By: Justin Lafleur, Lehigh Sports Media Relations
Holden Greiner credits his time at Lehigh for helping turn him into the professional basketball player he is today.
One of three student-athletes to turn pro from his Lehigh class (along with C.J. McCollum and Gabe Knutson), Greiner enjoyed a standout rookie season with Zwolle in the Netherlands.
Without the help of Lehigh head coach Brett Reed, Greiner would not have been as prepared for the professional game.
“Coach Reed is able to pinpoint your weaknesses, not just for the college game, but also for the next level,” said Greiner. “He helps you work on those weaknesses and prepares you for professional basketball, all while doing your job for him in college. He found my rough edges and smoothed them out before I needed to do it myself overseas, which would have been a lot tougher.”
One prime example is rebounding. Greiner’s averages improved from 1.8 as a freshman to 4.3 as a sophomore, 4.8 as a junior, then culminating with 6.7 rebounds per game as a senior.
“Coach Reed would tell me I’m good offensively, but if you want to be great, you have to be able to play good defense, rebound and do other things,” said Greiner. “I learned to make defense and rebounding important. By my senior year, I made these areas really important parts of my overall abilities.”
The translation to the professional game was made easier because of this well-roundedness.
“When I got to the next level, I could score pretty well, but the coaches were really impressed at the fact that I rebounded very well,” said Greiner. “I played hard on defense, which they weren’t really used to because a lot of these guys are just superstar scorers. I ended up averaging the most minutes on my team (top 10 in the league in minutes), all because my coach wanted me guarding the best player. It makes things a lot better when you can do multiple things.”
Greiner put together quite an impressive Lehigh career despite being overshadowed by McCollum and Knutson. The Traverse City, Michigan native eclipsed 1,000 career points (finishing with 1,013), was a two-time Patriot League Champion and was named a first team All-Patriot League honoree his senior year, stepping up after McCollum suffered a season-ending injury in January.
The 2013-14 season helped reassure Greiner that he wanted to continue playing basketball after college.
“Over the last couple years of college, it wasn’t really my number one goal to play professionally,” he said. “Everyone who plays basketball grows up wanting to play professionally, but it wasn’t really my end-all-be-all. I love my major and at times, I was ready to move on.
“When C.J. got hurt, I had a pretty big senior season and did pretty well,” Greiner continued. “The opportunity arose to give professional basketball a shot. I tried it, loved it and loved being over there (in the Netherlands).”
Greiner enjoyed tremendous success for Zwolle, which finished 22-14 last season, its best record in program history. The team started 13-0 at one point, but then two starters suffered major injuries. Zwolle ended the season tied for fourth place, but lost the tiebreaker and was seeded fifth in the playoffs.
After losing the first game of the opening round three-game series, Greiner’s favorite moment of his rookie campaign happened in Game 2.
“We came back to our gym and I had around 22 points. Down by one, I got fouled at the buzzer and made two free throws to win the game and force a deciding Game 3 in their gym,” he said. “That moment was definitely memorable because the gym was packed. It was the first time I had ever played in a series-type playoff atmosphere.
“Hitting those free throws and seeing everyone go crazy was exhilarating,” he continued.
Not as many fans go to professional games in the Netherlands as the United States, but according to Greiner, “the fans that do come are really passionate.”
Greiner’s season was full of awards and accolades. He was named to the All-Star Team by the coaches then after the season, earned second team All-League by Euro Basket (essentially the NCAA of European Basketball). He ended the season averaging 13.7 points and 6.0 rebounds to go with his standout defense.
Greiner was versatile, much like his Lehigh career.
“I began the season starting at power forward and ended the season starting at small forward,” he said. “I did a little bit of everything. I scored a lot, would get ball screens, attack the basket, shoot mid-range jump shots and post up. It all depended on my matchup.”
Expectations of players in the pros are different than in college.
“In college, it’s much more system-based; you need to be able to execute within the system,” said Greiner. “You need to do what your coach expects of you. If you want to take your game to the next level, you have to do more than that.
“At the professional level, especially as an American, they say do what you’re good at and do it well,” he continued. “If we’re paying you to score a lot of points, then score a lot of points. But if you’re an American and can do something else, it makes you that much more marketable.”
Along with his on-court versatility learned at Lehigh, Zwolle was also interested in Greiner because of his versatility off the court.
“This team was sponsored by a school system,” he said. “They work with children and run camps and clinics all the time. They actually saw all our work with local elementary schools like Nitschmann and other community work with the Lehigh team; I had four years of community experience, working with kids and doing selfless things. Thanks to the athletic program and Coach Reed for setting up these opportunities.
“People never think things like this can help you professionally in your career, but it can,” Greiner continued. “The community work definitely gave me a leg up on competition.”
A bigger challenge than anything on the court was the experience living in another country.
“I had never been to Europe so it was a completely new place, different language and different customs,” said Greiner. “There was definitely a transitional period, but I was lucky because Holland is an English speaking country. The second language is English and everyone speaks it pretty well.
“All the people my age spoke English very well. Practices were in English and the coaches spoke English,” he continued. “It was a transition, but I was lucky that it was a smooth one. I could have been someplace in Eastern Europe similar to Gabe (Knutson) where they didn’t speak any English and they had translators.”
Living away from home was another challenge. Greiner arrived last August 24 and didn’t return home until late May.
“Being away from friends and family was probably the biggest challenge for me,” said Greiner. “What I stress to people about Lehigh is all the relationships – the people I’ve met and the lifelong friendships I’ve made. The six-hour time difference was difficult.
There were many ways to stay in touch with friends and family from home, from Skype to Face Time and an application called WhatsApp.
“My best friends did a really good job of keeping in touch so that helped a lot,” said Greiner. “You miss the little things like walking down the street at Lehigh, running into three people you know and setting up plans for lunch. You really don’t have that in another country because you’re starting completely fresh and don’t know anybody.”
Greiner’s mother visited, which was the only time he saw her in almost a full year since Holden couldn’t get home at all during the season.
“My mom came for two weeks to see a couple games, which was awesome,” said Greiner. “She got to watch me and see what it was like.”
Former Patriot League stars Stephen Lumpkins (American) and Tony Johnson (Lafayette) were two of many Americans in Greiner’s league.
“Some of the best players in the Patriot League can definitely do well overseas,” said Greiner. “We’re given the right tools in college to succeed.”
Other notable names in the league included Cashmere Wright of Cincinnati along with David Gonzalvez and Joshua Duinker of Ricmond, who Greiner played as a freshman at Lehigh.
“Since there aren’t many of us, all the Americans over there get to know each other and become friends,” said Greiner.
Greiner will not be returning to Zwolle next year. The team wants him back, but he is currently fielding offers and weighing possibilities. Most Americans just sign one-year contracts so in case they do well, they can make more money the following year.
“Every year is going to be a new place,” said Greiner. “New people, new coaches, new teammates. One of the hardest parts will be getting acquainted to a completely new situation every year.”
Greiner feels pride in representing Lehigh at the next level.
“The Lehigh assistant coaches tell me that whenever they recruit forwards, they show them my highlight tapes,” he said. “They make sure to mention that our last forward is playing professionally in Europe. It can help recruiting because for almost everyone who is trying to play in college, their dream is to play professionally.
“As a recruit, you know this is the type of program where if you work hard enough and do what you need to do, there’s definitely an opportunity to play at the next level,” Greiner continued. “I think Coach Reed and the assistants (many who have played overseas themselves) do a really good job of preparing you.”
Greiner is set up for success beyond basketball, but for now, he reflects back and is glad he decided to turn pro.
“Being a professional basketball player is my identity,” he said. “I’m glad I stuck with it. Hopefully I’ll keep taking it year-by-year and see how long I can keep playing.”
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