The thin Israeli staff that could hurt Hapoel Jerusalem and Maccabi Rishon LeZion • Holon's repeated mistake in the coordinator's position • The overcrowding in the back line of Gilboa / Galil • And is the staff of Eilat suitable for Beit Halachmi?
Zalmanson.
The Israeli staff of the trophy holder is too short
Photo:
Alan Shiver
The economic problems in the Corona era and the wave of Israeli players who went to Europe this summer led the teams to take bets and risks in building the staff.
Just before the start of the practice games, and as the Winner's Cup tournament approaches, we've gathered some questions that we'll get answers to soon.
Local cuts
Hapoel Jerusalem invested a lot of money in foreigners and dropped from four senior Israelis last season to three, with the backing of some younger and cheaper ones.
In a league where you can only register five foreigners and one Israeli must be on the field at any given moment, it is a risk.
Any injury, rest or offense problem of one of the Israelis will put the professional team in trouble.
Our assessment: In the middle of the season, the Reds will add another Israeli.
Maccabi Rishon LeZion also has a similar problem, only the reasons are a bit different. Instead of Oz Blazer and Adam Ariel who left for big teams, the Oranges added Golan Gut and two other young players, Noam Avivi and Ido Fleischer. On paper it is not enough, and to cover it will have to Spokeswoman to make another leap this year, while coach Guy Goodes hopes to receive a reasonable contribution plus at least one of the three youngsters Avivi, Fleischer and Tal Peled.
Concentration problem
Just like last season, this year Hapoel Holon starts with only one real coordinator on the staff, and again they are called Yogev Ohayon (33).
Coach Stefanos Dadas claims his game philosophy advocates fast attacks and a lot of off-archery and is based on the personal abilities of the players.
In Holon, there is indeed quite a bit of quality in the back line this year, which will produce good highlights and probably also a high score.
The main question is what will happen when they need someone to put things in order.
Only they will not play Ohayon in the first part of the season.
Addition or subtraction
The keys that brought Ariel Beit Halachmi the successes in the reserve team and the attractive basketball in Gilboa / Galil include good scouting on young and hungry players, pressure on the entire field, quick passing attacks, discipline and paragon within the team.
At the moment, it is not clear what of all this we are going to see from the team he built at Hapoel Eilat.
The average age of the three senior foreigners in the back line is 29, all three have made quite a bit of money in recent years, two of them have already played in the Euroleague and some have also suffered minor injuries.
With all this data, it is hard to believe that we will see the basketball that characterizes Beit Halachmi, and we will not be surprised if later on there will be changes in the southern team staff.
population density
Although Gilboa / Galil waited all summer for Yiftach Ziv and it paid off big time, the club's leaders did not take risks and built the team in such a way that they could do without it.
The result: density in the back line.
Ziv and Isaiah Cousins who will man the quarterback position want - and need - to play a lot, and when you think about the option to play together you are reminded that position number 2 is occupied by Joe Thomson, another player who displayed high quality and stayed here to be a key screw.
Let's not forget Gil Benny (almost 14 minutes on average last season) and Amit Gershon (19 minutes), who are also waiting for significant minutes.
Assessment: If Nathaniel Artzi does not show significantly good ability from last season, we will not be surprised if a foreign player arrives in position number 3 instead of one of the guards.