First Basketball without Borders Europe camp in Israel draws many elite players from the continent

TEL AVIV (Basketball Without Borders) - The top young talents from throughout Europe convened in Israel from August 13-16 for the Basketball without Borders (BWB) Europe to receive instruction from professional players, legends and coaches while also competing against one another.

The 16th edition of the European camp - the NBA and FIBA's global basketball development and community outreach program - was held for the first time ever in Israel and featured many players who have already shown international success.

The four-day event brought together 62 boys and girls campers ages 17 and under from 22 countries. The players went through evaluation scrimmages on the first day at the YMCA Jerusalem and then were drafted into four boys teams - the Golden State Warriors, Indiana Pacers, New York Knicks and Utah Jazz - and two girls teams - Los Angeles Sparks and New York Liberty. The boys coaches included NBA forward and Israeli international Omri Casspi, Norman Powell of the Toronto Raptors, Sam Dekker of the Los Angeles Clippers and 25-year veteran assistant coach Dan Burke.

David Robinson (third from left) and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver (first from right) were among the spectators for the Day One evaluation scrimmages

The next three days each were highlighted by the campers facing off in games. The final day saw the BWB 5x5 Playoffs Games, in which the Pacers beat the Knicks 26-20 in the Semi-Finals and moved to the Final against the Jazz, who got past the Warriors 29-23. The Jazz prevailed in the Final 24-18. In the girls action, the Sparks beat the Liberty in all three games during the camp.

The final day also saw the BWB All-Star Games with Team White knocking off Team Green 46-42 in the boys game, while Team White defeated Team Green 29-22 in the girls game. The All-Star MVPs were Omar Dieng of Italy and Samira Berrad of Italy. The Camp MVPs were Rokas Jokubaitis of Lithuania and Haby Niang of France. The BWB event also had a three-point contest and Germany's Jonas Mattiseck won the boys competition while Slovenian Neza Srot took the girls crown.

Jokubaitis is one of many of the campers who came into the competition with international accolades already. He and the other Lithuanians in the camp - Dovydas Giedraitis, Deividas Sirvydis  and Martynas Arlauskas all reached the Final of the FIBA U16 European Championship 2016. The camp also included two U16 European champions from last summer in Spain’s Jaime Fernandez and Joel Parra. In addition, Filip Petrusev and Marko Pecarski both helped Serbia to win this summer's FIBA U18 European Championship 2017 title as bottom level players.

The competitive action against the best in Europe was just a part of what the campers experienced in Israel.

Day One saw a Life Skills session led by Sam Dekker of the Los Angeles Clippers, Utah Jazz assistant coach Johnnie Bryant, Jerryd Bayless of the Philadelphia 76ers and Israeli former WNBA player Shay Doron of Maccabi Ashdod. They encouraged the campers to seize this opportunity and reminded them that it's not just about the points on the board, but also about leadership and teamwork.

The second day of the camp opened with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver's BWB Europe official opening press conference. The campers went through warm-ups and positional skill development before starting to play the games.

Another Life Skills session was included on Day Three with the Peace Players International interacted with the campers to spread their message of using basketball to unite, educate and inspire young people to create a more peaceful world.

This year's BWB camp also featured a coaching clinic and attracted over 450 local coaches to learn from some of the highly-experienced BWB coaches, including two-time NBA Champion assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors Ron Adams.

The final day of the camp tipped off with David Robinson - an inductee in both the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame and FIBA Hall of Fame -  along with Israel star Casspi and Jerryd Bayless helping lead a Jr. NBA clinic featuring 60 youth from Arab, Druze, and Ethiopian community centers around Israel and 20 members of Maccabi Tel Aviv's Youth Team.

FIBA