At the age of 33 and after a long and glorious career throughout Europe, Drew Crawford made the decision to return to Israel, eight years since he first arrived in the country as a young player in his first career season in European basketball.
Behind the decision was the desire of Crawford and his Israeli wife Bar to stop with the frequent wanderings and Drew's desire to stay and play with the family.
Only two months passed and the American forward found himself in a country at war.
While most of the foreign citizens and American players left the country, Crawford remained in his home in Israel and found himself a warrior on the frontline of advocacy, trying to reassure his worried friends and family in the United States. The team, of course," says Crawford in a special interview with "Israel Today" just before the start of the Top 16 phase of the Champions League tonight. "I am very proud of the team for the fact that despite everything we went through, we managed to qualify for the Top 16. This shows, in my opinion, that we have a lot of character and toughness.
I think we have a great team and we can continue to show it."
Do you think that due to everything you went through this season off the field, this is an achievement for Hapoel Holon?
"Yes, without a doubt. It's a great achievement in a regular season, so of course in a season like this. We had every reason in the world to fail but we kept fighting and that makes this achievement great in my opinion."
Tonight, the Purples will make their way to the second stage of the factory in a difficult away game in Spain against the strong Murcia, and in the following weeks they will also meet the Greeks AAK Athens and Prometheus Patras.
Crawford with his friends in Holon, photo: FIBA website
You entered a very difficult house during one of the quality seasons in the factory, what are your expectations from this house?
"The Champions League has improved this year and this is the most difficult and high-quality year in the factory. We are excited to be part of such a high-quality group of teams, but we feel we deserve it, we worked hard and earned our place here."
Is going up a stage a goal for you?
"I believe in our team and believe that we are able to qualify for the next level. The fact that we don't have home games or a crowd that supports us makes the task even more difficult, but we will fight in every game."
For Crawford, choosing basketball as a child was natural.
As the son of Dan Crawford, one of the NBA's greatest referees of all time and who officiated over 3,000 games and 23 consecutive Finals series during a 32-year career, the orange ball was always in the background of Drew's childhood.
"Even though it feels like this, my parents never pushed me to play basketball, my father was happy even if I went to play football or baseball, but basketball was always present in the background. Basketball took me to many good places in life, I came to Israel and met my wife thanks to basketball and I I'm sure a lot of it is thanks to my father."
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How was your childhood in the shadow of basketball?
"It was an amazing experience. Growing up in a basketball family made me fall in love with this game. When I was a child I would go to work with my father and see Michael Jordan play. My father exposed me to this world and I thank him for that to this day."
You made a decision this summer to return to Israel with your wife after very successful years in Europe, what was behind this decision?
"We wanted to be with my wife's family and come back here, the Israeli league is the first league I played in Europe. It's a place I loved and I really wanted to return to, I really want to play as an Israeli player and finish my career here as an Israeli. It's an amazing feeling for me to come back here and even though the situation around We're just happy to be here."
Crawford hovers.
Believes in the strength of himself and his friends to advance to the quarterfinals, photo: FIBA website
I guess you didn't imagine that a war would break out.
"Without a doubt, no one could have imagined the difficult war and the terrible day on October 7. First of all, we have to say thank you for being healthy and safe, it's not obvious, there are a lot of people who lost people close to them that day."
You stayed in Israel and didn't leave, why?
"Most of the American players left and I can understand them, but we felt safe here and wanted to stay by our family's side. I am happy that they all stayed together during these difficult times, I feel that the war strengthened my connection to Israel."
Were there no concerns?
"There were concerns, there were scary moments, I'm sure even Israelis who have lived here all their lives will testify that this morning was something they had never experienced before. It was an experience of the kind I have never experienced. My heart goes out to the people who lost their loved ones and to the abductees, I pray that they return home safely." .
Alarms and rocket fire is not new for the forward who played in the past in two different terms in Israel and experienced rounds of combat when he played for Maccabi Rishon Lezion and Bnei Herzliya.
About a year ago, he married his Israeli partner, Bar, and the two began the process of obtaining Israeli citizenship for Drew.
You said in the past that playing for the Israeli national team is a dream for you, is it still a goal?
"Of course, this could be an amazing experience, I would love to play for the Israeli national team and represent the country. Although I am not young, I am sure that I can contribute to the national team, I have a lot of experience and I know what needs to be done in order to win. For me it would be a great honor and immense pride to wear the The national team's uniform".
How is this process progressing?
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"It's a process we're working on, but lately it seems that the process is stuck and not progressing. I need someone to help me advance the bureaucratic processes. The war stopped it, but I really want to complete the process and I hope I'll succeed in it. I'm learning Hebrew and want to learn to speak fluently."
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