HoopsHype.com Rumors

It was a big week for former Sixers general manager Brad Greenberg. Coaching Maccabi Haifa in Israel since leaving the college ranks, Greenberg and NBA prospect Gal Mekel had Haifa leading mighty Maccabi Tel Aviv with six-plus minutes to go in the fourth quarter of Thursday night's State Cup final before the perennial European powerhouse with the far bigger budget rallied to pull out a 76-68 triumph. Mekel had 28 points on the big stage and remains on course to get his NBA shot in summer league. ESPN.com

Philadelphia 76ers, Summer League, Israel, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Gal Mekel 

But not long after the high of being invited to Jazz camp, which officially began Tuesday, Mekel quickly learned that he would have to turn down the opportunity because he would not be able to secure the required working visa for several days, likely forcing him to miss at least a week of practices. "Although the lack of an American work permit ruled me out for Utah's training camp, I feel good about my future," Mekel told Eurobasket. "It's very likely I'll play in Europe this year. Armed with all this new knowledge about how I can better my game, my goals are to keep improving my game, help my new team win and be prepared for possibly coming back to the United States next summer for either the NBA summer league or training camp in October." Eurobasket.com

Utah Jazz, Free Agency, Summer League, Training Camp, Gal Mekel 

A new name has emerged in the race to become Israel's second-ever NBA player alongside Cleveland's Omri Casspi. Point guard Gal Mekel impressed the Utah Jazz in a recent audition to such a degree that the Jazz, according to sources close to the situation, have extended an unexpected invitation to training camp to Mekel, who played two seasons at Wichita State from 2006-08. ESPN.com

Utah Jazz, Training Camp, Gal Mekel 

But sources told ESPN.com that visa complications have made it unlikely that Mekel could be ready to join the Jazz before the end of the coming week at the earliest, by which point he'd have already missed several practices, thus setting him back and complicating any attempt to try to make Utah's roster. ESPN.com

Utah Jazz, Training Camp, Gal Mekel