Bill Amis likened his first season as a professional basketball player to something out of a fictional realm — right down to the howling wind and subzero temperatures of the harsh north of "Game of Thrones."

In just about every sense for Amis, Estonia was another world. And one the former University of Hawaii hoops standout adapted to and excelled in as a pro basketball player. After recently returning to the islands for his offseason, the Oklahoma City native reflected on a successful rookie year in Europe, in which he was named All-Estonian League and All-Baltic League with his club, Tartu Ulikool.

"It’s a different experience. I guess if I had to put it into one word, I would say, ‘cold,’ Amis said. "But it was a good learning experience for me in a lot of different ways. Learn more about the world, and learn more about myself there."

The 6-foot-9 power forward came to feel the islands were his adopted home — the reason he planned his offseason regimen here. Amis will play in the Manoa Summer League starting this month, train with his former UH coaches, and help out Gib Arnold’s staff with UH’s summer basketball camps for kids — all between frequent trips to the beach.

"He walked through the door a couple days ago back into the office," said Arnold, who made the most of Amis’ length and shooting ability to help UH to a 19-13 record in 2010-11. "It was great to see him. Obviously he had a really good year there in Estonia. We followed him closely. He’s just a great kid, I loved coaching him. He’s spending a couple weeks with us … you always feel good about that when the players come back."

Amis is one of many former UH players to play abroad. What made him special, though, was the success he enjoyed as a rookie. Amis’ averages of 15.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.2 blocks and 57.5 percent shooting in 25.4 minutes of Baltic (international region) play turned heads, as did his helping Tartu to the Estonian League (domestic) championship final. That his team lost in four games to rival club Kalev/Cramo didn’t spoil the experience.

"We were the No. 1 seed in the regular season, but we just couldn’t put it together in the finals," Amis said. "The other team got really hot and we couldn’t stop them. But it was exciting playing in the finals there. I never played in a playoff series before where you play a seven-game series or a five-game series."

The nature of the business, however, is that Amis will likely be on the move again to another team in the near future.

Amis was satisfied with a competitive rookie salary on his first contract. His agents, brothers Ben and Adam Pensack, figure a “step up” in competition and compensation is in order in the coming months — with the caveat that deals tend to be of the single-year variety until a player is well established. The West Coast-based Pensacks represent several players who played in the Western Athletic Conference, including former UH sharpshooter Matt Lojeski. Lojeski’s Oostende club is in the finals of the Belgian League.

"Ben and I are pretty thrilled with how Bill’s season went," Adam Pensack said. "He played at a pretty good level for a rookie, in terms of the level of competition he was going against, and really stood out. He really did enough to move up to an even better level next year. And so that’s what we’re really focused on now."

A repeat performance with Tartu Ulikool is a possibility, but countries such as Belgium and Italy are enticing prospects for their stronger leagues, should a solid offer be forthcoming. Anywhere Amis lands, adaptability will be key.

"It’s a cultural adjustment," Adam Pensack said. "Most guys are going to leagues where there’s a different language, there’s different food. Different social norms. All sorts of differences. If a guy can adjust and do well, then you start potentially getting into multiyear deals."

It wasn’t easy for Amis in Estonia. He was the lone American on his team, and his coach conducted practices primarily in native Estonian — then occasionally directed English instructions at Amis. The Oklahoman required a translator at times.

"It was frustrating because in practice it would be in Estonian unless I was directly addressed. So I never really knew what was going on," Amis said with a laugh.

He could appreciate the European emphasis on defense, however, helping him earn a starting nod even after a conversion to center, an unnatural position for him.

Succeeding on foreign courts was great — but occupied only so much of his time. Even with regular games in two parallel leagues, Amis found himself with plenty of downtime. "Killing time" became the optimal phrase.

"It’s sad, because that’s a good (name) for it," Amis said. "But I would do a lot of reading, watch movies, watch TV shows. Watch ‘Game of Thrones,’ read ‘Game of Thrones.’ … (Estonia) is a lot like Winterfell, or The Wall. I read those books, just try to stay busy, try to keep doing something, because it’s really easy to just do nothing over there."

He made it work, and found time to follow UH’s 16-16 season of 2011-12 closely via the Internet. Not surprisingly, he marked the Manoa campus as one of his first stops upon his return to Oahu.

"It was good to see a lot of people I worked close with for four years," he said.