GoldandBlack.com - The European experience

July 22, 2009

Brian Neubert

Brandon McKnight, Matt Kiefer and David Teague are all back in West Lafayette right now, but only one of the three former Boilermakers knows what country they'll be living in a few weeks from today.

After playing a season in Israel, McKnight's struck a deal to return to Sweden, where he played the season before last. Kiefer isn't sure just yet, but suspects he's headed back to Spain for the third year in a row. Teague has no idea where he'll be after spending last year in France.

That's how it goes, though, for those Americans living the sometimes difficult, but often highly lucrative, life as a professional basketball player overseas.

"Right now, I'm just waiting for something," Teague said Monday before he and McKnight spoke to children at Carl Landry's basketball camp at West Lafayette High School. "I wouldn't mind going back to France. The competition was good and it was a league I was comfortable with. They treated me well. But I'm still open to playing in other countries. I'm just letting my agent handle it."

Teague felt he learned a valuable lesson right out of college. His hopes were to latch on with an NBA team after graduation. When that didn't happen, he signed on to play in Greece. Now, he regrets it, as he experienced some of the horror stories American players sometimes experience overseas.

He says that he wasn't always paid as he was supposed to and clashed with his coach over playing time.

"Being away from my family was the hardest part," said Teague, who has a fiancée and young daughter, each of whom stayed in the U.S. the first year, but went with him to France last year. "Then not getting paid on time, or not getting paid at all, was tough, because I didn't have a lot of money right away. It was hard to constantly provide for my family and be away from there. I wasn't playing and I wasn't getting paid.

"Ever since I rushed into the Greece deal right out of college, I've been more relaxed about it every summer and not worrying so much about where I'm going. I'm trying not to rush into anything, because that's what got me in the situation I was in in the first place."

Last summer, fellow former Boilermaker Kenneth Lowe was so fed up with similar issues during his overseas career that he almost retired, even though he felt he could still play several more years.

(Lowe relented and played in Finland this year, averaging nearly 18 points per game for Pyrinto Tampere.)

But not all Americans making their living abroad have experienced such problems.

Former Purdue player Matt Kiefer played in Spain last year, enjoying a fine season and making good enough money that his civil engineering degree is still his fallback.

Though he's not yet positive he's going back, Kiefer says he found a comfortable situation, which isn't always easy in a European basketball scene rife with the same sorts of economic issues prevalent all across the globe.

"It's hard to judge what kind of management you're going to have," said Kiefer, who averaged far-and-away team-bests of 16.7 points and six-and-a-half rebounds last season for CB Vic, located about 45 minutes from Barcelona. "Sometimes people leave and good people come in. You just don't know. You just go on past experiences and hope for the best.

"Two of my three years, I've had good management, so I've been fortunate."

McKnight considers himself fortunate, too.

Two years ago, the former Boilermaker point guard averaged 23 points, five assists, five rebounds and three steals - he was also named his league's defensive player-of-the-year - for his Solna Vikings team in Sweden, helping it to the Swedish national title.

He parlayed that season into a more lucrative deal in Israel. But as soon as his season ended, Sweden called again, this time Plannja (pronounced plon-yah), which McKnight called one of the most reputable organizations in the country.

"They're very organized and very professional," McKnight said, "and with this economy and this recession - it's not just in the United States - I need a secure spot. I need to know I'm going to get my money on time and I just need that security."

In Europe and other overseas countries, life can be good if you're good.

Players can make hundreds of thousands, usually significantly more than they could make in the job market domestically. In many cases, that money is tax free and accompanied with various perks. But those situations are difficult to come by, particularly in countries or leagues that limit the number of Americans a team can carry.

In many countries, teams are permitted to only have two U.S. imports on the roster; in others, the number's unlimited, but only a few at a time can be active.

In such situations, the Americans' stature is elevated.

"If you can just get on one of the teams as an American, it's a better situation, because you're the go-to guy," Kiefer said. "You're the guy they brought in to play a lot of minutes and do a lot of the scoring and a lot of the rebounding and be one of the leaders on the team."

Purdue's had many players through the years who've found great success playing internationally.

McKnight said then-coach Gene Keady's program prepared him well for his pro career abroad.

"You're on your own out there," McKnight said. "There's no one to get you and say, 'It's time to go to practice'. So all the stuff I learned at Purdue is helping me in my professional career, and it's brought me a long way.

"A lot of the professional players over there don't have the discipline we had at Purdue. If they say practice is at 12 o'clock, I'm there at 11, ready to work out and shoot, then (the others) are rolling in with a minute or two left before practice. Then, that shows on the court, because you get out of it what you put in."

McKnight's thrived overseas. But it hasn't necessarily been easy.

The South Bend native said he was better prepared for life overseas, because during his college career, Purdue took an exhibition trip to Europe and after his freshman year, he crossed the Atlantic with the Big Ten's foreign tour team, which no longer exists.

Kiefer said he's played in some highly Americanized regions in post-World War II Germany and the Barcelona area, which draws lots of American students and visitors.

For both players, it's made the transition to overseas life easier.

So has technology.

The Internet has literally flattened the globe for these Americans living in foreign countries.

Kiefer regularly talks to family and friends at home via webcam. McKnight uses the free Internet video chat program Skype to talk with family and friends daily.

"Technology's taken over the world," McKnight said. "That's the least of my worries. Every single day, I talk to my family. That's a given. But I still get to talk all the time with David, Kiefer, Kenny (Lowe), Carl (Landry), anybody really. We all have it."

The connection to home makes life considerably easier, Kiefer said.

"You go over there by yourself, without your friends and family and only really have basketball (to worry about)," Kiefer said. "The combination of the new culture and having a lot of downtime, you have to keep yourself busy and find hobbies, or else it's going to be tough for you.

"I think some people just get so bored, they don't want to do it."

For Teague, having his family with him in France made Year 2 of his pro career far easier than his first season in Greece, when he was by himself.

For his third season, he expects his family to join him again, wherever he goes.

"Right now, I'm just waiting for something," Teague said. "I wouldn't mind going back to France. The competition was good and it was a league I was comfortable with. They treated me well. But I'm still open to playing in other countries. I'm just letting my agent handle it."

Kiefer's certainly marketable after the season he's coming off, but he's still unsure where he'll be this fall. He's not panicking by any means, believing the economic downturn is slowing the process this year.

"I don't know where I'll be just yet," Kiefer said, "but if I were a betting man, I'd say that's where I'll be again. I've been there two years, they know me and I've had two good years playing there. I think I've established myself pretty well there."

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