"Five years ago they said I was retiring from Maccabi, but the drive is only getting stronger" • "Hapoel Holon will be the Israeli Houston Rockets this year" • "The Corona hit us all, I jumped the rope at home" And he's here to stay: "I wink at the artist"
Guy Pnini.
"It's most natural to pursue a coaching career"
Photography:
Udi quote
Guy Pnini, who has already been through and seen it all in basketball, did not believe he would get into this situation.
After winning the Euroleague, four Israeli championships, swinging the state cup 11 times in a row (a record for an Israeli player) and scoring several victory baskets, he suddenly had to stand on the defendants' bench in front of his current team, Hapoel Holon.
Beginning of the affair in March 2019. In Hapoel Holon's concluding training ahead of the decisive match in the European Cup semi-final against Sassari, Pnini tried to snatch a ball and then felt a sharp pain in the back thigh muscle.
But it was not a small tear, but a not-so-simple injury that required surgery and a half-year recovery process.
"I am strong in the head and do everything according to the book, everyone supports me in Holon and stands behind me," he said at the time in an interview with Makor Rishon.
The support he talked about continued until the group felt that Pnini was "working" on them.
Every active athlete who is injured submits a claim to the National Insurance Institute and is entitled (before determining temporary / permanent disability) to NIS 1,114 per gross day.
The Purples, on the other hand, continued to pay Pnini's salary even during the injury period (about $ 15,000 a month).
So in Holon, Pnini was sued and demanded that he return the money he received from the National Insurance Institute just when he led Holon last summer in the "Corona League", and after an arbitration procedure with Adv.
"A situation has arisen that from the outside looks unpleasant and illogical," Pnini explains in a solemn interview ahead of the opening of the 20/21 season in the Premier League next week, "We behaved in a very professional manner. I did not let it bother me on the field."
Did not you feel it was wrong to profit from all directions?
"I had lawyers who ran me and told me what was right and what was wrong, and what I felt legally - I did."
In retrospect you were wrong.
"The arbitrator determined what he determined, and I'm here to pay what needs to be paid. I don't think I was wrong. I went my own way as I did throughout my career."
And despite all the "hard fillings" between the parties, have you been appointed captain for the next two years in which you signed?
"All the professional conduct was in the best way for both parties. It ended in a good spirit and there is appreciation between us."
"Dadas knew very well who I was"
Exactly this month 19 years ago, when he was at the age of 18 and a little, Pnini stunned Israeli basketball with three from a half court that gave Maccabi Raanana a victory at the last second in Haifa.
Today, this is his 20th year as a professional (he spent one season in Serbia and Cyprus) and he is still one of the best Israelis in the league and national team.
"I started season 20 as a professional player and I was really excited. I enjoy the game so when you look back you realize that it passed in a moment. Only yesterday I was in Bnei Hasharon with Akunis. My career flew and it's a shame to waste every moment."
Last season was one of the least good of you and Holon.
"We did not start well. I may not have felt as involved as I was involved with Dan Shamir. Sometimes we build a team and do not have the right connection, even though there are good players."
As someone who is kind of a coach on the field, do you feel you are failing?
"It was also my failure. In every failure of a team I played for I have a part and I do not hide."
And
suddenly comes Stefanos Dadas, a Greek coach unaware of Guy Pnini's status?
"He knew very well. You can not be a Greek or European coach and not know Euroleague players. His first meeting was with me. He told me: 'One of the reasons I took the team was because I know Yogev and you and I trust you.' The local actor. "
A strong team seems to have been built this year.
"Holon this year will be very talented and on the other hand very physical. Our ticket will be defense, and we have a lot of defensive tools. The style will be very special, a lot of players who can score from three."
Do you have anyone to hand in to?
"I have no one to give in to because Howell is also coming out on the third line. We will be the Israeli Houston Rockets."
"Our audience is worth 15 points a night"
Alongside the lawsuit, Pnini had to deal, like the rest of us, with the consequences of the corona virus that broke out in our lives.
"It was a serious injury to my personal life. It took me a week to figure out what to do. Work plan, nutrition plan. I ordered weights and aerobic equipment home, went up and down the stairs, and even jumped rope, something I haven't done since the cadets."
And you had to enlist the help of the group in the pay cut.
"I cut the area by 20 percent according to the outline of the Ministry of Finance. The corona has hit us all and deserves a big nose for the players who came to the teams during such a period."
At 37, after two injuries, where do you find energies to go back from a break or keep yourself in uncertainty for a long time?
"The love for the game attracts me. I love the game and learn from the mistakes of others who retired early. They wrote five years ago that I am in the retirement season from Maccabi. I love and miss what I do. As long as I help, be effective and feel good about myself physically - why retire?"
But the "drive" eroded.
"Reverse. Over the years my drive goes up because I'm nearing the end. This urge to prove to yourself that you are capable. It's very easy to say 'I did mine, so let's pass the time'. But my motto is to feel you did everything to be whole with yourself."
You have become the oldest player to play for the Israeli national team.
"After the Eurobasket Oded Katsch wanted to rejuvenate the staff. When he asked me if I wanted to come, I said yes without hesitation. In Katsch's first year I was not invited, in the second window I was back and I was happy I could help the team."
"Sufo appreciated me, he's special"
Along with ability and titles, Guy Pnini is perhaps the most "cursed" player in basketball halls, especially in the arena and drive-in.
This season, without a crowd, he will be able to arrive more calmly on the field.
On the one hand you will not get curses this year, on the other hand you are an actor who likes to drive your audience crazy.
"I do not think there is a single player who will say that it does not suck to play without an audience and we will probably have to live with it for a long time and bring our own energies. Without an audience. At home, and sometimes even outside, our fans are worth 15 points. "
But you will have a more pleasant year without hearing choirs singing 'Dead Pearl Guy'.
"I'd rather go into a hall full of people cursing you and not go into an empty hall."
We are nearing the end of the conversation, and Guy is simultaneously updating the results of games in the European Cups.
"Look what it is, the Cypriot Carbanos I played leads 20 points over Dijon (eventually lost in overtime; SS)." Really a basketball mouse, but after putting his two kids to bed.
In two years, will we see you as Hapoel Holon coach?
"I wish. I do not know what I will do. I have completed a coaching course, and the role of coach is more winking at me. It is most natural to continue a coaching career, I went through the entire most senior coaching staff: Pini, David, Erez, Zvika - so I had good teachers."
You said at the time "the stigma of the dirty actor does not move me". Does it bother you today?
"Today we concentrate on the good things I do on the field, rather than mentioning the bad and dirty kid."
Sofo said of you a month ago: "Pnini is the kind of player who doesn't produce these anymore. Always does what needs to be done at the right moment."
"Sufo appreciated me very much. He is special. Not an easy type, but one who has more pluses than minuses."
On the scale of happiness Where are you today?
"5 out of 5".