Jordan Lewis starting professional career in Israel

Jordan Lewis scored 7 points in his professional debut on October 15. By Will Parris.

Kristina Santiago, Drake U’u, and Jordan Lewis have all gone from Cal Poly to a professional contract in a foreign country over the past few years. But in some ways, Jordan Lewis’ journey to a professional contract is the most impressive.

Unlike the others, Lewis signed a contract 19 months after his final college game. His game at Cal Poly centered around doing what was needed for the team. Most of the time, that meant playing solid defense, moving the basketball, and I do remember a pretty big three-point shot at Mott against UCSB early in his career as well.

Now, Lewis has signed a professional contract in Israel. Actually, he is only a town away (less than 10 minutes away) from fellow Mustang Kristina Santiago. Here are some of his thoughts on being a rookie in Israel for Maccabi Be’er Ya’akov.

Fansmanship: What team do you play for and where?

Jordan Lewis: I am playing for Maccabi Be’er Ya’akov in the beautiful country of Israel.

Fansmanship: When does your season start?

Jordan Lewis: The official season opener is on October 15^th however we have had a few preseason scrimmage games over the past few weeks. The season here is long, it reaches all the way into May.

Fansmanship: What’s the city like where you are living?

Jordan Lewis: The city I live in, Be’er Ya’akov, is a small city located between three larger cities: Rishon LeTsiyon, Ness Tsiyona and Ramla. Like I mentioned Be’er Ya’akov is a small city with one post office a couple of gas stations and couple of markets. But it is growing at a rapid pace, just walking down the street you will see new state of the art high-rise apartment complexes being built left and right as well as construction on new roads and sidewalks.

Fansmanship: What has the biggest adjustment been so far with playing professionally vs. college?

Jordan Lewis: There are many differences between playing professionally and in college. Playing professionally has opened my eyes to the business side of professional basketball. As far as playing the game basketball is played a bit more loosely with more opportunity for players to play more freely. The professional game is a more simple game than the college game. I will say that there are things you can get away with at the professional level that you couldn’t get away with in college. In college there is a very strong sense of family within the team which grows over years with players in a program, at the pro level players commonly move from one team to another which changes the way team chemistry is built.

Fansmanship: What do you miss most about college?

Jordan Lewis: I miss a lot of things about college and I’m sure I always will but I graduated now so that’s that. Laughs. I miss my basketball family back at Cal Poly including the amazing Cal Poly fans and supporters. I will be following the Cal Poly team this season any way I can. I also miss all my friends back in San Luis Obispo and being able to see them every day.  I had a great time living there for the past 5 or so years, and I plan on living back in there after this season is over and hopefully I’ll be able to meet up with some friends and exchange some stories over lunch.

Fansmanship: Why did you go to the team where you are?

Jordan Lewis: I came to Maccabi Be’er Ya’akov because they showed interest in me and I have a good opportunity to play good minutes and contribute to the team’s success.

Fansmanship: Is basketball perceived differently in the city you’re in? In what ways?

Jordan Lewis: Well I can tell you that when I visited Israel for the first time I was surprised to see how big basketball was here. Basketball is arguably the top sport in Israel. If you ask any Israeli who their favorite team is they will spit out the name of their favorite team before you can even finish asking the question. People are fanatic about basketball here, so in a way people are more die-hard fans here versus back in the States. During the games the crowd is a mix between crazy soccer fans hitting drums, blowing horns and chanting their clubs song and wild college fans heckling and yelling.

Fansmanship: Any new languages or lingo you can share? How about local foods that you like?

Jordan Lewis: Unfortunately for me, my Hebrew is absolutely terrible so I communicate in English mostly. There are a few words I have picked up however. The word “Sebaba” means “cool”, also during the games you will hear people yelling “Yalla! Yalla!” this means “let’s go! Let’s Go!” and if someone were to ask you “how’s it going?” you would simply answer “hakol beseder” meaning “it’s all good.” The food in Israel is great and I think everybody in Israel knows how to cook. I make a lot of pita sandwiches but I would say that if you come to Israel you have to try the shawarma which is like the Middle East version of a burrito in my mind.

Fansmanship: What is the hardest thing about living where you live?

Jordan Lewis: Other than the fact that I am 10 hours ahead of my friends and family back home, which creates some problems when trying to reach them…I would say the toughest thing about living in Be’er Ya’akov is making it to Tel Aviv and back. When put in perspective it’s not the biggest of problems.

Fansmanship: Anything else you think Cal Poly fans would be interested to know about your foray into Israeli professional basketball?

Jordan Lewis: As part of my journey to Israel to play basketball I obtained Israeli citizenship through a process called Aliyah. Aliyah is a process in which Jews around the world immigrate to Israel. So I now hold Dual citizenship in the US and Israel. I feel very lucky and privileged that I have this opportunity to play basketball professionally and on top of that live the amazing country of Israel.

In his first game last week for his new team, Lewis scored 7 points in 11 minutes.