Siim-Sander Vene arrived in Israel ready to join Hapoel Jerusalem after representing Estonia at the Eurobasket. The 31-year old forward signed a one year deal with an option for a second year as he will look to make an impact for the Reds on their front line.

Vene, who comes from a family of basketball players, has plied his trade for numerous teams since beginning his career in then2005/06 season. This past campaign he began the season with Limoges and ended the year with Varese for his third term with the club where he scored 12.3 points and grabbed 4.6 rebounds.

The forward played with the Estonia National team throughout the decade including the 2015 Eurobasket and was also named his country’s player of the season three times. Over the years, Vene has also won a trio of Lithuanian League titles with Zalgiris along with a number of other domestic titles while also making stops in Spain, France, Latvia and Germany.

Just after landing in Israel Saturday night, Vene spoke to The Sports Rabbi at Ben Gurion Airport about getting into the team as quickly as possible, his new coach Aleksandar Dzikic, the Eurobasket and his expectations this coming season.

“I’m excited to see what is coming and it’s been a long wait but finally I am here and we can get to work. I have high expectations. I hope we can make something nice. I haven’t won lately, nothing big and Hapoel didn’t win anything last season, so hopefully we can get something again.”

As for the Eurobasket, Vene’s Estonia played in a very tough group with Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Greece, Ukraine, Italy, Croatia and Great Britain and while he would have liked to have advanced to the Round of 16, it was still a good experience in Milan.

“The experience is nice and it’s a basketball festival. We had a really nice crowd with us. We came up short in a few games, we were really close and wanted to make the next stage but it wasn’t enough this time. Overall it was a good experience and we left with a positive feeling.”

Vene is also excited to get to play in front of the Jerusalem fans which is something he has already done in the past as a visitor, “I played here twice with other teams and it was an amazing atmosphere. I’m excited to get in front of them and see the full gym.”

The Estonian forward has played under many coaches over the course of his career and while this is the first time that he will play under Dzikic, Vene has certainly heard about the bench boos, “He’s Serbian, that says a lot already. I think he is modern Serbian and adjusted his philosophy at the same time he is still straight and hard with players. He’s not extremely crazy or something so I think it will be ok.”

Right now, Vene’s main goal is to find a way to mesh with his teammates as quickly as possible in order to become an important factor with the club going forward. He is aware that since the majority of the team has been working out together for the past few weeks it will take him some time to get into the swing of things.

“I am in shape but you need to understand the other players and I haven’t played with many of them before so I will take some time for sure. I hope I can adapt really quick and that it will take just two games, but we will see how it goes.”