Justin Gorham signed with Hapoel Gilboa Galil for the 2022/23 campaign as the forward arrives in Israel after his first season as a professional in Germany with Bonn. So far Gorham is off to a stellar start as he’s scored 17 points, grabbed 7 boards and dished out 2.5 assists over the first two games of the season as his clubs sits at 1-1 with a date set with Hapoel Jerusalem on Monday night.

The 23-year old attended Towson and the University of Houston where he scored 8.4 points and grabbed 8.6 rebounds in his final year with the Cougars when he was named to the All-ACC Second Team and the ACC Most Improved Player.

In Germany with Bonn, Gorham averaged 8.9 points and collected 5.6 rebounds in 21 minutes per game in 30 contests. Most recently he played with the Dallas Mavericks Summer League team in Las Vegas.

To learn a little bit more about Gorham, The Sports Rabbi spoke with our European Basketball expert Lukas Feldhaus as well as Parker Jackson-Cartwright, a former teammate at Bonn and Cameron Tyson who played with the forward at Houston:

Lukas Feldhaus: He is good. Fans in Bonn loved him. Relentless fighter, will dive for every ball. Excellent rebounder. Skills-wise he’s not the player who plays with lots of finesse. But he is good on put backs and can make open 3s. The problem for him in Bonn was that two players got hurt and they signed replacement players who turned out to be good as well, so Bonn kept them for the season. Once everyone was healthy, they has eight foreign players and you’re allowed to register six for a game.

The coach decided to play small ball in the playoffs and that’s why he wasn’t on the roster for the playoffs as two players had to sit out due to the quota. Plus he got ill right before the start of the postseason. But the main reason was the quota and coach playing small ball.

Parker Jackson-Cartwright: Really good player, bright future! Even better person…I mean I can’t say enough about him. His character never wavered throughout the year considering his situation with minutes, etc. True professional never complains, very wise and mature beyond his years. Great teammate…wish this kid all the best!!

Cameron Tyson: Justin is just an everyday guy that is going to bring energy and effort and he tries to make everyone around him better. Justin is a great teammate and a double double machine.