One has won European Championships with the reserve and will provide continuity with the youngsters, but has no European experience in the seniors • For two many successes in the league, but he is unfamiliar with the young teams • Ariel Beit Halachmi and Guy Goodes are the leading candidates for the national coach position
Guy Goodes
Photo:
Maor Alexelsi
Tonight (18:30), Oded Katash will play his last game against Spain on the lines of the Israeli basketball team and will end his role.
Currently in the basketball association we have marked the leading candidates to replace him - Guy Goodes and Ariel Beit Halachmi, both worthy of all opinions.
Yaakov Meir is a surgeon.
Guy Goodes
Pros:
Currently considered the top Israeli coach in the league, especially after the departure of Oded Katash to Panathinaikos.
His good work at Maccabi Rishon LeZion in the last two and a half years has earned him many points both in his candidacy for the national team and in many teams in the coming years, including in Europe.
Since returning to Rishon LeZion in 2018, the team has reached the state cup final twice, once again the semi-final and twice the final four final - where it was stopped only by Maccabi Tel Aviv.
These successes, as mentioned, improve his candidacy for any position, certainly for the coaching of the Israeli team.
During the period in Rishon LeZion, Goodes also promoted young Israelis such as Noam Dovrat and Noam Avivi, as well as older players such as Oz Blazer and Adam Ariel, who made a leap for him and advanced to Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Jerusalem.
It is likely that the good work with the Israeli actors will come up in discussions.
The fact that he was a great player in the past, and who worked for several years at Maccabi Tel Aviv as a head coach and assistant coach, makes the players respect him and appreciate him as a personality and a professional, which is certainly important in a team that reaches short and focused tasks.
Goodes also gained significant European experience during his time at Maccabi Tel Aviv alongside senior coaches such as Zvika Sharaf, David Blatt and Nevan Spahija, as well as in the year and a half in which he served as head coach and competed against the top coaches on the continent. In the EuroCup.
Disadvantages:
Goods has not worked for the national team in recent years and this fact can have him shivering.
As mentioned, the union is very fond of the work done and the successes that the coaches have reaped, and it is possible that the continuity and familiarity of the players with the coaches who worked with them at a young age will have a big impact during discussions about the identity of the next coach.
Goodes also has a good relationship with Pini Gershon, with whom he also worked well at Maccabi Tel Aviv, but it is not clear how much a dominant and strong personality like him will be accepted by other officials and decision makers in the basketball association.
Age:
49
Current
team
:
Maccabi Rishon LeZion
Notable career achievements:
Euroleague championship as assistant coach (2014), State Cup (2015), two Cup finals (2019 and 2021), two Final Four finals (2019 and 2020).
Ariel Beit Halachmi
Pros:
One of the beloved and esteemed professionals among the heads and managers of the Basketball Association, especially by the professional director of the young teams Pini Gershon and the chairman of the professional committee Amos Frishman.
The comfortable nature, but especially the historical successes with the reserve team in 2018 and 2019, brought him back to the position of coach of the young team as soon as he wanted to.
Since the entry of Pini Gershon into the union, there has been a trend of continuity in the national teams.
Barak Demitsian has been working with the cadet team for several years, and Oren Aharoni, who worked with the cadets before him, has been completing a few good years in the youth team.
It is very possible that the association will want the coach who led Yuval Sussman, Danny Abdia, Yam Madar and the other young talents to impressive championships up to the age of 20, to take this generation, plus reinforcements and additions from older and more experienced players, to the 2022 European Championships By all expectations, Israel should reach the later stages and the desire is to reach at least the quarterfinals for the first time since 2003.
Disadvantages:
With all due respect to the good work he did at Hapoel Gilboa / Galil between 2015 and 2019, Beit Halachmi led the northern team to the playoffs only once, and also did not reach the semifinals of the State Cup.
Without him, the Magen Ner team returned to the Final Four last season after an absence of a decade.
His tenure at Hapoel Tel Aviv last season was not successful and he left after a short period, but he started the current season at Hapoel Eilat in an excellent way. It can be assumed that a good second half of the season and reaching the Final Four with the southern team will give him a nice advance in the prestigious position.
Another disadvantage that Beit Halachmi may have for the shaker is its lack of experience in Europe in adulthood.
In the championships with the reserve he knocked out the European coaches who faced him, including some highly regarded professionals, but he has not recently managed to coach a senior team in European frameworks and this consideration may stand up to the decision makers.
Age:
54
Current team:
Hapoel Eilat
Notable career achievements:
Two European Championships up to the age of 20 with the reserve (2018 and 2019), National League Championship (2016).