Eyeing comebacks, Pargo and Solomon land in Israel

Just 10 days after signing with Maccabi Tel Aviv, Jeremy Pargo landed in Israel on Sunday to take his place with last year's Super League runner-up. Pargo played last year with Gilboa/Galil, where he had a crucial role in leading the club to the final, where its 90-77 upset win over Maccabi gave the northern club its first-ever league championship.

Maccabi inked the former Gonzaga point guard after Mikhail Torrance collapsed on August 20 during a workout in Florida. Torrance suffers from an enlarged heart, a condition that has kept him from trying his luck in the NBA and that ultimately cost him his place on Maccabi. "I'm very excited to return to Israel and join Maccabi Tel Aviv," Pargo said on Sunday at Ben-Gurion International Airport. "This is a great team with a lot of ambition and goals, a team that wants to win."

	Jeremy Pargo playing for the Minnesota Timberwolves during a NBA summer league game in July.
	Photo by: AP

Asked whether he thought Maccabi players are under more pressure than their counterparts on other teams he said, "I think there's pressure to win every time you step on the court. It's still basketball - at the end of the day you have to come out and perform and win at all times. That's the goal of this team and I'm sure that's the goal of every other team in Israel," said Pargo, whose brother Jannero plays for the NBA's Golden State Warriors.

As of now, Pargo is expected to back up Doron Perkins at the point position. On Sunday he downplayed any speculation of a rivalry between the two: "Playing against Doron, you realize how good of a player he is. He plays really hard, he plays great defense and does great things on and off the ball. He played last year with Maccabi so I'm sure I can learn some things from him."

Also on Sunday Hapoel Jerusalem welcomed back Will Solomon, the 32-year-old journeyman guard whose career has included Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, a smattering of NBA teams and clubs in Greece and Turkey. Solomon is coming off a break of more than a year after being waived by the NBA's Sacramento Kings.

Solomon was welcomed at Ben-Gurion by a hearty group of Hapoel fans, decked in the group's trademark red. "I'm so happy to be here. This welcome was way above my expectations. What I'm seeing now is the reason I wanted to come back to Jerusalem."

Netanya inks LeBron James' boyhood friend

Barak Netanya on Sunday signed Romeo Travis, a University of Akron alumnus and a close friend of LeBron James, the NBA superstar who grew up in the Ohio city and attended the same high school, St. Vincent-St. Mary.

Travis, a 6'7" forward, was a first-team All-Mid-American Conference pick in 2005 at Akron. Turning professional, he played at a number of German teams, the last of them Walter Tigers Tuebingen, where last season he was a standout player in the German league, averaging 14.4 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.

The Super League season starts next month.