Growing up in Brooklyn dreaming of playing in the N.B.A., Ramel Bradley, now 28, never imagined he would one day have his name on the back of an Israeli league jersey.
After a successful college run at Kentucky, Bradley started his professional basketball career in 2008 like a trail of N.B.A. hopefuls before him, in Europe. Bradley, a 6-2 guard, played a season for Cedevita in Croatia and a season for Dijon in France.
In 2010, his attention turned somewhere unexpected ? the Middle East. While considering playing elsewhere in Europe, he received an offer from the Israeli professional basketball league Maccabi Ashdod.
It was an offer that Bradley debated. ?I was skeptical about coming,? he said in a telephone interview. He had a laundry list of questions, including whether there was a war going on, if it is safe and, ?Are the people crazy??
?A lot of my family was pretty nervous,? he said. ?They?d say, ?Wow, I?m seeing on CNN there?s missiles launching there.? I was nervous too.?
As his departure for Israel neared, his fears were allayed. ?A month before getting on the plane I would go out and every person I would go out to meet was Jewish or Israeli and they would said, ?Listen, when you get to Israel it?s going to be amazing. Tel Aviv is like a small New York City with a beach,? so that eased my woes about making my decision. ?
He decided to give it a shot.
When Bradley arrived in Israel, he quickly found comfort, he said. ?Everyone spoke English, the street signs are in English. It?s very easy to be comfortable in my lifestyle,? he said, noting a handful of fellow Americans playing basketball professionally around Israel.
Bradley, who said he grew up a religious Christian in Brooklyn, became comfortable enough to stay ? he?s now in his third year of playing professionally in Israel. He played for Maccabi Ashdod before moving to Hapoel Jerusalem and then his current team, Barak Netanya.
Bradley said he was quick to notice the work ethic of the players in Israel. ?Everyone works a lot harder here,? he said, comparing the Israeli league to his time playing both Europe and in college. At home, he said, ?You have your key players who do whatever they want to do on the court but here, the game is a lot more team-oriented, everyone has to do their job.?
That mindset can mess with confidence levels, he said. If a player misses a shot, the whole team, and coaches, are going to ask why he didn?t pass the ball. Imagine LeBron James in that situation.
?When you win games like that, as a team, it makes you really happy,? Bradley said. ?It?s not like ?I?m the man, I did it by myself? ? it?s more like a family.?
Not all of the game day adjustments were easy ones though, Bradley said with a hint of exasperation. ?One thing that surprised me a lot of how the game is called by the referees,? he said. ?They call traveling their way, the way they make the call is very unpredictable and it?s something that you really have to get over and add it to your game, or it can throw your rhythm off.?
Also a blinding difference? ?Fans in Israel are a lot more crazy, sometimes it?s almost scary,? he said with a chuckle. ?In the States, if a guy screams or curses, they?ll be kicked out of the arena. Here they scream, curse, throw things on the court? Sometimes the ref has to cater to the fans since the fans are so crazy.?
Bradley recalled a game a few weeks ago where the game had to stop at least three times when the fans tried, repeatedly, to break through the bottom railing to get onto the court. ?But the fans stay ? we have to cater to them,? he said. ?I?ll never be able to get used to that.?
But the fans show their support with equal zeal on the streets. ?It?s great feeling walking outside, Israeli kids run up to me and know my name ?Bradley! Bradley!?? he said. ?I?m recognized almost everywhere I go, we?re living our N.B.A. life overseas.?
As it is in most of the Middle East, quiet months can be interrupted by violence and turbulence.
?When I first got here, it worried me quite a bit but now that I?ve been here for a bit, I got used to it? just playing this game, this simple game, put our minds at ease,? he said. ?I feel more safe here than I do walking in the street back home, it?s something that you have to be here to understand.?
The increased violence between Israel and Gaza in November 2012 reminded Bradley of the fragility of his current home.
But it was basketball that he, and many others, used as therapy to distract him from the outside reality. Bradley volunteered for Netanya Hoops for Kids (NHK) as it organized a retreat for children from the southern city of Be?er Sheeva, a city that was frequently under ?red alert? for incoming rockets.
?Their minds couldn?t have been further from what was going on at home,? he said. ?They were just focused on getting better at basketball.?
?It was also very humbling knowing that I could help these kids, put a smile on their faces, and keep them happy through ball. It shows it?s not about where you?re from but making the most of the time that you have in the moment.?
It?s that kind of community outreach that has put Bradley at ease, giving him a home in a faraway land.
But the proud Brooklynite doesn?t feel far away from New York. ?I feel like I?m home even though I?m not at home. And that?s probably the number one thing about being here in Israel,? he said. He?s a Brooklyn Nets fan (he posts pictures of Brooklyn Nets gear in Israel on Twitter) and said, ?Every time I meet someone, I say ?I?m from New York? and they say, ?Oh, I have family in New York.?
?I would really like it if i did get an opportunity to stay here and play a couple more seasons,? he said. ?If it was in God?s plan for me to be here, I?d love to.?
Bradley suddenly stopped mid-sentence, and shouted at a friend passing by: ?Hello! How are you! Shabbat Shalom!? He was home.
This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: February 20, 2013
An earlier version of this post misstated Ramel Bradley's age. He is 28, not 27.
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