Thomas Kelati continues to be a well seasoned and a steady
player as he gets older. As most of our readers know he got his start in
professional basketball in Belgium then Poland and he moved on to Spain and
Russia afterwards. In between he was able to rub shoulders and actually get
along with one of the world’s best basketball players of our time Kobe Bryant. He
currently plays for Polish side Stelmet Zielona Góra where he has been
contributing to the team’s second place success. His team’s chances of playing
in the European Champions League are also high this season. He made the move to
Poland where his wife is from after spending most of his career playing for top
Spanish teams.
Thomas with his current team in Poland Stelmet Zielona Góra
This article will focus on Thomas and the Lakers and why he did
not pursue the opportunity to join a topnotch team. With Alexander Isak
rejecting Real Madrid and a couple of other big teams, may be some athletes can
learn from these Eritrean family values and well cultured athletes that may
change the way decisions are made in the future. There are still some questions that linger as to why Thomas
did not continue with the Los Angeles Lakers to this day.
Thomas with the Los Angeles Lakers against the Charlotte Bobcats during his short stay.
It was the year 2009
and fans all over the world were following the former Washington State Cougar
and all Pac 10 standout as he made his way to the city of Angeles where he had
an opportunity to play for one of the best professional basketball teams in
history. As a free agent, Kelati signed with the Lakers in a training camp invitee
role on September 30, 2009, but he was later waived or was he really waived.
During a recent interview he conducted with a Polish Journalist Thomas was
asked about the contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. According to his responses,
which were conducted in Polish, the experience for Thomas was great as he was
about to fulfill the dream of playing in the NBA.
The Lakers invited him to camp along with seven other
players. During this period of time they approached him through third parties and
finally decided to call his agent and mentioned to him that Kobe really likes
his style of play so did Phil Jackson. The Lakers thought that Kelati fit into
the team’s plan and wanted to keep him, however within that year alone the
Lakers had to cut a staff of 13 players as a result of high salaries and luxury
tax. The team promised Kelati that they would send him to the D-League and
would call on him during the regular season, at which point Thomas decided that
he would be better off playing in Europe, thus rejecting the Los Angeles Lakers
offer.
Why would anyone turn down a great team?
Thomas had options and he decided to go with his instinct to
play in Europe and make guaranteed money instead of lingering in the D-League
of the NBA where he would have had to wait on the Lakers to call him up. So
once again a year later, the Lakers came calling again, and asked for Thomas
with a new proposal but he refused once again because the offer was based on
the same criteria as the year before, which was for him to attend training camp
and a possible contract at a later time. Meanwhile, during that time Kelati had
three great offers on the table from the likes of Olympiacos of Greece, Real
Madrid of Spain and Russia’s Khimki, which was offering him a very rewarding
contract. So in the end Thomas decided on a two-year contract with Russia’s Khimiki,
which also participated in the European championships. He made a clever choice
not to put everything into one basket as he fought for a possible contract with
Los Angeles without rejecting any of the other proposals.
Thomas with Russian Champion Khimiki where he signed a big contract to reject the Lakers.
Kelati spoke highly of Kobe Bryant. He spoke of how Kobe was
a workaholic and trained intensely throughout the time that he saw him while
with the Lakers. Training with the L.A meant measuring up to Kobe Bryant work
habits as he set the standard bar high. Thomas also looked up to players like Shannon Brown who was
on the Laker’s squad at the time. It was a great experience for him, because he
had the opportunity to compete and practice with a legendary NBA player and one
of the best players in the history of the game. He added that, “Kobe came to
practice early and twice a day.” He was very well liked by his teammates and it
was an honor to have spent even a short amount of time with him.
Update on Thomas these days:
After playing with Murcia in Spain last year where he took a
pay cut to help the team out he also was getting proposals offers from other
teams including in Spain and Turkey where he did not want to take his entire
family
(Wife and kids). He finally settled for Poland where his wife is from.
He joined Stelmet Zielona Góra as they showed that they really cared about him
besides being the current Polish Champions and the opportunity to participate
in the Euro Championships. Thomas kelati has come a long way from his college
days and continues to inspire young people while showing his character as a
family man, professional basketball player, Eritrean-American-Polish. See the youtube video link below for a buzzer beater by Thomas for his new team.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zpn2ark9lqM
Eri-International sports Blog will keep you posted on his
season with the Polish Champions.
For Eri-International Sports Blog,
Mike Seium
No comments:
Post a Comment