Omri Casspi
Omri Casspi ( born June 22, 1988 in Holon, Israel, Hebrew name עמרי כספי ) is an Israeli basketball player for the Houston Rockets in the NBA. The 2.06 meter tall Casspi plays the position of small forward, is both the first Israeli in the NBA and the first Israeli ever to be committed in the first round of the NBA draft.
Career
The Casspi was born in Cholon, but grew up in Yavne Casspi made his debut in 2005 at the age of 17 years for the team of Maccabi Tel Aviv. As a reserve player ( 4.7 points per game in 10.3 minutes per game), he was part of that team, which won the national title and the Euro League 2005. To get more match practice, he was loaned to Hapoel Galil Elyon, where he played for two years. There his point yield increased to 11.2 points per game. When he was brought back from Tel Aviv in 2007, Casspi became established as a regular player and improved to 11.5 points ( 2007-8 ), and finally 12.8 points per game ( 2008-9 ). For his consistently strong performances, he finished in the election to " FIBA European Young Men's Player of the Year Award" (best youth players in the FIBA ) behind Ricky Rubio, Danilo Gallinari and Kosta Koufos to fourth place. Surprisingly Casspi announced his contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv and relied on an alleged clause that would grab at a falls below a certain amount of play time per game, which was doubted in the Israeli press.
Casspi made himself available for the NBA Draft in 2009 and was hired by the Sacramento Kings with the 23th pick. Thus, Casspi became the first Israeli who has ever drawn in a first round NBA Draft. Casspi was presented in draft as a robust, versatile winger. At the NBA Draft, he was compared to his Argentine teammate Andres Nocioni. As models called Casspi Michael Jordan and Hidayet Türkoğlu. After he was drafted, there were spontaneous celebrations in Tel Aviv, and he received a congratulatory phone call from President Shimon Peres.
Casspi initially was not in the starting five, but came as a sixth man off the bench. His debut for the Kings for Casspi was promising: in 19 minutes, he made 15 points and pulled three rebounds. With his debut, he also became the first Israeli in an NBA game. Already in his fifth NBA game he made 22 points against the Phoenix Suns, and after half of the season, he had played in the starting lineup. With a season average of 10.4 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, he lived up to expectations and was nominated for the NBA Rookie vs. sophomores on the part of rookies. In a positive sense fell on Casspis robustness and rigor with which he disproved the stereotype of the " pampered Jews."
In Jewish Americans Casspis debut led to a sharp increase in interest. For away games, the host team often set up a " Jewish Family Night " in which Israeli flags and kosher food were offered. In many games, he took the opportunity to make contact with the local Jewish community. In November 2009, Casspi caused a stir when he posed together with the Iranian Hamed Haddadi Center of the Memphis Grizzlies for common photos, even though Israel and Iran have no diplomatic relations because of the Middle East conflict.
The second year was rather disappointing for Casspi. He lost his place as -starting small forward to Francisco García and Donté Greene, their scoring average dropped from 10.3 ( rookie season ) on nine under, just dropped his marksmanship from the field from 45% to 41%. Casspi complained about a lack of playing time, which earned him the renewed accusation of immaturity. After the season 2010/2011 he was against J. J. Hickson and a first- round pick traded to Cleveland ..
National team
Casspi is a member of the Israeli national basketball team and has been through all youth teams since the U-18. He made his debut for Israel at the 2005 U-18 European Championship, where he made 14 points per game. He was a year later at the U- 18 European Championship with 21.4 points per game scorer internal team, and managed at the U- 20 Championship 2007 in Slovenia 17.9 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. In 2008 he made his debut for Mr. selection.
Private life
Casspi is one of three children of Shimon and Eilana Casspi. He has a brother named Paul and a sister named Aviv. As hobbies he calls tennis and going out with friends.
Like most Israeli men Casspi was drafted with 18 in the Israeli army and completed three years of military service. He organized in Israel Basketball Camps, which are open to both Jewish and Arab youth and serve the nations.