The Israel Men’s Under-18 National Team is about to open up the European Championship in Belgrade as Head Coach Barak Peleg’s star-studded squad has a terrific mix of up-and-coming talent. One of the most exciting players that will be taking part in the tournament is without a doubt David Musis who not only one of the youngest on the roster but a player that also stands at 2.10 meters as he is about to burst onto the continental stage.

Just ahead of the young blue-and-white taking to the floor in Serbia against Bulgaria at 10pm Saturday night, The Sports Rabbi sat down with Musis to get to know who not long ago was just an unknown underdog and an under the radar player and is now one of Israel’s great hopes.

“I’m very excited to get going,” the 17-year old Musis began at the brand new Hadar Yosef basketball facility. “I may be young having just had my birthday this past week, but I will have to give everything I’ve got to get minutes on the court, battle for my place and hope to succeed in doing so.”

The team is coached by Barak Peleg, who has been in charge of teams in both the top two divisions in Israeli basketball over the years and with whom Musis feels a good connection with, “He’s a very, very good coach, I get along well with him and I like the way he plays. He’s really excellent.”

As Musis mentioned, he will need to put up a big fight in order to get minutes as there are a pair of Maccabi Tel Aviv youth team centers on the roster as well in the form of Gabriel Artmenko and Tamir Gold.

“It’s going to be challenging, but I’ll have to battle for my place on the floor in order to get my minutes as I’m also a year younger than them but I will give everything that I have.”

As a center, Musis is going to enjoy playing with a point guard like Ari Amiel, one of the Hapoel Tel Aviv rising youth stars. Last summer, the two played together on the Under-16 team and will have some familiarity on the court, “Ari is a terrific player, he knows how to pass and find the big men really well. He also knows how to organize the game well so it’s really fun to play with him.”

Musis, who actually began playing soccer as a youngster, grew up in Holon and moved to Herzliya a little while ago. His father pushed him to try roundball and now looks at Denver Nuggets superstar center Nikola Jokic as a role model and the player he patterns his game after.

While having started in the Hapoel Holon youth department, he moved to Ramat Hasharon a couple of years ago where he has started to see positive development, “I’ve made significant progress. I wasn’t getting minutes beforehand and then suddenly I’m on the various national teams and an important factor on the youth team. It’s a lot of fun. I’m working hard and because of that I’m seeing success.”

“When I moved to Ramat Hasharon from Holon where I hadn’t really played and I wasn’t getting the experience I needed, they really invested in me, nurtured me and I improved a lot there. That’s where I started to grow.”

Last summer, Musis received his first call-up to one of Israel’s junior national teams, when he was included on the Under-16 team’s roster for the European Championship. The squad finished in sixth place, with Musis posting 6.9 points and 5.3 rebounds in just 13.9 minutes per game.

“It was fun and it was my first championship,” Musis recalls. “I had to adjust a bit as it was something new and I hadn’t really been involved in the national team beforehand. At the end of the day it was a ton of fun and I had a great tournament. Now I want to translate that success to this year’s tourney.”

This past season, Musis played in the Israel Youth Super League for Ramat Hasharon and opened the campaign with games of 28 and 24 points respectively and finished the Northern District portion of the season with averages of 15.3 points and 8 rebounds in 21 minutes. In the second portion of the season he recorded 15 points and 7.6 rebounds in 25 minutes.

“I played well in some games, but I need to do a lot more,” Musis said about his season. “I needed to be more dominant, stand out more, score and save. Everything.”

During the season, Musis began training with Ramat Hasharon’s senior team under Head Coach Guy Kantor, “I started practicing with them in the middle of the season and the intensity there was so much greater. I trained against veteran center Amit Bir-Katz and it was very difficult, but I managed.”

While traditionally big men don’t shoot many 3-pointers, it has become a huge part of today’s basketball game. With that, Musis knows that it’s something he needs to have in his arsenal and has been working on that aspect of his game, “It’s another thing that is part of how I play that I need to continue to develop this skill. It’s good that I’m not just playing in the paint with my back to the basket, shooting the ball is also something very important in my game.”

Another area that Musis is constantly working on is his defense in order to become an elite player while he understands that he needs to keep sharpening every aspect of his game as he sees a bright future ahead of him with the first goal being the European Championship.

“First of all, I need to bring everything that I have and play as hard as I can. Everything else after that for me is a bonus. I want to play as much as possible and also be as dominant as I can on the court to help the team.”

Going forward, Musis has high hopes for his career and admits that with the recent trend of Israeli players heading to US colleges in something that intrigues him but from there the sky’s the limit with the ultimate goal of playing in the greatest league in the world.

“College basketball can actually help me develop me, but long term I’m thinking about reaching the NBA, aiming as high as I can. Those are the goals, that’s my dream.”