As we head into the Under-20 European Basketball Championships, The Sports Rabbi will have an interview a day with some of the players on the team. Today Tomer Levinson from Hapoel Jerusalem joins us to talk about the competition and his young career to date:

“It’s a big, big honor to be a part of the National Team and it’s fantastic that the tournament is here in Israel. Many of us have played together for years together travelling all over Europe but the fact that it’s here now will truly be an amazing experience.”

Playing with Amare Stoudemire at Jerusalem:
“Amare Stoudemire is a role model and a special person. I was able to learn a lot of how to work on myself before and after practices at Hapoel Jerusalem. The ability to be a part of their practices gave me an opportunity to also take in other things. Amare worked with me on my high post game which is a tool that I can take with me for the rest of my career.”

Ability to dish out assists for a big man:
“Since there are many players on the team that continuously in motion it made it easy to be able to find some of our big players and get them the ball.”

Goals ahead:
“My dream is to just keep improving from year to year and to have a good experience this summer where we as a team can show everyone what we can do.”

The Sports Rabbi has a great new article in The Jerusalem Post – Israel Baseball! Don’t bet against blue-and-white stepping up to plate in Olympic qualifying! Check it out!

FINAL U25 University Games Semifinal – Israel 73-75 USA. The Blue & White with numerous missed opportunities near the end of the game as they will now play for the Bronze medal. Netanel Artzi 19, Yiftah Ziv 14p.
Coach Oded Katash spoke about the disappointing loss, “We really missed out. We missed our last 5 shots of the game. The US took 23 offensive rebounds, 17 more rebounds in total and we didn’t have a good game from beyond the arc. The players gave their all and now we have to lift ourselves up and get ready for the bronze medal game.”


There’s a brand new SPORTS RABBI SHOW! Ben Eisenhardt Unplugged & Dan Shamir Update with Michael O’Keeffe in Auckland! Eisenhardt will be with Beer Sheva for the 19/20 season as he talks roundball & a lot more while O’Keeffe breaks down the Breakers coaching situation!

ZOINKS, ZOOSMAN! ✋#CavsSummer on @NBATV pic.twitter.com/1sztQkE99g

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) July 9, 2019

Yovel Zoosman continued his NBA Summer League foray with 3 points and 4 rebounds in 14 minutes of play for the Cavaliers.

Transactions
Philip Hertz joined Hapoel Beer Sheva. Last season the guard who is on the Denmark National Team played for FOG Naestved of the Danish League and averaged 11.2 ppg, 4.1rpg, 2.4apg. Hertz qualifies to become an Israeli citizen and will apply upon arrival.

Striker James Adeniyi signs with Kiryat Shemona after playing with Gabala last season where he scored 10 goals.