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Jets big man brings world of experience

George Heagney george.heagney@stuff.co.nz

New Manawatū Jets forward Zane Najdawi has brought a wealth of international experience to the squad.

The 2.01m big man missed the first two games of the Jets’ NBL season while overseas, but the American has made his presence felt since joining the team and been one of their top scorers in the two games he’s played.

They will need him to be on his game again when they head to the capital to play the Wellington Saints tomorrow.

The Saints are in the unusual position of being at the bottom of the table without a win, one place behind the Jets, who are 0-4 from the opening four rounds.

The Saints have a strong roster with the likes of Tall Blacks Tom Vodanovich, Jordan Ngatai and Taane Samuel, while Australian gun Xavier Cooks has just arrived, and should be a big challenge.

So the Jets will need the likes of Najdawi and fellow imports Rob Crawford and John Bohannon to be firing.

Najdawi, 25, is a Jordanian international, who has played across Europe. Hailing from Richmond, Virginia, he has spent much of his life travelling the world.

He was born in Utah, but his father had a job with the military and travelled for work, so Najdawi has lived in Italy, Germany and Portugal, before returning to the United States in Kentucky, where he started playing basketball aged 12.

He later went to The Citadel – The Military College of South Carolina for four years.

When he was at junior college and travelled to Jordan, he was asked to play for the national side.

He said there were complications with the paperwork because he didn’t have a Jordanian passport before he was 16 – he got his aged 21.

So he hasn’t been able to play any official FIBA-sanctioned internationals, and while he hoped to be cleared soon, he has still played more than 30 internationals since 2017.

‘‘I’ve been to the Czech Republic, Taiwan, Russia, Lebanon. Every country we went to we were playing tough teams: Germany, France, Dominican Republic.’’

Before coming to New Zealand he was playing in the Jordanian league for the Wehdat team in Amman and before that was playing in Spain.

He hadn’t known what to expect of playing in New Zealand, but said the NBL was a well-respected league with a high level of play and imports.

The New Zealand league was physical, but so was the league in Jordan, he said.

Najdawi is one of four players who joined the Jets squad during the season, along with Shane Temara, Crawford and Bohannon, so it’s taken time for them all to get used to the team’s systems.

Najdawi said they had only been together fully for a week, so could get a lot better.

Manawatū Jets (from): Shane Temara, Tyrone McLennan, Tu Kaha Cooper, Pafe Momoisea, Isaac Morrison, Jacob Collis, Petelo Leaupepe, Ben Robertson, Klein Salmon, Nathaniel Salmon, Isaac Faamausili, Lukah Richards, Zane Najdawi, John Bohannon, Robert Crawford.

Sport / Regional

en-nz

2022-05-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/282132115067882

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