager Abe Saperstein. Also Tony Kornheiser.

Induction ceremonies into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame will take place on March 27.

While winemaking may seem like a bit of a strange choice for one who, shall we say, “enjoyed the perks of his lifestyle” as a Harley Davidson motorcycle-driving, heavy metal-loving dude during his on-court heyday, it seems the calling to become a vintner was never far away.

According to the bio on his brand-new vinocentric website (opened for business on October 1), Julian’s “passion for working the land and the vine was born in me.” Julian claims to have first been won over by the grape consciously upon his summer visits to his paternal grandparents’ farm, where young Cyril helped out in the vineyards since age five.

(One wonders what might have become of the lad had summers been spent with his mothers’ folks: They were granite workers.)

Unfortunately for the Julian family, as Cyril explains, certain European Union agricultural policy forced the clan to give up the vineyards on the family plot in favor of wheat and grain in 1993. By this time, notes the basketball player, he’d already won a European youth championship for France in Budapest, Hungary, and was about to embark upon a professional career.

And what a professional career it was for Julian, with three Pro A championships, one French Cup, three championship MVPs, one all-star game MVP nod plus, perhaps most importantly, a silver medal with Team France at the 2000 Olympics. (Yes, 2000 was the year of *that* dunk.) In three different tours in Nantes, Julian gained something of a local following, winning a spot on the “Nancy Dream Team” and even inspiring an independent blog founded in 2006 centered solely on his exploits.

However, despite the fact that he was still winning titles and accolades with SLUC Nancy as he neared his mid-30s (Nancy appeared in consecutive LNB finals from 2006-08, finally taking the crown on the third attempt and earning a Euroleague bid for 2008-09), Julian saw the writing on the wall – or perhaps the call of the muse came stronger: In the 2007 offseason, he began teaching classes in oenology and wine appreciation.

Julian retired following the 2008-09 to further pursue his studies in oenology – now there’s something not even the most jaded sportswriter pens every day – and graduated with a degree in the subject from Burgundy-located specialists l’Institut de la Vigne et du Vin.

No telling how Julian’s business is doing early on, but the former baller is certainly keeping busy in a fairly large selling effort and an entire semester’s worth of an oenology course.

Regardless of financial success or failure, Julian’s enterprise may also teach a few valuable life lessons, such as about the importance of education, viable existence beyond sports and that you should never be afraid of following a dream – even if you’ve already achieved one.

Let’s see who may be looking into this window of opportunity right about now, starting with NBA-caliber players.

Justin Williams didn’t have huge numbers with Sacramento and Houston, but has demonstrated that he can stay 10 minutes on the floor thanks to toughness, defensive intensity and rebounding capacity (Williams averaged 4.4 in 12 minutes per game with the Kings two years ago). Salim Stoudamire and his talent need no explanation: Obviously it’s his out-of-control mind that keeps him playing below expectations. But remember, he’s Damon’s cousin, so he should have no problem in ever finding an NBA team.

Comparisons between the former Hawks guard and Smush Parker are clear: Smush is crazy and he has been overpaid during the past seasons, but there’s no doubt about his value. David Harrison is another player endowed with a not-so-good relationship with the law. His body (213 cm, 125 kg) could allow him to dominate around the basket, but how badly does he want it? If nobody gives him a chance, the flight to Europe is ready for departure.

In my opinion, it’s time for Jamal Sampson, Darryl Watkins and Awvee Storey to come to Europe, just to name a few who will never be more than role players. The same goes for Elton Brown and David Noel; by contrast, Chris Richard is too young and promising to leave the NBA world. Luke Jackson, Keith McLeod, Jelani McCoy and Adrian Griffin are NBA travellers, and somewhere there they’ll remain.

Patrick Ewing Jr. (say goodbye to New York!), Coby Karl, Dwayne Mitchell, Jamaal Tatum, Blake Ahearn, Dan Grunfeld, C.J. Giles, Cheyne Gadson, Gerry McNamara (what a disaster in Europe: paid $90,000 to play exactly one minute with Olimpiacos, then was terrific with Panionios and Ventspils), and Julius Hodge are strictly US minors material.

Searching some interesting names for European leagues, Malik Hairston (a 6’6” all-arounder from Oregon who was the 48th overall pick in the last NBA draft) has both the scoring instincts and the physicality needed to be a factor not only in one halfcourt; David Padgett is a solid low-post player and comes from a winning team at Louisville;  Nick Fazekas has signed with Oostende by now.

The remaining waivees are all Europe-experienced, many able to compete at the medium-level (Roger Powell is too inconsistent to elevate his grade, Mateen Cleaves is far from the metronome admired in the past, Derrick Byars is intriguing but his five months in Roanne were less than stellar, Curtis Sumpter is always injured), many ready to serve as solid substitutes on elite teams (Gabe Muoneke, Josh Davis, Jared Jordan, Devin Green, Eddie Basden), and others yet close to upgrading themselves to top-level play. Reyshawn Terry, Charles Gaines, Robert Hite: Choose one of this trio and you’ll see the team improve very, very quickly.

For this reason, we decided to provide you with the latest rumors out there regarding European basketball and European players. To make it more interesting, we’ll let you know what we think about these rumors…

Danilo Gallinari will go to New York next year.
We have been talking about this from day one more as a joke than not, since the real reason to draft Gallinari cannot be just because his father played with the Knicks head coach back in the day, right? Oh well, look at Luke Walton: Sometimes Dad does help. Since Gallinari is in the US to work out with some teams, he also stopped in New Jersey to work out with the Nets. It looks like the Nets told Gallinari that they would certainly take him if still available when the Nets’ time to draft arrives. The Nets will choose at no. 10 in the first round, while the Knicks are sixth. One reason why the Knicks might not take Gallinari is that they are seeking some experience and might trade away the first-round pick.

Given the facts, the chance that Gallinari will be drafted by the Knicks:

Fran Vazquez will leave FC Barcelona and enter the NBA next season.
Fran was drafted by the Orlando Magic in 2005 draft. Since then, the Magic wanted to bring him over, as they have again asked him this year. Spanish website sports.es tell us that Vazquez will continue to play for FC Barcelona next season. Vazquez has a contract with the Spanish club through June 2010 with an option for another year.

So, again no Fran Vazquez in the NBA this season:

Marc Gasol will leave Europe to play for the Grizzlies.
During the NBA finals, I saw Marc working out with his brother at the Staples Center. He also told reporters that the really likes it in the US and would be able to help any team on any level. Just one problem: Marc will make more money in Europe than the Grizzlies will offer him in his first season. Keep in mind that Gasol just played with a ULEB cup team and has several offers from Euroleague teams such as Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. Since he himself said that he is still “very young” in addition to the fact that he would make less money in the NBA, it is very doubtful that Marc will be seen in the NBA this upcoming season.

Chances of seeing Marc Gasol in the NBA next season:

Jorge Garbajosa will leave the Raptors and join a Euroleague team.
Another sad example how an injury can mess up your career – well, your NBA career at least. Remember Jorge’s real bad injury? This caused a lot of problems, and not only regarding the injury. As you know, the Spanish federation wanted Jorge to play at the European championship directly following the injury, while the Raptors did not agree with that decision at all. Jorge was re-injured and played only six games in this year’s NBA season.

Some Spanish media outlets reported that the Raptors now want to buy Garbajosa out of his contract and cut any ties. The Raptors have also added that he will not play at the Olympics as long as he is under contract with Toronto. Jorge is set to leave and any European team – particularly a Spanish team like Unicaja Malaga – will take him without a doubt.

Chances for this to happen:

Ksystof Lavrinovic is leaving Siena.
Lavrinovic just won the Italian title with Siena and also made it to the Final Four in Madrid this summer, where the team finished third. Ksystof was one of the main factors for Siena’s success this season and I am sure they will try to do anything to keep him there. There have been rumors that Lavrinovic will enter the NBA, which I’m sure he would if his “dark past” didn’t scare off any NBA team (including the Knicks) and  even some Euroleague teams. But you almost can’t say “no” to a player like Ksystof. I’m sure many teams have been asking Siena about Ksystof, and we will soon hear the names of a few teams interested in signing him. How about a Greek team…?

Chances that Ksystof Lavrinovic will leave Montepaschi Siena:

I’d always wanted to see the Bulls and Toni live and today was the day – at least I saw Toni Kukoc with courtside seats. First of all, I have to thank Yarone Arbel since he told me about the event, which was organized by the town of Madrid – pretty cool move! If you expected the guys to play soft and boring basketball just to have a reason to all meet up … WRONG! Toni killed Barcelona from the three-point line – he was still using the NBA three-point line – and Dino Radja was cleaning up in the post. Even Real Madrid assistant coach Zan Tabak showed that he’s still in shape!

Probably 300 visitors came to see these “old” players and the music was even old school (which was very cool by the way). Yarone pointed out one more thing: the players’ wives! You can tell who they are: the sexy player wives that you see now in NBA or Euroleague games cheering for their rich husbands, only this time they were just a bit “older.”

Here are some pictures of the game and of Toni Kukoc – I am pretty sure you still remember that one-foot jumpshot stepback:

History-wise … Maccabi couldn’t hope for a better opponent in the semi-finals than Montepaschi. In eight encounters so far, all in recent years, Maccabi has beat the Italian bank eight times.

In fact, most of these games have been tattooed in the memories of Maccabi fans. There was the first buzzer-beater made by Saras in a Maccabi uniform. Another came a year later when the same Saras on the same court against the same team made his first three pointer of the night, after eight misses prior, exactly in the last seconds to put Maccabi on top. 

Yet another: Down in Siena, the game was decided after Anthony Parker hit a three pointer plus a free throw shot (a rare scene by itself) in the last seconds.

One more was in the 2002-03 season, when Maccabi came to Siena after a steak of three losses in four days (Back then, they played the Adriatic League between Euroleague and Israeli league games); coach David Blatt was about to get a one-way ticket, but the win in Siena put the team back on track.

Last, and funniest of all, was in 2004-05 when Vrbica Stefanov got the ball under the basket, WIDE OPEN, for a simple layup with his team down by three and less than 20 seconds to play, but he managed to miss it like a five-year-old girl and Maccabi won again.

The players who were active then and are still around today are Bootsy and Eze for Montepaschi, while Maccabi has Vujcic, Burstein (rarely used), Sharp (ditto) and Halperin (he was hardly used back then).

Tomorrow, the next article by Yarone: Maccabi Tel Aviv’s momentum.

A 24-hour access will be three Euros but you will not be able to save it on your hard drive.

In case you still don’t want to stay up until 3AM because of the time difference, ESPN will store the games for 24 hours so you can access them the next day at a “normal” time.

What does this mean for Europe? Well, if you want to follow one of the 150 European basketball College players – here is your chance!