David Blatt brought Russia to the European top and went the furthest in the NBA • Pini Gershon became king of the Euroleague when he stunned the old continent with spectacular basketball • Nano Ginzburg makes a wonderful career in the Czech Republic • And Oded Katash and Danny Franco, each thanks to his magic, recorded Local history

• secretly. Reached as high as possible

  Photo: 

  AP

• Franco and Katsch. Close the list

  Photo: 

  Alan Shiver

• Gershon. 3 Euroleague wins

  Photo: 

  Udi quote

"Israel Today" continues with the rankings project that will accompany us in the coming weeks, and through it we will summarize and analyze Israeli basketball in the 2000s. In Part C, we rank the five most successful Israeli coaches in the last 20 years.

1. David Page

In numbers:  Olympic medal, European Championship and bronze medal at the European Championship with the Russian team, Eastern NBA Championship, winning the Euroleague and the title of coach of the season in the factory, EuroCup Championship, EuroChallenge Championship, Adriatic League Championship, Italian Championship, 5 Israeli Championships and 6 state trophies.

In short: on the edge of Cole Blatt finished in first place, much thanks to the fact that unlike Pini Gershon who was at his peak in the first five or six years of the millennium, he was at the top for the last 20 years. True, he does not have three Euroleague championships ("only" one), but in some years he is considered the most successful national team coach in Europe and perhaps even in the world, won many titles with several teams and of course made history when he reached the best league final in the world. Oh, and he also has an important and central part as an assistant coach in the same Maccabi Tel Aviv wins in the Euroleague.

2. Pini Gershon 

In numbers : 3 wins in the Euroleague and coach this season in the factory, 6 Israeli championships and 6 state cups.

In short:  Gershon's name is engraved on the golden age in the history of Maccabi Tel Aviv at the beginning of the millennium. In his five full seasons he has won the Euroleague 3 times and reached the finals twice more, while presenting innovative and attractive basketball that surprised the old continent.

He then tried his hand at Olympiacos and another term in yellow, but not with much success. Had it not been for Blatt's tremendous success over the past 15 years, he would of course have taken first place in the rankings. And another thing, it may not be directly related to his role as coach, but the great revolution and success of Israel's young teams will be credited to Gershon for many years to come.

3. Nano Ginzburg

In numbers: sixth place in the 2019 World Cup and seventh place in the 2015 European Championship with the Czech national team, 5 Czech championships and 4 local trophies with Nymburk.

In short: it  has been 15 years since Ginzburg stood on the lines of one of the teams in Israel, and perhaps that is why his name is less common among basketball fans in the country.

His great successes with the Czech team, which is not considered one of the most talented teams in the world, have miraculously upgraded his status on the continent. Alongside this he built a local empire in Nymburk and even brought it to handsome places in the various European factories. He will surely receive the stamp of success if in the coming years he does a good campaign with a well-known team in Europe or leads an Israeli team to success.

4. Encourage Katash 

In numbers:  Championship and coach of the season with Hapoel Gilboa / Galil, two state cups with Hapoel Jerusalem and a silver medal in the European Championship with the reserve team.

In short: the  development in Katsch's coaching career over the last decade is no less impressive. Since winning the championship with Gilboa / Galil (2010), Katsh has experienced several failures, but in recent years he has established himself as the senior Israeli coach.

For the past two and a half years, he has been leading Hapoel Jerusalem, which presents highly trained and attractive basketball, and at the same time carried out the rejuvenation process for the Israeli national team. The impressive win (without Danny Abdia) in the silver medal with the reserve team in 2017 can also be largely attributed to him. A championship with Hapoel Jerusalem would probably have promoted him to one place in the rankings. 

5. Danny Franco

In numbers:  championship and coach of the season with Hapoel Jerusalem, trophy with Hapoel Holon and national league championship with Urbani Raj.

In short: in  terms of the number of titles, Franco has no advantage over the coaches left out of the top five, perhaps the opposite. But the uniqueness that put him in the rankings is the way he achieved the degrees and groups he worked for.

He brought Hapoel Holon a historic trophy (2009) in a season where everyone said the team is a candidate for relegation, with Hapoel Jerusalem he won a historic championship, he led Hapoel Tel Aviv to the Final Four for the first time in the fan group era, and he also marched Urbani Nahariya last season for the first time In its history for the State Cup final.

The long road he made from the youth departments, through the high school league and the lower leagues to the top of Israeli basketball and the many young people he nurtured put him in our top five.

Almost in: Dan Shamir and Sharon Drucker

Rankings: Oded Shalev, Eli Stern, Eli Sahar, Avi Segal, Ido Eshed, Aviv Cohen and Yaakov Meir

Previous articles in the series: The best Israelis, the biggest foreign flops