"All my career I worked for this moment" • "Maccabi can help me get to the NBA" • "My mother can be the first coach in the best league in the world" • And also: how he confronted Michael Jordan about how he wins monsters and not the Pistons • TJ Klein in his first interview as a Maccabi Tel Aviv player
Small.
"This is an incredible opportunity for me"
Photography:
Oded Karni
When TJ Klein played for Hapoel Holon, he always asked the players who were at Maccabi Tel Aviv in the past what it was like to play for Maccabi, how things were going there, what the contract status was and more. Along with each player's desire to get to the NBA, he did not hide his dream To wear the yellow uniform one day, and at the beginning of the week his dream came true when he signed with Maccabi until the end of the season with an option for another season.
"Every player dreams of joining a club like Maccabi, with history, tradition and six European Championships," he told Israel Today in his first interview since the signing. From the club. "
Do you feel ready for the leap to Maccabi and the Euroleague?
"Definitely, it's something I've worked for all my career. When you're in Europe you watch the Euroleague, and I saw Maccabi's game now. It's an unbelievable opportunity for me to be part of this team and I'm glad I think I can contribute."
The forward says he was excited to receive the phone call from Maccabi and immediately responded in the affirmative to the offer: "When Maccabi calls you answer quickly. When I heard the news from my agent I had almost no hesitation, and it did not take long until I answered them. I thank Brescia for giving me the opportunity to leave."
You signed until the end of the season, do you think that the relationship between you and Maccabi can continue in the coming seasons?
"Of course you want to play for Maccabi as much as you can and as much as you can. At the moment I do not think about it, but I believe that later in the season the answer will be clear according to how things will work. At the moment I am focused on helping Maccabi be its best version and be the best version of myself."
In recent years, how many times have you tried to get to the NBA? Could it be easier for you to get there through Maccabi?
"Without a doubt. Every basketball player, no matter if he is in the G-League or in the second division in Italy, dreams of the NBA. I saw so many who played for Maccabi and later came to the NBA because Maccabi is a club at the highest level - they train with "NBA players and Euroleague games against NBA players, so I'm sure it can help me."
One of those players who came from Maccabi Tel Aviv to the best league in the world is Omri Caspi, who during his time at the Sacramento Kings met Klein many times thanks to his mother Nancy Lieberman who served as an assistant coach on the team at the time.
"I was a very young boy at the time and I remember my mother constantly talking in praise of Omri. To this day I remember his amazing game against Golden State. One thing I learned over the years - your plans never come true as you think. I never planned to play in Holon "I did not think of coming to Tel Aviv or living in Italy, you can not know where you will play or with whom."
"Mom really misses Kobe"
The 26-year-old Klein is the son of Nancy Lieberman, a member of the U.S. Hall of Fame and a pioneer in women's basketball. As a child, he accompanied her on trips, trainings and games around the country, and rubbed shoulders with the biggest stars.
When he was 4 or 5, his mother coached the Detroit WNBA team.
One day the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan came to town for a game against the Pistons.
After the game, which actually ended in the Pistons' victory, they turned on the floor and suddenly little Klein ran into Jordan.
"My mom and Michael kind of know each other, so he comes to me and asks 'Hey, TJ, what's up?'" He recalls, "It was right after the movie 'Spice Jam' came out and I really liked it, so Mom Shelley says I innocently asked him 'Michael, how do you beat the monsters but not the Pistons?'
He returned me to my mother and left without answering - what can he already say to a small child? "
Lieberman also had a very close relationship with Kobe Bryant, who in the last years of his life nurtured and greatly strengthened women's basketball in the U.S. In the week of the tragic accident she was scheduled to fly with Black Mamba to the academy he founded, and then what happened happened. A week, "says Klein," she is grateful that she is alive, but misses Kobi very much.
She lost a good friend. "
Growing up as a son to a star, is it an advantage or a disadvantage?
"Throughout the years my mother never pressured me to play basketball. I thank her for that because I think it would have made me dislike the game. On the other hand she always showed me an example of high level basketball and it made me love basketball. It definitely helped me "I have a coach at home and whenever I have questions or thoughts, I can always go to her and she answers quickly and we talk about it. It's an advantage that I can talk to my mother about basketball, not everyone can say that."
Lieberman, who now serves as a television commentator for the NBA, has spoken many times about the need to appoint a woman as head coach of the best league in the world.
Klein is sure his mother is right: "She can and she has all the knowledge for that, but the question is does she want to. She has to decide she wants to. Remember she's over 60 and I think she wants to enjoy life and invest in her children."
Earlier this week, in an interview with Israel Today, Lieberman told of the difficult childhood that led her to convert to Christianity, but clarified that she still feels 100 percent Jewish and connected to the Jewish people.
"I did not learn much about Israel and Judaism at home," says the actor, "My grandfather would not come to us much and my mother does not have a large family, so many times we were more with my father's side. When I came to Israel I learned a new way of life, about life here, About the culture in Israel and how beautiful it is.
"In Israel, family value comes first, and it's something I admire and want in my life. I learned more here than I could learn from any book. It's an amazing experience to learn about Jewish and Israeli culture just from being in Israel, and I'm happy to be connected to this place and the people here.
