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Danny Abdia's Race to the Top

Going Crazy About Danny: Why is the NBA so excited about Danny Abdia? Eran Soroka in a new section

The physical improvement, the impressive set of abilities, which fits exactly into today's NBA and the most important position in the league, and even the advantage he received due to the Corona break. A moment before the lottery: all the reasons why Danny Abdia's future in the best league in the world is so promising, and Caspi's announcement: "Danny can get close to Allstar level"

• Danny Abdia

Eran Soroka

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Last fall, Mike Conley of Utah Jazz and his partner, Mary Plosso, decided to give birth to a third child. They did what they did, on the logical assumption that in mid-August, the due date, the NBA would be deep in the recess. It's just that for some reason he didn't take into account a global epidemic, leaving Utah without its leading coordinator at the start of this week's playoff series against Denver. It would still have been bearable, had they not also been left without their leading forward scorer, Bojan Bogdanovic, who had finished the season three months earlier due to a hand injury. The two roles, both slinger and coordinator, have had to be filled in the last two weeks by Joe Ingles. When needed he threw 11 threes, and when needed, in Game 1 against Denver, he shared with Donovan Mitchell the burden of leading the ball.

This versatility of Ingles, the ability to serve as both a high-level slingshot, both a high-level morale and a good guard, is the main reason Danny Abdia reminds me of it. I brought up the theory to Omri Caspi, who played a decade in the NBA including some good years face-to-face against the smart Australian. "Ingles is a sniper at the highest levels in the league, and I don't see Danny there yet," Caspi tells Walla! sport. "But there is a similarity. Ingles is a good example because he creates situations, makes the right decisions, a good defensive player who knows how to get under your skin, and he has that drive."

The name of the game in today's NBA, and Abdia's biggest asset - that on the night between Thursday and Friday we will get a clearer picture of his chances of being selected at the top of the draft 2020 - is summed up in one word: diversity. Or versatility, blasphemy. "It broadcasts to scouts European basketball with American athleticism," defines his agent for the past three years, giving a good sign. "He does a lot of things, both in passing and defensively, point forward play, that basketball in America goes there. He can play in several positions effectively, and from there his great potential."

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Please get to know: The secondary coordinator

For those who have not followed the NBA in recent years, or still remember a slow basketball of isolations and long dribbles, let the seconds pass, mark an exercise and then start moving, we are told that today’s league looks like a video game on speeds. The success of Golden State and the soaring of the three-pointer - during the bubble in Orlando, teams threw more than 36 3-pointers into the evening - caused a lot of attacks to be very short, and included a quick block of high to the center away from the three-pointer, no-ball movement, 2-3 ball movement Dedication and throw, penetration or insertion of a ball to a drowning player. Not everyone likes this type of basketball, but for Danny it fits very well.

If we already mentioned Golden State, Steph Kerry's shooting ability from a huge distance also caused many teams to send a double guard on the phenomenon in the No. 30 jersey as soon as he crossed the half line. This situation created a numerical advantage for the Warriors of 4 on 3 the moment Kerry handed over to a teammate, emphasizing the need for as many players as possible who could make wise decisions and create shooting situations, for themselves or friends, in a split second. Hence the concept of the "Secondary Playmaker", a secondary coordinator - another player besides the coordinator who can make decisions, usually from one of the wing positions (2 or 3), and even low and relatively agile power forwards. Others call it "Point Forward."

"I think the style that best suits Abdia is teams where everyone on the field can make a numerical move and take the right decision," Caspi explains, "teams like the Warriors, or as San Antonio was in its heyday. If he gets to teams that play less to the same standard "Of basketball, then the first opportunity will be with the coordinator, the attack will continue, and at some point the ball will reach him - and then he will do pick-and-roll, and hit or create for others."

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"Danny Abdia is a talent not to be missed. He is a coordinator in the forward's body."

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Please improve: Shooting

During the regular season, Siman-Tov estimates, between 50 and 70 professionals from all over the NBA, from general managers to scouts, came to watch the loss. Only this season was anything but normal, and Abdia later gained an advantage over players competing with him for a place at the top of the draft, mainly due to the fact that in recent months the College League has been shut down, the Israeli League is back, and he is the only one to play. Other terrestrial draft in 2020, due to the corona epidemic raging in the US, are limited to personal training, and even camp Kombajn "traditional, which measure the physical and athletic abilities of the players before the draft and allow objective comparison between them, as there is no date.

During the offseason unexpected number A good sign, Abdia did not finish a training day without 800 balls diving through the net. Indeed, in the first five games it was difficult to miss the improvement in shooting from the outside, which was a prominent question mark, when Abdia threw almost 6 times in the evening and scored 48%. Scored just 20 percent in his last 35 shots until the championship celebrations, was a little less encouraging. With 32 percent of the three, in a league with an average percentage of 36 percent, Abdia will have a hard time being a significant factor. Caspi is less worried: "The league has proven over the years that even if you Comes without shooting at all, you can be turned into a slingshot. Lannis Antocompo had not even had a long-range shot in the past, Westbrook improved the shot from half-distance. Danny has the right technique that needs to be improved, you can work on it. "The

person who worked with Danny during the season on improving elements in physicality and athleticism was Regev Fanan, the fitness coach of Maccabi Tel Aviv." The break helped us a lot. If the season had continued as usual, we would have been less able to maximize his development, "he admits." Playing in a competitive team with a schedule full of games and flights, there is nothing to do, interferes with the development of a young player. With 2-3 games a week it is impossible to do 4 "Gym training. In the situation that was created, we could concentrate on the physical work, bring him to the gym every day, schedule training at the right times and not according to the team's schedule. It was a hallucinatory environment, but sterile and efficient."

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Please preserve: Physicality

Fanan says that Abdia started the process this season with a weight of 92-93 kilograms and with 14% fat, and goes to the US with 103 kilograms and 9.5% fat. "A year and two years ago we wanted to make him physically ready for the Israeli league, and this season in many games, league and even In the Euroleague, he was already legitimate there and even beyond. Some have told me that he looks strong compared to the Israeli league, as he ruled when he was in his youth. Demonstrated physical superiority over players aged 27, 28, 30, athletic and strong and experienced. He likes to get dirty, looking for touch and physicality. When reading the scouts at the beginning of the season, we always noted that he is not yet physically ready. I don't think anyone can say that now. "

Another advantage of having to understand what awaits him overseas came from the presence of four experienced NBA players, one who was a superstar and another who played in the league for a decade, at Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2019/20." Danny asks a lot Questions, and in the last year has become more vocal. "The guys understood where the wind was blowing and that he was going to be pretty successful, so everyone mobilized and answered him everything," Fanan testifies. "We were working out in the gym on chest compression exercises, and Caspi suddenly came and told him that in the NBA he would have to do this and that." With Amara Studmeier in general an amazing connection is formed. "Conversations during and after training, just sitting on the bench and talking," says the fitness coach, and agent Siman-Tov, who also represents Amari, notes: "Studmeier has taken on the responsibility of guiding Danny, and helping him To best prepare for the next level. ”As

these lines are being written, Abdia is packing her bags and hopes and moving his life to the U.S. for at least two months until the draft. The first destination, for the coming weeks, is the state-of-the-art P3 training complex in Atlanta. "It is one of the best facilities in the world for competitive athletes, perhaps the best of them," says Regev, "the work there will add a lot to him, he will learn new things from professionals at the highest level."

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Please compare: Simmons and Turkoglou

Abdia entered the scout books at the European Junior Championships and especially the gold medals he took with Israel, and he brings to the 2020 draft a huge desire to learn and get better ("he went from one who eats junk food before games to one who weighs food every day", says Fanan And the system at Maccabi), a super-competitive personality, and especially an impressive set of abilities. "He has a ball delivery, delivery, shooting that is well-founded, it's all a basis for great potential, and when you combine that with degrees, hype is created and there is a very big potential for success," Caspi says. "I expect all his abilities to improve. "In the initial time frame he will have an advantage over college players because he played like a pro and will be able to adapt to the league. When he is a top scorer, it will be a huge advantage."

Abdia is set to play in position 3, the most varied and important dog position, in terms of the things that need to be done on the pitch. Who is he mentioning? I started with Ingles, but my money and good mark have other comparisons. The forward speaks of the turquoise hand, a good sign that aims farther - "like Ben Simmons of Philadelphia, but with a shot." The significance of setting such a threshold is clear. "He could be a franchise player, that's his goal," the agent says. I asked Caspi if Abdia could be a top-100 player, even a top-50 in the league. His answer: "With excellent shooting, he can be on the verge of an All-Star."

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Wherever he goes, Abdia leaves behind a trail of fans in the country. Tens or hundreds of thousands of fans holding fingers and making alarm clocks for next season, who knows when it will start - but also professionals who understood with each passing day what they have in hand, and created every moment. "Danny is lucky that there were people around him who could tell him information about everything he wanted," concludes Regev Fanan, "and we are all lucky to have worked with an amazing kid like Danny."

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