At the age of 26 and after a wandering journey in Europe's mid-tier teams, James Bateman is showing the best basketball of his career.
The American guard who has played for the last five years in the second division in France and in small teams in Greece and Germany arrived this summer at Kiryat Ata and within moments he started to provide displays and led his surprising team to impressive victories over Hapoel Holon, Hapoel Tel Aviv away and Maccabi Tel Aviv away with the highlight coming yesterday (Monday) with a game Great and a season record of 29 points in the Menorah Mivathim Hall.
The tears on the face of the star of the evening at the end of the game told a little of the excitement he experienced when only less than three years ago he wandered between the Latvian-Estonian league and the second division in France and did not get opportunities due to his height - only 1.85 centimeters and the fact that he lacks a classic position, neither a center nor a scorer but a scorer who needs You have the ball in your hand and a method that will help it manifest itself.
"Honestly, I don't know how to feel. I'm from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I'm not supposed to be here at all and succeed in this position. To get a win like this, a big win against a Euroleague team, I'm just emotionally overwhelmed right now. It feels good and a happy moment, I've worked all I live for this moment," Bateman shared his feelings at the end.
Batemon in a frenzy, yesterday at the temple, photo: Oded Karni
During the summer when Kiryat Ata was looking for a foreign guard to step into the shoes of departed veteran Diante Garrett, Bateman's name first appeared alongside the name of guard Jordan Howard, brother of Baskonia star Marcus Howard.
Idan Ostreich, who is considered one of the most respected professionals in Israel in selecting foreigners, began working with the team during the summer and offered the player to Abrahami.
Ostreich, who in the past brought to Israel players such as Jacob Brown to Gilboa Galil, Josh Niebo and Joe Ragland to Eilat, promised the coach that he would not be disappointed and so it was.
"As soon as Idan brought up James' name, he said that this was a player that would suit me exactly," Abrahami shared.
"James is a fighter, a player who grew and came from the bottom, a very humble guy who has not yet made his breakthrough and from his first moment here we fell in love with him. He is a team player, not one who is only looking for his points, it is very difficult to exaggerate the good words about his personality above all ".
Bateman vs. Baldwin.
Career record game, photo: Oded Karni
"Before we signed him, we did a thorough check on our character and everywhere only good things were said about him, he is not the kind of person who will cause problems. He is an introverted and modest guy, even though he is actually the star of the team, he does not show it and trains hard and seriously in every training session," the team says.
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"James had a great game, he got into his rhythm well and scored big baskets. He's had a great season and plays with a lot of confidence, he's a very high level player and we couldn't stop him. He made several winning moves and that's to his credit," complimented John DiBartholomew to his opponent
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