Ray McCallum, Hapoel Jerusalem’s new guard, is a veteran fighting fox. By the age of 29, he had already registered more than 150 games in the NBA, played in the Euroleague in two different teams, tried his luck again through the G-League, and on the way to pass in China as well. Moments after joining the Reds, McCallum was interviewed for Alvin Snow and David Dixon’s Eurostfin podcast, and talked about the path he has taken so far.
About the start in Sacramento, which selected him in the 2013 draft, he said: “I go into the locker room and see people like Isaiah Thomas and Demarcus Cousins, and everyone already knew then that they would become Allstars. I started in the summer league, which is the place to show what you know, and I started as fourth. “To get into a situation like this after all your life you have been a leader in your teams, from schools to college. I had to earn everyone’s respect, start from scratch.”
culture shock
On the decision to move to Europe he said: “At some point you understand that the NBA is a place that offers very few opportunities to players in my class. You constantly have to prove yourself, even though everyone knows you and knows what you bring to the table and I decided it was not right for me. At first I did not know Nothing about European basketball, I had no idea what a Euroleague, Eurocup, really was, but I realized I could have a really good name, make money, get status.As an NBA player, the agents sell you the move to Europe like you’re going there for a year- Two, make good money, then return to the US with an upgraded status, but on the first day I arrived in Europe I realized how much nonsense it is and how completely different the story in Europe is. It’s not an incubator for NBA refugees, teams here want to compete, win. “
McCallum continued: “People need to understand, in Europe they don’t really hold the NBA. Almost everywhere I went I heard claims that it’s not real basketball, that there are no defenses, no discipline. And I came to Spain at the beginning, to Malaga, it’s the complete opposite of what I thought. Completely different in Europe. Suddenly you have friends for a game in away games, and it does not happen in the NBA. You do not have a private jet, you do not have a pampering bus, it’s a bit of a culture shock at first. I did not even know how to pronounce my team name, “H. instead of Unikaha and everyone looked at me strangely.”
McCallum described the differences in status in Europe compared to the best league in the world: “In the NBA if you earn 10 million a season, you will play because you earn 10 million a season. In Europe no one cares how much you earn – if you are not good you will not play, period. “You come to a new place and suddenly the coach speaks English and Spanish together and expects you to understand him and gets upset if you do not understand him. It is hallucinatory, how am I supposed to understand you? I do not speak Spanish. I could barely count to 10.”
In Wilbkin’s shoes
Despite the difficulties of acclimatization, McCallum loved the Euroleague, but was looking for a place where he could be more expressive. “When Turkey’s option came up, I immediately remembered that last season I saw Scotty Wilbkin tear the league apart. At this point I realized that there are three leagues that are more oriented towards American basketball – Turkey, Italy and Israel. So I decided to take Darushpka’s offer even though David Blatt has already left.” .
After a few months the losses started to pile up and McCallum found himself playing only in the Euroleague and not in the Turkish league because of the local rules. ‘You’re completely out of step, the team loses, the coach who signed you is fired, and you realize it’s a season that goes the opposite of what you planned. At one point they made me a damn goat for the lack of success, but ignored the fact that we had a lot of players playing in the Euroleague for the first time in their careers, and because I had one season of seniority so they thought I was going to save them. It does not work that way. Because we are a Euroleague team, then other teams in the local league mark the game against you and come to kill. You play against teams that are not Euroleague and understand that they are no less good than you, that they are really, really good, and that makes you think about all this method in the Euroleague. ‘
McCallum was asked in a podcast to build the top five actors he played with or against: “Shane Larkin, Mike James, Will Claiborne, Kyle Haynes, and Brandon Davis. There are also lots of excellent Europeans, people do not understand how much. You come to play against some European kid, he looks like a guy from the street, goes up to play against you without too much style, without arranging the socks the way we Americans like – and just rips your ass off. That’s the way it is with Vasily Mitchic, for example – he taught me school every time I played against him. ‘