http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1154525959458&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull Aug. 28, 2006 15:15 | Updated Aug. 28, 2006 16:23 Halperin to become first Israeli in NBA By JPOST.COM STAFF Yotam Halperin was expected to sign a deal with the Seattle SuperSonics on Monday afternoon, becoming the first Israeli to join the NBA. The young guard was not the only Israeli player to be offered a position in the NBA; Lior Eliyahu was scouted by the Houston Rockets, but he declined their offer in favor of Maccabi Tel Aviv. Halperin on the other hand, insisted on continuing to try his luck with the Sonics. The Sonics decided to take Halperin onto the team after the young player was selected in the 53rd slot during June's draft. Halperin, who had signed on for an additional season with Maccabi, played in Seattle's summer league in an attempt to draw attention from NBA scouts. Halperin's lengthy stay at the summer camp drew resentment from the Israel National Team, who feared the youngster would arrive tired and incapable of putting maximum effort into Israeli games. The 22-year-old's American agent was to arrive in Israel with his contract on Monday afternoon, although details of what the document entailed were unclear. The Israeli National Team coach, Tzvika Sharaf, however, emphasized the need for Halperin to concentrate on his playing during his remaining days on the team, the Israeli sports website One reported on Monday. Although Halperin's agent was due to arrive on Monday, friends have said in the past few weeks that nothing was yet certain. Regarding Halperin's renewed contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv, they said he might not even play in the upcoming Nokia Hall season. Halperin previously said that he preferred waiting to see what would come up with the Sonics or European teams before he finalized the Maccabi contract.
Does this mean for this season, the term of his Maccabi contract, or did he tell the Rox to sod off (period).?
I seriously doubt the Rockets even offered Eliyahu any contract at all. I think the writer is simply referring to the fact that Lior signed a multi-year deal with Maccabi Tel Aviv, thereby cutting off any chance the Rockets would have had to sign him this summer. Given that he is such a project at this point, I don't think the Rockets would bring him over (and start the two-year clock on signing him or losing his rights) until he has developed his skills a little more, just like they are doing with Badianne.
You don't have to trust every writers sources. Does anyone here adhere to this statement: If it's written, it must be true.
Don;t really think it's any great loss. If he tears it up overseas we can have a lookskie later on, but for now I think we'll be ok.
he did not decline the offer thats crazy...houston didn't want him and he wanted to play for maccabi so it was all mutual and I also heard a rumor about him getting traded if he did accept houstons offer it was Eliyahu and Howard for Kobe and Odom...
I think it was for the summer league and he was too busy, trying to negotiate his contract with Maccabi
Chances are it was a combo of all things mentioned...Rockets weren't that interested, he didn't get the contract he wanted, he'll def. be playing more minutes for Maccabi and he didn't feel ready for the NBA. Truth is, I always believed it's slightly easier for European guards(or any guards) to adjust to the NBA, much harder for the bigmen, but it's not exactly a piece of cake either. You could be duting off a teams bench for a year or two and then they decide you're not gonna cut it, so they let you go, and then you're back to before joining NBA plus you've wasted 2 years without playing much(of course you could have added the NBA style to your game, but not so much if you were in one of the less big teams--generally speaking, since Rockets is hardly a small one, even if you only count the teams championships).
