Jessie Sapp left home for the second time, just this time it was a little bit further.
The Harlem native played his high school ball at National Christian Academy in Maryland and then spent four more years at nearby Georgetown University in Washington D.C. Sapp though, had to travel across the Atlantic Ocean to continue his career. The 6-foot-3, 212-pound guard got a chance to play for the Glasgow Rocks, a Scotland based team in the British Basketball League last year. He has opportunities in the Ukraine, Germany, France and Portugal for next season.
“The first couple of months it’s hard,” Sapp said. “It’s a new country. You have new teammates. You do the whole process all over again.”
There are plenty of differences however. He said in college he knew many of his teammates and opponents from playing with, and against, them in AAU and high school. Family and friends can’t just drive to visit and watch him play like they could in the past.
“You have to adjust to it,” Sapp said. “It teaches you life lessons, how to live by yourself.”
He joined former Hoyas Jonathan Wallace, Brandon Bowman, Kevin Braswell and Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje, who are playing in Europe. It took Sapp a short time to get used to the new rules and style of play in Europe, but it eventually fit well for the pass-first point guard with a smooth stroke.
He struggled as a senior at Georgetown, but averaged 9.7 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game as a junior. The Hoyas won the Big East Championship after going to its first Final Four since 1985 the year before.
“Everything, my left hand, my jump shot, my ball handling, being a better point guard and just be a better player,” Sapp said when asked what he was working on this summer. “People know I like to get my teammates involved and I like to play off of them in order to get me going.”
He is doing that by again playing on the streetball circuit at Watson, Tri-State, Dyckman, EBC Rucker, and West 4th among others. Sapp was a member of the Hoops in the Sun All-Star team at the league’s Bash at the Beach event Sunday. He also placed second in the 3-point shooting contest. There is still something special about playing in New York after so much time away for Sapp, even if it mean sometimes hearing from fans tell him that he should have went to Georgetown rival St. John’s.
“I was just happy to be out there with the rest of the guys you compete against and have fun,” he said. “They are on your team, the best guys in New York City.”