To say that Rony Seikaly is looking to hit the big time may sound a little strange. After all.the 6-foot-11 former basketball big shot- who hails from Lebanon by way of Greece- starred at Syracuse University and then played for 12 years in the NBA, averaging nearly 15 points a game. But after hanging up his jersey five years ago, Seikaly traded in his raw talent and bank shot for a raw land and a bank loan. Yes, today Seikaly, who just turned 40, is in the commercial real state business, where he hopes to make his mark much as he did when he a grind-em-up center for the Miami Heat.

Through his Quadrant Investment Group, Seikaly has so far raised a modest 64 million, which he is looking to place in real estate deals across the country. I recently caught up with Seikaly about Quadrant and the property market (and, yes, the NBA playoffs). First of all, Rony acknowledges that real state is positively bubblicious in certain regions. And second, he want us to know that he is no Rony-come-lately “ I’ve always been interested in real state and have invested in it for over a decade” he says, Since he retired from basketball, he’s been buying and selling residential properties, hotels, condos, and retail centers. (Seikaly declines to discuss his returns; let’s just say you’d really have to try to lose money selling property in Miami in recent years.