From talks with Jeff Rosen to Shabbat meals at Maccabi Haifa's CEO • Personal training and help with the IDF • The foreclosing period in Oregon and the friend of the Maccabi Tel Aviv and Tops team hiding the NBA champion for the future • At 23 years the young talent begins to realize the potential

• Sorkin. "The greatest potential in Israeli basketball"

  Photography:

  Encourage Carney

"Roman Sorkin is one of the Israeli players with the greatest potential in Israeli basketball in the last 20 years," declares Maccabi Haifa, "and we treat him like that."

The Green team came to Sorkin in the second part of the 2017/18 season in an attempt to save her from a league drop, but without success. Last season in the National League he saw a significant improvement, probably also due to the lower quality of the rivalry, and he scored 14 points, took 6 rebounds and averaged 3 assists.

When in Haifa they say they behave like a great potential, they mean it. In the early summer, owner Jeff Rosen took him on a call and made it clear that this season he is getting a great chance. Unlike other teams, the Greens built their front line with three Israelis and one stranger, and 23-year-old Sorkin (2.08m) made it clear that if good, he would get significant minutes.

count. "Jeff believes in us" // Photo: Alan Shiber

Since Haifa is told that Rosen and his nephew Matthew talk to the actor once every few weeks, almost every Friday night he eats a Saturday dinner with CEO Assaf Rosenblatt and during the day receives personal training extras with assistant coaches Amit Ben David and Lior Barnea. Returning to Israel in April 2018, he was considered an IDF defector after the Basketball Association did not have an athlete status. The heads of Haifa came into the picture and arranged the issue.

"Give me the tools to succeed," Sorkin tells "Israel Today," Jeff believes in us and has built something that will allow us to succeed. We were told we just needed to play well and everything around would work out. "

So far no one has any complaints. Sorkin plays 23.2 minutes in which he averages 9.6 points and 5 rebounds. Last week he arranged for his team an outside victory in Be'er Sheva with four points in 19 seconds, including an abduction and a basket of victory after a half-court rush.

The professional team work with Sorkin to be more aggressive. "The next step will be when he does. He will not be able to stop him," Haifa says.

"They tell me to get through a lot and get more involved," Sorkin responds. "I try and work on it every day, but I don't want to do 180 degrees and take every ball to the basket, it's not me. I do work on it and try to improve it every day. a day".

Sorkin. Late hacking? // Photo: Courtesy of the League Administration

The foreclosure period in Oregon

Did Sorkin, who was born in Minsk, Belarus and at the age of two, immigrated to Israel with his parents and sister because the father of the family wanted the little affair to grow up in Israel with Jews, he is "Lite Bloomer"? Only if a good and stable season is given can headlines and announcements be made. According to professionals, it is possible that the four seasons he hardly played at Oregon College have delayed his development somewhat.

When he was 18 after finishing the period in Maccabi Ashdod's youth department, Sorkin felt that he was not ready to join an alumni group and decided to go to college in the United States. "I felt like I wasn't ready to play in the alumni and I wanted to go to work and work on my body," he explains. "It was kind of a dream. I believed in this method, and I wanted to go where the best players in the world are, I wanted to train with the best."

In four seasons, he has participated in only 74 games and scored a total of 187 points, but at least completed a social science degree after taking "extras" in English lessons to understand what the lecturers were saying.

Dorsey in Memphis uniform. "It's impossible to know what will happen" // Photo: USA TODAY Sports

Those who helped him through this period easily were the top players in the team, including Maccabi Tel Aviv player Tyler Dorsey, who was his roommate. "I have a lot of good memories, probably some of the best in my life," Dorsey says. "I remember everything. We used to spend time together, play together. He is one of my good friends, but unfortunately he lives in Haifa so it's a little hard to meet."

"We would tell him that he always has to stay ready," the Yellow Guard says. "Everybody goes through this. For me, it happened during the career, too. Waiting for the opportunity because it's a long career and you can't know what will happen."

How far can it get?

"I think he is very talented and has great body size and good athletic ability. He is improving year by year and we may see him progress to senior leagues." Another of Sorkin's best friends was Jordan Bell, who later came to the Golden State Warriors and won two NBA Championships. "Jordan was very funny. I remember how he used to hide candy and toffee in socks and eat in the middle of games," says a Maccabi Haifa player.

Until three or four years ago, at the basketball union, Sorkin and Daniel Kuperberg planned to be the next high-ranking Israeli team. Since then, there has been a certain despair, especially for Cooperberg, who is in a kind of dispute with Maccabi Haifa and is not expected to continue. On the other hand, Sorkin hopes that he was resurrected last summer when the quiet, high-profile player was part of the Israeli Olympic team and, although not physically fit, insisted on going to the University of Naples.

Tonight at 8:40 pm, Sorkin will go to Barna Parquet where he will meet Hapoel Jerusalem and Oded Ketch, who also coaches the Israeli team, and will try to show on the main stage that he is able to reach as far as possible.