Billionaire flies 3 Kings players to Israel

Boy I am sure they are having so much fun here, too bad I live far from Jerusalem so I can't try and meet with them.
I am sure they are having fun here in Israel, it is hot, but I am sure they are used to it from the weather in Sacramento.
I was able to watch Chandler Parsons's video on Instagram and the Israeli crowd in the Western Wall showered him with love and joy.

Casspi made a smart move inviting some of the squad to Israel, just make the chemistry better and make the players even more united before the season even started, I admire Casspi for doing it, a true glue guy for the team, an asset.
 
kingsboi said:
Tyreke tagging along?
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Warmed the cockles of my heart. Oh, what could've been.

Not a surprise though that they get along off the court. Cuz is noticably more dominant/aggressive on the court, but off the court, they're both hometown guys who shy away from the spotlight. I'd imagine they get along well off the court.

And Casspi. Thank you for being the ultimate glue guy. That dude is gonna contribute to more wins than he realises if the season goes well. He's a fan favourite now.
 
I was wondering when someone would get around to posting this here. Such a cool thing for Omri to do. According to other articles, he planned everything out himself, wanted to show his friends where he grew up. Adelson and his wife basically just lent the plane. Most of the guys are either current or former teammates, and it just shows what a nice guy he is that they all want to go fly halfway across the world to see his home with him (not to mention Cisco, DWill, JT and Samuel Dalembert who all visited him in Israel in the past, and I think JT went twice)

A video from the Kings on the flight there: http://www.nba.com/kings/boogie-omri-caron-travel-israel

Caron, Omri and Boogie's instagrams all have pictures from their first day too, so keep an eye on their profiles for more
https://instagram.com/caronbutler/?hl=en
https://instagram.com/omricasspi18/
https://instagram.com/boogiecousins/

And the Kings twitter account has been posting pics as well since it appears hardly anyone here is on Twitter
https://twitter.com/SacramentoKings/status/624710153850486784
https://twitter.com/SacramentoKings/status/624281580899540992


It's weird though, because Vlade had said last week that DMC and Rudy were going to visit him together, and so did all the articles before the guys left from Vegas...but Rudy is now nowhere to be found? I wonder if Rudy's kid got sick or something and he couldn't make it. :(

Anyway, I love the whole trip, I think it's going to do wonders for team chemistry, and chemistry is a key ingredient in wins! Brilliant idea from Omri.
 
kingsboi said:
Sigh. Tyreke was my favorite King and you can tell he really wanted to be here, he showed true love to the city and the fans. It would of been fun to watch him and Cousins grow into a tandem.
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It would have but they just had to little on court chemistry besides a few glimpses here and there.
 
I think it is great for Omri to invite the guys to his homeland. Great for team chemistry building.

There is a political side to this. If you read the comments on the link above you can gain insight.
 
I wonder how much the personal trip budget these NBA players are going to spend in Israel?? It's just interesting about the boycott.
 
TonyTouch21 said:
I wonder how much the personal trip budget these NBA players are going to spend in Israel?? It's just interesting about the boycott.
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Oh, don't worry -
There is no actual boycott in place on anything about Israel (yet?).
There were just some suggestions and
calls made to announce certain boycotts against Israel, or parts of its production.
 
King Baller said:
I think it is great for Omri to invite the guys to his homeland. Great for team chemistry building.

There is a political side to this. If you read the comments on the link above you can gain insight.
Click to expand...

They are also there under the auspices of the NBA Cares program or at least doing events under that banner. Pretty sure someone there has looked at the political ramifications and signed off. Political unrest aside, the fact that the team (and even some other players) are together on this and bonding can only mean good things for the Kings going forward
 
With all due respect for our Israeli fans, I would just assume this event fades back/gets swamped by other NBA news now. After a few days it started to attract some negative attention in the press due to the whole political situation. Good little team building thing, but I don't want to see us as a franchise get associated/dragged into that fight.
 
I think this trip is a great thing for the Kings to be doing. It's only controversial because it is Israel... NBA players are our sports ambassadors to the world; why should anyone be upset if they go one place or another?
 
NoBonus said:
I think this trip is a great thing for the Kings to be doing. It's only controversial because it is Israel... NBA players are our sports ambassadors to the world; why should anyone be upset if they go one place or another?
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Its impossible to answer that without diving right into politics, but suffice it to say that this trip, its sponsors, and Omri himself (understandably) were not just a neutral goodwill thing to go teach some Israeli kids some basketball camp stuff.
 
Bricklayer said:
Its impossible to answer that without diving right into politics, but suffice it to say that this trip, its sponsors, and Omri himself (understandably) were not just a neutral goodwill thing to go teach some Israeli kids some basketball camp stuff.
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{I assume you're referring to the Nation article..) See, I don't buy that. Everything Omri's ever said about bringing teammates to Israel (regarding this trip and those in the past) is that he wants to answer their questions about the country and show them that it's not all bombs and missiles, that's it's not so dangerous people can't go in the streets, and that he wants to show them where he grew up and give them insight into the culture. That's it. I don't buy for a second that just because the donor of the plane is into politics, suddenly this trip has been turned into some kind of sinister political plot by Omri. BS. The reporter himself said that none of the players knew that SA had lent the plane, or even knew who SA was. So how could there possibly be some kind of political agenda? Wouldn't he want them to know that he had made it possible for them to take this trip? It's ridiculous.

Also, this is obviously a rough translation because I don't read Hebrew, so Google came to my rescue, but here's a quote:

"Throughout my time in the United States asking me questions about Israel and the conflict," says Casspi, "I wanted to come see his eyes. I wanted them to see that Israel is not just bombs and missiles and that there is a life and warm people. It's not necessarily have to go to the political scene. It's not supposed to change their perception of this visit, but it is important to have a broader perspective on what is happening. And first of all - it is important that will experience ". http://translate.google.com/transla...u=http://www.israelhayom.co.il/article/301045

Does that mesh with the journalist's claims? I think not.
 
Last edited:
Bricklayer said:
Its impossible to answer that without diving right into politics, but suffice it to say that this trip, its sponsors, and Omri himself (understandably) were not just a neutral goodwill thing to go teach some Israeli kids some basketball camp stuff.
Click to expand...
Perhaps, however, we did send players to China and other parts of the world that were equally as political and someone someplace paid for that, too. Last time I checked, all the photos from Israel are of NBA players playing hoops and sight seeing. I see no political activism other than MAYBE inquiry into the issue at hand.

What would we say if the governor of Alabama flew a bunch of players to Demarcus' hometown for a racial equality campaign? No, for them to see the state of race relations (in addition to playing hoops with kids and sight seeing) ? I see no problem with it at all.
 
l like this a lot, and one of the reasons is most definitely "political". This can be an education, an expansion of their worldview, a fantastic experience. No doubt, it will also be a lot of fun and a team-building experience.
 
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