He stood fully twice as high as some of the hundreds who turned out, fawning, to hang on his every word. As he strode through the halls of Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School on Friday, Omri Casspi was treated like a king.
Perhaps that's because he is one, as he reigns on the basketball court.
The 21-year-old forward for the Sacramento Kings is the first Israeli-born player in the NBA, a fact that awed and inspired the scores who turned out to hear him.
"My advice to any young player," Casspi said to around 200 students crammed into the school's multimedia room, "be yourself and always dream and believe you can make it."
The visit from the NBA's all-star rookie was the school's prize for winning a video contest sponsored by the annual Israel Day Parade in New York City. The school's Video Club, consisting of 10 students, made a short film about Israel. Their prize was the third spot in Sunday's parade and a morning with Casspi.
Principal Eliezer Rubin said he was proud of the club.
"For not only creating a quality video," he said. "But also for creating content that was meaningful."
Casspi first met privately with the Video Club students. After watching the short film, he declared it "beautiful."
Video Club advisor Gary A. Berger praised the students and said that having a private breakfast with an NBA star was a "special treat."
The Video Club had plenty of questions for Casspi, asked between bites of bagels in a meeting room adjacent to the school's front office. Foremost on the student's minds was what it is like to play against LeBron James.
"It is an unbelievable experience," Casspi said.
When Casspi added, "He might play here," the group cheered and clapped.
Sophomore Nat Druce, 15, wanted to know if Casspi felt he was looked at differently because he is Jewish.
Casspi responded that he feels he is treated the same as every other NBA player. Sophomore Shoen Ezra, 16, then spoke up.
"I look at you different," he said.
Sophomore Zack Kessel, 16, asked Casspi if his decision to wear the number 18 signified the Hebrew word "Chai" which means "life" and is often expressed by the number 18.
"They asked me what number I wanted to wear and I told them 18," Casspi said. "It was very important to me from day one."
Sophomore Eitan Ruben, 16, asked the 6-foot, 9-inch Casspi how tall he was at his Bar Mitzvah.
"A little less than 6-feet," Casspi said. "So there is still hope for you."
As he spoke to the Video Club, Casspi was presented with a Yarmulke emblazoned with the school mascot, a cobra.
Casspi said that he had flown in on Thursday from the home he shares with his parents in a small, suburban town just outside of Tel Aviv in order to meet with the Kushner students and march in the Israeli Day Parade.
In front of the full high school student body, Casspi said that as a teen he would rise at 4:30 a.m. in order to watch Michael Jordan play on television. When he served in the Israeli army, he said he dreamed of playing for the Israeli professional team Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C., which plays in the Israeli and European leagues.
"I never dreamed about playing in the NBA," he said. "Because no one from Israel ever had."
He admitted that the experience still amazes him.
"Back in the nineties, Kobe and LeBron were my heroes, then I got to a point where I started against those players," he said. "You line up for the jump ball and you look left and right and you see Shaq and LeBron James."
