Hapoel Holon begins their Basketball Champions League home slated with a date against Osstende on Tuesday as the purples will look to move to 2-0 after downing Legia Warsaw in overtime last week in Poland. The Belgium squad features a mix of veteran players and some that are up and coming as they look to keep improving and moving up in their careers.

One of this players is Dutch born Keye van der Vuurst de Vries.

The young guard featured for the Netherlands National Team last month at the Eurobasket and has been a part of the Oostende roster since 2018. At only 20 years old, he has been able to work on his trade at the top levels of European hoops while also winning domestic titles and trophies as he looks to continue on his way up the ladder.

The Sports Rabbi spoke to de Vries ahead of Oostende’s arrival in the Holy Land as we discuss his dream and desires, this past European Championship as well as how he feels he is improving as he looks to take his game to the highest of levels after coming off a campaign that saw his team win the Belgium League Championship.

“It feels great to be at Oostende,” the 2022 Finals MVP award winner said. “You always want to win trophies and continue to get the better. I am in Belgium with the best team in the country so maybe it makes it a bit easier to win, but still every trophy and cup we get is amazing feeling. I want to play well and be the best version of myself that I can be and I hope as a team we can win trophies and maybe I can pick up another MVP trophy. First things first it’s most important that we become champions.”
 
In addition to the Belgium league the BNXT League combines both that league and the league in Holland which allows young players the opportunity to play against some top veterans from both countries as they continue to hone their skills.

“I think for sure Belgium is a good league to start and as a young guy you can show yourself and play a lot of minutes. I am young but have 4-5 years experience as a pro playing for trophies and in big games. As a young player you need to play and being on the bench is not good for anybody. For me to get the opportunities here was amazing and no better to start my career.”

de Vries continued talking about the makeup of the league that just began operation a couple of years ago, “It’s a mix with some internationals, young guys and experienced players so you have everything plus Americans that have started out overseas especially for guys out of college and G league. With the Dutch and Belgium league together it will get better and build up in the next couple of years. It will also be good for the competition and national team because you play more high intensity games against better players and teams and we can help each other improve in that way. For me even though we didn’t win last year, we are the contenders to win it. The Dutch league is coming up with a lot of guys and I think in 2-3 years it will be a pretty good league.”

Since 2018, de Vries has been living abroad with one goal in mind which is to become the best version of himself while growing up both on and off of the court and seeing where he can take his career, “At a young age I needed to do everything by myself, cook my own food, do the wash and clean the apartment. At that point you look differently at life. You see what your parents did and you see what people your age think of life, but if you have to do it as yourself it has played a big role. My agent has played a big role and the coaches that I had played a big role. All of that combined has made me that person.”

“I don’t like to go too fast but the thing I want is to be the best version of myself and if that’s the Euroleague then it will be Euroleague or the level I am playing right now. I want to be the best version of myself and if I reach that then I will be satisfied and happy with myself. I don’t want to say after my career that if I would have done this or that I would have been there. If I am realistic I need to be the best version of myself but you need to be lucky, healthy and you can only control what you are doing.”

de Vries, who plays for the Dutch National Team and happens to be one of the younger players is in fact a veteran with they squad but understands what needs to happen in order for the general population in Holland to be aware of the sport and its potential.

“For me, I believe that there was no one that expected a lot from us, but I think we could have done more in EuroBasket with all the close games we had. As a country we are always satisfied about everything and I think we have to stop doing that because if we really want to be satisfied we need to get medals and we we didn’t get one We have to be honest and realistic but we have to look more to ourselves and learn from those moments. We could have won 1,2,3 games and we would have been to Berlin and it would have been good for us to her been there. We didn’t get everything out of the competition if I am honest.”
 
“I think we could have gotten more out of the Eurobasket. it’s my 4th year with the national team and I see the difference between the first year and this past one, we had more people coming to or gym to watch us play and some games were sold out so there is progress. Basketball is not that big and everyone prefers football and we have to work on that. If we can promote the sport more and use our role models more ,we can get more out of it. If we can get to the next round of a big tournament, it would play a big role for our organization to grow. That is why it bothered me a lot that we didn’t get to Berlin, no one at home knew we were in the EuroBasket, we were not in the papers and not in the news. If we want to show what we are capable of, we have to make those moves.

For de Vries, the Eurobasket group held in Prague featured some high profile players including Nikola Jokic and Vasilje Micic with Serbia, Lauri Markannen and Finland along with Tomas Satoransky and the host country Czech Republic, Deni Avdija and Israel as well as semifinalist Poland.

“I was able to play at a high intensity level with some really good players and you learn from it. For me it was nice to see where where I am in my career and compare and compete with the best players in the world. For someone my age it’s amazing.”

There are other young Dutch players who have been making waves as well and could be counted on in the near future, “The young guys coming up will play an important role. In my eyes we need to start over again as we had some older guys. I think we need to start over again, we need to find a new coach and the team that is coming up can be really good. We have some guys playing in college that will be playing in Europe and the BNXT League who will gain experience. I hope that at the 2025 Eurobasket we will be young with some experience.”

 
As for dreams, de Vries takes a modest approach as to where his future may lie whether it is the Euroleague or the NBA, “I said that my dream was to play Euroleague but if I had the chance to go to the NBA, I would be stupid to say no. Euroleague is the best fit for me as to my way of playing in my eyes but If you can go to the NBA you have to take that opportunity. I am one that takes it step by step and build from there.”