Hoopin' it up in the Holy Land

Anyone who predicted that Jersey boy Scott Greenman '06 would become a naturalized citizen of Israel just four months after his Princeton graduation must have sensed unique strength in his Jewish faith.

How such a visionary would account for the way the former Tiger point guard celebrated his first Rosh Hashanah overseas is another matter.

"What our team did was we went up to the restaurant in the hotel and put napkins on our heads as yarmulkes, said about two prayers, then ate, and it was like any other meal," Greenman said.

That doesn't sound like the itinerary of a pilgrimage; while Greenman's religion played a role in his landing where he did, the reality is that he didn't choose Israel — the Holy Land chose him.

Greenman capped off his fine career on the Princeton men's basketball team with a breathtaking farewell season, in which he earned unanimous first-team all-Ivy honors and a reputation for delivering in the clutch. The team's only senior last year, Greenman shook off a back injury and a miserable non-conference season to carry his inexperienced teammates to a second-place Ivy finish, averaging 14.3 points and 1.9 steals per game in league play.

But Greenman had already drawn the attention of Israeli professional teams the summer before, when he led Team USA to a silver-medal finish at the 2005 Maccabiah Games — also known as the "Jewish Olympics" — in Israel.

By the time his senior season was over, Greenman was receiving enough interest from Israel that he hired an agent to explore his professional basketball options.

"I was emailing him once, twice, three times a week," Greenman said. "At first, he would say there was a team that wanted me, and I would ask who, and he would tell me he couldn't say because their season was still going on. They try to keep things pretty private during the season because they don't want any other teams involved."

Meanwhile, Greenman had to travel to Los Angeles, where a training camp was being held for the U.S. team that would go to Australia in July for a satellite version of the Maccabiah games.

Two days before heading Down Under — and in between practices — Greenman worked out a three-year contract with Bnei Hasharon, a team in the Israeli Premier League.

The highly competitive league includes all the top Israeli talent, plenty of former U.S. college standouts and a smattering of onetime NBA players. It is also home to perennial EuroLeague powerhouse Maccabi Tel-Aviv.

"It'll definitely be a challenge," Greenman said. "It's by far a level of competition I've never played against on a consistent basis."

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The same could not be said of the competition Greenman faced at the Maccabiah Games in Australia before starting his new career. Team USA cruised to a 5-0 finish, beating Canada by 45 points in the gold-medal game.

From there, after a brief return to his hometown of Linwood, N.J., Greenman was off to Israel. Bnei began practicing as soon as Greenman arrived, in preparation for a regular season that begins Nov. 5 and lasts until April 10.

This past Sunday, the team returned from a preseason tournament in Turkey, which was a chance for Greenman to mesh with his new teammates. Two of the bigger stars Greenman will be playing alongside are Ousmane Cisse — the reigning Premier League Defensive Player of the Year, who in 2001 was selected by Denver as the 47th pick of the NBA Draft — and Korleone Young — the 40th pick by Detroit in 1998.

"It's fun," Greenman said of teaming with players like Cisse and Young. "You can get guys the ball in more positions where they're able to score. You can give it to a guy where he can make a couple dribble moves and score. You don't have to get him wide open for a shot."

There is, however, one important caveat in the Premier League concerning the presence of such American-born talent: a limit of four American players per team, only three of whom can be on the floor together at any given time. Because Greenman is Jewish, it was relatively easy for him to become a naturalized Israeli citizen, which exempts him from those restrictions.

Citizenship should help Greenman become Bnei's starting point guard. That will mean having to learn a new offense better than anyone else on the team, in addition to adjusting to a 24-second shot clock and the looser officiating of international play. As the preseason has marched on, teammates have watched Greenman handle all of these challenges with ease.

"He's a smart player," said Julius Paige, a former star at the University of Pittsburgh and Greenman's roommate with Bnei. "You can tell he played in the Princeton offense. He doesn't try to force anything. He plays within himself, he hits the open shot, makes the extra pass and plays smart basketball."

In the hope that he will continue to grow academically, Greenman will consider applying to one of Israel's graduate schools — or at the very least a Hebrew language center — during the offseason.

But his biggest growth may have already taken place.

Greenman, who during his days at Princeton was listed at five feet, nine inches, is credited with being 5'11" on Bnei's official roster.

"I grew two inches over the summer," Greenman said, before coming clean. "I think in the translation from inches to centimeters, you get to add a couple here or there."