It has been a busy year for Kareem Maddox since we talked last July. Maddox played his first professional campaign for Dutch First Division team Landstede Basketbal, averaging 9.4 points and 4.7 rebounds a game off the bench before a season-ending injury truncated his campaign.

Maddox and I caught up via the phone for about half an hour on Thursday, and we had the chance to discuss his recent signing with the Newcastle Eagles, the top team in the British Basketball League, who are the reigning BBL Cup, BBL Trophy and BBL Tournament champions.

I think this is an interesting conversation which takes you inside the life of a young free agent trying to make his mark overseas. Thanks to Kareem for his time. A full transcript can be found after the jump.

How are you and where are you?

I'm good. I'm in Los Angeles. I came back mid-summer from working in New York. Now I'm just at home - working out, lifting and playing.

Playing anywhere interesting?

The Drew League was over by the time I got back, so I've been playing down in Santa Monica at Memorial Park where I usually play and I've been working out with a coach on my shooting, getting a lot of shots up.

How did New York go?

It went well. I was working with Noah [Savage] at Jones Lang LaSalle for about a month, but then I had to come back because I wanted to play in a tournament in Las Vegas and I also thought I was going to possibly sign in Australia.

I saw a photo you posted of yourself and Doug Davis at the Vegas tournament you just mentioned. What was happening there?

Doug and I have the same agent, Justin Haynes from Worldwide Hoops. He puts on a tournament every summer in Vegas that happens at the same time as the Eurobasket tournament.

They put us up for two days and we played four games plus two workouts led by a D-League coach. There were a lot of coaches there, plus a lot of coaches were there for the Eurobasket tournament which was just one court over.

Note: Game one's box score can be found here and game two's box score is here. - JS

Was that a showcase for people looking for players to sign overseas?

Exactly. Ours was invite-only and limited to 40 players so Justin could create even teams. He's really meticulous about it where as at the Eurobasket tournament there are hundreds of guys paying to try and get seen. Ours was more organized.

In one game our team was coached by my agent Justin and in the second game our team was coached by the head coach from the Australian team Cairns Taipans.

Can you get everyone up to speed on how your season in the Netherlands went?

Holland was going well. I extended my range a bit and I was shooting more, trying to adjust to the professional game. I started playing well and unfortunately the player I competed with for time got hurt and then two games later I tore my meniscus and I was our for the rest of the season.

It was funny how it happened. I was on pace for probably my best game. I was 2-2 from three and had a nice drive and bucket. It was eight minutes in to the first quarter and I went down.

It was kind of brutal but it has been not too bad of a recovery.

Did you stay with the team the rest of the time or did you return to the states?

I stayed over there rehabbing. I was originally supposed to be playing again in 3-4 weeks but then once I tried to come back I realized that wasn't going to happen.

I got an MRI and they said everything was fine but it is actually an 8-12 week recovery. I think Jeremy Lin had a torn meniscus with the Knicks and he was gone for that length of time.

Somewhere along the line there was a miscommunication and I ultimately decided to not try and come back just for the playoffs, although I probably could have.

Before you got hurt, what did you find was the biggest adjustment playing the European game coming from Princeton?

I would say the shot clock. 100% the shot clock is probably the biggest difference, especially coming from our offense where we have the option to make a possession last 35 seconds, probably longer if we wanted to.

Overseas you have 24 seconds, you run one set and then go into a one-on-one looking for a mismatch you can exploit. A lot of it too is getting in transition and if you see something, just take it right away. That was different but I definitely liked that aspect of professional versus college.

Tell me about the decision to go to Newcastle.

I could have waited to see what other options came up, but it came down to two teams, Newcastle – who I had actually talking to throughout the last year – and Cairns Taipans in Australia.

We played against Newcastle during a Christmas tournament in Holland last year. I knew them and spoke to the coach and a lot of the players.

Cairns Taipans plays in a very good league and I liked the coach a lot after spending time with him in Vegas, but I decided to go with Newcastle so that I could try to get my British citizenship. That may be possible because my mother is half-British. I also have family in England, which was a consideration. The passport was probably the biggest thing because that might help me in the long-term trying to play somewhere else.

I like the coach, the setup and the players. The BBL is probably not as strong as Australia would have been of course, but with that said it is still a good league, good competition and a chance for me to try and develop my outside game because I think I'll have some freedom to do that.

Also, Newcastle is a very successful team. They won everything last year.

When it came down to it I lined up the pros and cons of each, spoke to Dan [Mavraides] of course, who has been in Los Angeles and decided to go with Newcastle.

Is it a one year deal? Do you have the flexibility where if things continue to go well you have the freedom to jump around?

Defninitely. It is an eight month contract. I should be back in April. Maybe May.

Have you been to Newcastle?

I've never been. I've been to London a fair amount because I have family there but never Newcastle.

When you were at that Christmas tournament, what do you think it was that impressed Newcastle or put you on their radar?

The year before I was contemplating playing for the Durham Wildcats of the BBL. Once it got out that I could possibly get my British citizenship, Newcastle contacted me for the future.

I kept in touch cordially and it developed from there.

Is Newcastle a Eurocup or Euroleague team? Are there international opportunities outside of intra-England play?

Because of Newcastle's success, they have the opportunity do so, but according to [teammate] Damon Huffman they've always decided not to do that.

Do you have a sense of what your role is going to be here? I gather you're going to be replacing a player in Andy Thomson who was a big contributor.

I think I read the same article you did! He was a little bit more of a shooter and I'm considered more of a post player but I've been working on my shot so hopefully I can land somewhere in the middle.

Both when you were playing and when you were hurt, how did you occupy your time overseas? Was there more or less or a culture shock than you expected?

I think less, just because in Holland everyone speaks England. There was a McDonald's, which I didn't go to actually all that often…

Good for you!

…it was nice to know it was there in case I didn't feel like cooking! I spent a lot of time reading. I read all the Game Of Thrones books. Anything that I could read, I read it.

I did a little bit of investing, trying to learn that whole realm. I spent a lot of time with teammates of course, hanging out and living it up.

Going into this year, I'm going to focus a lot more on actually writing. Last year I went in with no particular focus and did a lot of different things to see what I liked and where I want to go after basketball.

This year I have a direction and I can set up my goals and what I want to accomplish outside of basketball. Damon is kind of the same way in that he really wants to develop a skill set to focus on what he wants to do afterwards.

It is important to keep working towards something outside of basketball. That was my first big injury last year and while it wasn't necessarily scary I understand the process now of recovery and how no matter what it is, it is going to take time. You don't know how your body is going to react or what your body is going to be like after that.

Is it a different sort of camaraderie between your professional teammates than it as with your fellow Tigers?

It is a lot different. At Princeton we spent so much time together. Everyone had something to buy into. Overseas you get thrown into a new system, one guy thinks one way who has played for so many of teams, another guy thinks something else.

I think Dan's experience was different, but for me we had three rookies and I lived with one of them. We got on really well, so we went through the experience together and became really close.

One guy was Amu Saaka from Furman, who Princeton saw at the Christmas tournament at Central Florida two years ago. Another, Cameron Wells - he ended up playing for the Milwaukee Bucks in the Summer League this year. We took our trips together – we drove out to Berlin and explored Holland. That's the closest bond that I formed, and of course Damon.

That's a good segue. You've mentioned Damon a couple times and he's going to be coming with you to England. Was that something that the two of you discussed together? Who signed first and how did this come to be?

That was actually a consideration for me. Damon signed first and I knew that playing with Damon was something I would not be opposed to. I like him, he plays the game the right way, he handles his business correctly and he's a good player and a good person.

I've heard horror stories about being thrown on a team with three guys who are going for their own, the coach is crazy, one thing or another that's insane. This is an element I can control knowing that Damon was going to be playing point guard there.

Having seen the team in the Christmas tournament, I knew that success could be had and it was just going to depend on us working hard other than intangible factors we can't really control.

Did you and Damon know each other when he was at Brown and you were at Princeton?

No. He was a senior when I was a freshman. We went back and looked at the stats and as it turns out he killed us that year. I don't even remember him from the scouting report it was so long ago. Coach Johnson remembered him. Damon reminds me a lot of [Marcus] Schroeder in the way that he plays and the way that he conducts himself but he's a little bit more of a shooter.

Note: Huffman scored 10 for Brown in an OT win at Jadwin as a senior and had 18 points for the Bears in Providence two weeks later. - JS

With a season under your belt, what advice would you give Doug and other Princeton players who may follow you to Europe?

There's going to be a lot of stuff going on outside of basketball - coaches, other players, money – but at the end of the day you can always be in the gym shooting the ball, developing your game. Even if you're not playing or hurt you can always be getting better.

Coming into this summer I'm really glad I kept this up and kept developing. That goes a long way regardless of anything else that's happening.

I think a lot of times it is tough for rookies. Doug is in a great league playing for a good team. He's in a really good situation, but no matter what's happening outside you can always be getting better.

That's something I took away from Princeton and it has served me well so far.

Lastly, what do you hope to get out of this second season abroad?

I want to continue my development. One aspect I'm really going to focus on basketball-wise is being more aggressive with the ball and moving without it. I think I'll have a lot of space to do that here.

Plus, exploring a different country and spending time with family.

Maddox departs California for England on Tuesday with Newcastle's season beginning the 21st of September.