Jerusalem’s longest tenured player reflects on the season, the fans, the team’s growth, and the must-win EuroCup battle ahead
Khadeen Carrington, Jerusalem: ‘We know how good we are’
Interviews
12 Mins read
Khadeen Carrington has seen just about everything in his four seasons with Hapoel Midtown Jerusalem and the coming week brings another major test — not one of survival, but of opportunity. With the team already assured a place in the EuroCup Playoffs, a win against Cluj would secure a coveted bye straight into the quarterfinals.
In a wide‑ranging conversation with Euroleague.net's Frankie Sachs, Carrington reflects on the momentum gained from a big Israeli Cup win, the confidence within the locker room, the return to playing in front of Jerusalem’s fans, and the mentality needed to finish the regular season strong.
Let’s start with your last game. You guys beat Hapoel IBI Tel Aviv – one of the top teams in the EuroCup – on the road in the Israeli Cup quarterfinals. That came on the heels of a EuroCup loss at Neptunas Klaipeda. How important was this win over Hapoel?
“It was a great game, a big win. Obviously we know that they are at the top of the EuroLeague, so it’s not a pushover, runover team. We know how good of a team they are. So that just gives us some confidence finishing off our regular season. Obviously, we got an important game coming up on Wednesday in the EuroCup. So that just gives us a little momentum for that game.”
Jerusalem hosts a fateful game on Tuesday against Cluj knowing that a win will guarantee the team a ticket into the quarterfinals. What is the vibe around the team?
“The vibe is really good, especially with a big win like that, against such a good team. We know how good we are. We know how well we can play when we’re all on the same page, so I think it’s a good vibe going into that game.”
Between yourself and Jared Harper, Jerusalem has a great scoring tandem, but Cluj’s Fatts Russell and Mitch Creek and first and second, respectively, in the EuroCup in scoring. How can you contain both of them?
“It’s going to be a tough night. Obviously, Russell, he’s super fast. He can score in many different ways. Same thing with Mitch Creek. So we’re just going to have to contain them. Obviously with players like that, you can’t come outright and stop them, but we got to know what we want to give up, know what we want to take away from them. So it’s going to be a challenge, but, I’m pretty sure everybody’s ready for the challenge. We obviously played them over there. It was a tough game. So we know what we’re facing. We know they’re coming here. They also need a big win... So we know what’s at stake, everybody’s pretty much ready.”
As the longest-tenured player on the team, you know more than most how much of a lift the Jerusalem crowd can give you in these big games. Describe please what it’s been like to be able to play home games in Jerusalem again and what the crowd brings to the table.
“Oh, it’s the best. Obviously over two years not playing here, it was tough. Not just with the crowd obviously, but with travel and all the other things that people don’t really think about. It’s been great having the games back. The crowd is our sixth man, so having the fans back has been great also. Just put that extra push, you know what I mean? They’re definitely our sixth man, so going into playoffs, it’s going to be great having the fans behind us.”
Before you joined Jerusalem in 2022, you hadn’t spent consecutive seasons in the same country, let alone the same club, since college. What is it about Jerusalem that has become your home (or second home) in these last four years?
“Oh, it’s been great. I connected a lot with the people. I connected a lot with Israel. It’s just somewhere I’ve felt comfortable. Coming from the states and being overseas, a lot of guys don’t find that. You bounce around a lot, actually. So it's been great just finding somewhere just to be comfortable and find a home.”
Your scoring and shooting numbers are all up in the second half of the regular season. How do you explain the improvement?
“Just staying consistent. Basketball is an up and down game, it’s a rhythm game... So when you kind of find that rhythm, it carries you. I always like to say like the numbers even out. So just being consistent, having a routine, having a work ethic, it's always going to pull through once you put the work in. So that’s what I lay my hat on.”
“Basketball is an up‑and‑down game, it’s a rhythm game… the numbers even out. Being consistent and having a routine always pulls through.”
Who are the players — past or present — whose approach to the game you study the most?
“Honestly, I don’t have anybody like off the top of my head. I would say like the person that kind of instilled that basketball work ethic in me was the coach I first started with, his name is Keith Oliver. From the time I started playing basketball, he would pick me up every single day and we would just get in the gym and work. We would just shoot, run drills. Coming up as a kid, I stayed in the gym all day. Like literally in the summertime from morning to night. I went to the park. I played in the park with my friends. You know, New York is a big basketball place, so just having a lot of competition growing up playing in the parks and stuff like that. So, I think that’s where my work ethic really comes from.
“I started playing basketball at about 8 years old. I would say I really knew I could make it something or really started taking it serious maybe going into high school… We grew up playing in the parks, like park tournaments, stuff like that, from a young age even before high school. So I mean, I always knew about New York street ball, the New York street ball legends, the biggest tournaments. I played in all of them coming up.”
When you look back at your career years from now, what do you want people to say about Khadeen Carrington — the player and the person?
“I think what they say about me as a person is over a player. The ball stops bouncing and life goes on. So I want people to know that I’m always been a genuine person. I always just had a smile on my face. Always wanted to see the best out of people. I think that’s what I want people to know, to remember me by. As far as being a player, I want people to know that I was a winner. I always contributed to winning, put the team first. And was always just a guy that that left it all on the floor, just played hard. Every night I may not play my best, but every night, I leave my all on the floor. It doesn’t always come up with the best results, but I think that’s what I want people to know.”
Let’s talk about some of your teammates. There was a lot of buzz around the signing of Austin Wiley last season, but injuries kept him from making the impact many hoped for. This season he is one of the best centers in the EuroCup. Have we seen the best of Austin Wiley yet?
“No, I don’t even think so, honestly. I mean, we joke about it all the time, like how he steals rebounds from everybody! He’s one of those guys that like you said, one of the best bigs, I feel like in in in Europe, when he’s playing at his top. Like just being able to rebound and being a lob threat and being a presence in the paint, even defensively he’s great for us and it’s helped us out a lot this season. Obviously, he’s been healthier this season than last season, so it’s giving us a big boost, a big push. So I’m definitely proud of what he’s doing. Hopefully he can continue it and we use him to the best possibility.”
If the EuroCup had a sixth-man of the year award, Cassius Winston would definitely be in the running. Tell us about the impact he has had on the team.
“Cash has had a great impact. Just having somebody like that dynamic threat off the bench. You start with me and Jared and then you don’t fall off in that area when Cash comes off the bench. So I mean, he’s been a great spark for us so many times this year. You saw it against Hapoel on Saturday. He was a big spark for us. I didn’t shoot the ball the best, but like I said, you still don’t fall off when you have Cash coming in the game. So he’s been great for us.”
When pundits talk about Jerusalem they tend to focus on you, Harper and Wiley. But the team would not be where it is without the blue-collar work that Yovel Zoosman, Justin Smith and even European rookie Josiah-Jordan James have put in. What can you say about them?
“Those guys have been great. Obviously every team has guys where they score points and stuff like that, do the flashy stuff, but you always have guys that put in the work, like you said, blue collar work. I feel like we have a few of those guys. They’ve been great for us. Justin, he can put up points also, guys like JJ, Zoos, every night those guys bring their all on the defensive end. It’s just doing the extra little work, the dirty work, and on our team, that doesn’t really go unnoticed. We know what spark those guys bring to us. We know what they do for us on a nightly basis.”
The latest addition to the team was Isaiah Mobley. It’s never easy to join a team midseason. What can we expect to see from him as we near the EuroCup Playoffs?
“I feel like Mobley’s still getting comfortable right now, but you see the flashes like of how good of a player he is and a different dynamic that he can give us on the offensive end and the defensive end. I feel like he can handle it, he can pass it, he can shoot it. So that’s great for us having a guy like that in that position amongst the guys we already have in the 4 spot. He just gives us a different look. You’re going to see what he does come playoff time.”
"I want people to know that I was a winner… a guy that left it all on the floor. Every night I may not play my best, but every night, I leave my all on the floor."
Losing to Gran Canaria is the quarterfinals last season must still sting. What lessons would you say that you and the team as a whole take from that experience?
“It definitely still stings. That’s one we wish we can get back. I feel like the lesson that we learned from that quarterfinal game, that it’s one game literally. So you have to leave it all on the floor. I feel like we did last year, but I don’t know if we took it for granted or if we didn’t… I don’t know. It’s just no tomorrow with those games. So I feel like this year we learned from that. It was a learning moment. We’re going to be back in that position again, we have the same core team, so it’s on us to kind of lead the way when it gets to that point.”
Let’s get back to what we started the conversation with, the pivotal game against Cluj. What does Jerusalem have to do to take care of business and win the game?
“Just play how we play, just lock in on defense. I feel like that’s what we really hang our hat on. Obviously we have great scorers and we have great offensive players, but just our tough defensive mindset. I think both of us are two of the highest scoring teams in the EuroCup, so it’s going to be who can get stops… So I feel like that’s really what we have to hang our hat on on Wednesday and everybody knows that. So everybody’s prepared to go into that game… Shout out to the team. Shout out to my teammates. I’m excited for the post season. I’m excited to finish off the season. We have two more (regular-season) games left. So we just got to finish out strong.”