Correction: This article stated that Brandon Hunter left Ohio University for the NBA after his junior year. He declared for the draft after that season, but then returned for his senior year, as he did not sign an agent. This article has been changed from its original form.
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The ring of flags that lines The Convo’s rafters may only be for decoration, but it is also indicative of the international network of former Ohio University players that compete professionally everywhere from South America to Europe and Asia.
Since 1997, Ohio has had at least 30 former players continue their careers abroad. Many came under former coach Tim O’Shea, now the head coach at Bryant University. At least 11 Ohio players that competed under O’Shea have since furthered their careers in Europe and elsewhere.
This year, three players from Ohio’s 2013 senior class continued the trend of playing overseas. Reggie Keely signed a contract in June with the Dan Helder Kings in the Netherlands, and Ivo Baltic signed in August with KK Cedevita Zagreb in Croatia. D.J. Cooper rounded out the class when he signed with PAOK Thessaloniki in Greece later that month.
Salaries for overseas players vary depending on league and country, said Shaun Stonerook, a retired 12-year European basketball veteran who played for Ohio from 1998-2000.
“You can go to some place and play and maybe make a couple thousand a month or you could be in a situation where you make $100,000 or $200,000 a month,” he said. “It just completely depends on where you are and what team you play for.”
Stonerook said the success Europeans have had in the NBA has made leagues in Europe desirable destinations for Americans.
“There were labels before about guys being soft,” Stonerook said. “They started getting better and had a bigger impact in America since they’ve kind of opened things up in the Olympics and international competition when Americans didn’t always win.”
THE TIM O’SHEA ERA
During O’Shea’s seven-year tenure at Ohio, he took two team trips overseas. His teams ventured to Italy as well as Belgium and the Netherlands, and he said the trips were key to some players choosing to continue their careers.
“I think it exposed those guys (to) what it would be like perhaps to play overseas,” O’Shea said. “I remember the first trip we took with (Brandon) Hunter; we had a very good team and played first division professional teams in Italy. We got slaughtered a couple times, but I think for a couple of guys it was a real eye-opener to how good you had to be to play overseas.”
Hunter, who now plays for Atletico Aguada in Uruguay, was selected by the Boston Celtics in the second round of the 2003 NBA Draft.
O’Shea attributed his former players’ longevity abroad to being not only polished basketball players who have avoided the injury bug, but to also having the ability to embrace the overseas culture. Other factors, he said, were establishing a tireless work ethic and picking the right level at which they could prosper.
“They recognized that once they were done with their playing careers at Ohio, they were the ones that kind of had to make it happen at that next level,” he said. “Those guys had tremendous desire to keep playing.”
Jerome Tillman, an Ohio forward from 2005-09 and a two-time first team All-Mid-American Conference player, said he’s bumped shoulders with several MAC players in Europe during his career there. He is playing for his fifth international team, Levanga Hokkaido Sapporo in Japan.
“I think the MAC is underrated — guys come in and play right away,” he said. “You’ve got guys that are under the radar for whatever reason, and they’ve got a chip on their shoulder to show what they can do.”
CULTURE SHOCK
That doesn’t mean American players immediately adjust to the international game when they set foot overseas — something former Ohio forward Tommy Freeman can attest to.
“It took more adjusting than I expected,” Freeman said. “A few of the rules are different, being away for holidays is really hard and just learning how to conduct yourself as a professional is something you must learn.
“The biggest adjustment is going from OU, where the majority of the school knows who you are, and then going to play overseas where basketball is usually pretty far down the list of popular sports in that country.”
THE BOBCAT BENEFIT
Former Ohio center Kenneth van Kempen — better known to Bobcats fans as KVK — said it’s important that Ohio is not only having success and gaining media exposure but is sustaining it as well.
Van Kempen, who helped engineer Ohio’s 2010 NCAA Tournament upset of Georgetown, is entering his fourth year with Stepco BS Weert in the Netherlands. This past season, he was named to the 2013 All-Dutch first team in the Dutch Basketball League.
“I think that’s really important if a player from Ohio University does well overseas,” Van Kempen said. “There’s a bigger chance other coaches see that … and they may say, ‘Oh, maybe we should look at Ohio University and what kind of players come out of there.’”
Former Ohio player and assistant coach John Rhodes spent eight years overseas, making stops in Germany, France and Iceland. While coaching for the Bobcats, he produced seven all-MAC forwards, including Hunter.
Rhodes said playing in Europe was a fulfilling experience.
“I felt like for the latter part of my career, the NBA wasn’t going to happen,” Rhodes said. “But for me the European experience was the NBA. It was me being able to play at the highest level I was able to achieve, and I made the best of it.”
He said he tried to share that experience with the players he coached in Athens, which he said is a great environment for a player to perfect his craft, given that it’s devoid of many distractions a larger city might offer.
“It’s a perfect place to really focus on academics and focus in on your basketball because that’s what’s there, that’s the beauty of being in a utopia like Athens, Ohio,” he said. “I think Ohio allows you to be in a situation that can be conducive to being a good player.”
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