With Workman's energies and a back line made up of quality and talented foreigners, the Dads team can also deliver good basketball in the 2020/21 season • Fenerbahce has become Maccabi Tel Aviv's biggest threat thanks to an Italian tiebreaker

• Workman. Leaves heart on the field

  Photo: 

  Maor Alexelsi

Holonia is being repainted

Until a few days ago, the uncertainty at Hapoel Holon was so great and almost (almost) made the writer mark these lines in purple as the disappointment of the season in the forecast article for the 2020/21 season published in this section earlier this week. But within a few days the situation changed completely. The initial goal of the club's leaders was to put together a young and hungry Israeli staff, but the plans have changed a little and it is not at all certain that this is bad.

Yogev Ohayon agreed to cut and stayed, with Guy Pnini following suit as well. The team was looking for an Israeli player who would add new energies and blood to the system and found the right person - Willy Workman. The citizen who in recent years has become the symbol and captain of Maccabi Haifa, much thanks to the heart he leaves on the field, signed for two years and if at some point it will be possible to bring an audience to the fields, surely Holon fans will love watching him prostrate on the floor and give uncompromising defense.

Coach Stefanos Dadas told Holon leaders he sees Workman as a player who could be the team's glue. “His energetic and team play along with his character combine a very good profile that fits the mentality we want to build,” the Greek said.

In recent years, Holon has accustomed Israeli basketball fans to quality foreigners, and the fear of its fans was that following the budget drop, medium-sized foreigners will come. They can be calm, Tyros Maggie is one of the quality foreigners who have landed here in recent years (probably in teams other than Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Jerusalem), and next to him will play Chris Johnson (who will only stay healthy) and C.J. Harris, two other good players with Rich European experience that will put together a talented and athletic back line that can issue good basketball moves.

Under the baskets it could be DJ White, another player who has already done beautiful things in European basketball. The team will probably bring in another cheap high foreigner who will only play in Europe and be registered in the league only if God forbid there are injuries to one of the four senior foreigners.

The threat from Istanbul

 Fenerbahce in their new configuration is the team that should worry Maccabi Tel Aviv the most in the coming seasons. In all the last few years the Turkish team has not at all targeted the same relevant player market for the Yellows. Jan Wesley, Costas Slokas (despite the reports), Gigi Datuma and other stars are receiving sums that the Israeli champion did not plan to pay and therefore looked in other directions.

After the big cuts in the Turks' budget, the situation changed. Suddenly a team was added to the same dialing area of ​​Maccabi Tel Aviv, only it has a tiebreaker compared to the other teams in this budget confusion in Europe - Maurizio Gerardini.

The Italian general manager, who is considered one of the best in the world in his field, was also very influential in the age of big money and in recent years has built the squad together with Zeljko Oberdovic, but now his importance has increased significantly. His expertise in finding good players and building a squad that will exceed the sum of his parts, can make the difference for Fenerbahce. Good players like Dishon Pierre, Lorenzo Brown, Edgras Ulanovas symbolize the sane and positive direction in which the Turkish Empire is heading even though the budget will not be as high as before.

new way

Urbani Ness Ziona is looking to embark on a new path and it seems that there is no one right from Brad Greenberg to lead the move. Due to budget constraints and perhaps as lessons learned, the club leaders are looking to build a young and hungry team and a base that will run for a few years. Greenberg, who created for himself thanks to the name of a young developer (Adam Ariel, Nimrod Levy, Tzof Ben Moshe and others can attest to that), should be the one to launch the new project.

As a former NBA general manager, Israeli champion, assistant coach of the Canadian national team and with a rich resume, the Jewish-American coach does not have to prove anything to anyone, but after the bad season at Maccabi Ashdod, he also needs success to return To the track.