Amit Tamir

Amit Yosef Tamir (born February 2, 1979) is an Israeli professional basketball player. He currently plays for Hapoel Holon.

Basketball career

Tamir started to play on Hapoel Jerusalem's youth team in 1997, and got the chance to play in the professional team from 1998 until 2001.

He spent three years in the Israeli Army before enrolling in college. During that time he played for the Israeli Under-22 team at the 1998 European Championships.

Tamir went to the U.S. and played for the University of California in 2001. As a freshman he scored a career-best 39 points – the fifth-highest total ever at Cal – in a double-overtime win over Oregon to earn both Pac-10 and ESPN.com National Player of the Week honors. He was co-winner of Cal’s Best Academic Performance Award.As a junior in 2002-03 he led the Bears in rebounding, while also ranking 2nd in assists and 3rd in scoring. His 61 three-pointers were the third most in school history. He was granted only three years of eligibility after playing in an organized competition in Israel after turning 21. He was a 2003-04 Playboy All-America member, a member of Pac-10 All-Freshman team in 2002, and the All-Pac-10 team in 2003, the only player in the conference to earn both First Team Pac-10 All-Academic and All-Pac-10 status in 2003,. and voted to the CoSIDA Academic All-District team in 2004.

After graduation, he moved to Greece and played for PAOK Thessaloniki BC, and took part in the ULEB Cup with PAOK in 2004.

In 2005, he played in Greece for a few months with AEK Athens BC and also AEL 1964 BC before moving back to Israel.

He signed with the Maccabi Givat Shmual, who were struggling in last place of the top league. After Tamir and a new coach were signed, the team improved greatly and was close to being in the Final Four.

Trivia

* He tried his luck in the 2004 NBA Draft but was undrafted.
* He played in the NBA's summer league for Orlando Magic but again did not make it into the NBA because he was not signed by the Magic.
*In July 2006, Tamir married long time girlfriend Erika Haw and in August 2006 he signed for Spirou Basket Club (Charleroi).

Link

* [http://www.nba.com/draft2004/profiles/AmitTamir.html NBA Prospect Profile]
* [http://calbears.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/tamir_amit00.html University of California bio]
* [http://www.aek.com/basketball/roster/amit_tamir.htm AEK bio]
* [http://217.13.116.51/plantillas/jugador.jsp?id=AEF Euroleague bio]
* [http://www.dailycal.org/sharticle.php?id=6885 "Tamir fits in by being himself," 10/31/01]