Yaron Arbel: "Few have changed basketball like Steph Kerry and Clay Thompson" | Israel today

Yaron Arbel (43), a resident of Tel Aviv, was appointed last September to the prestigious position of head of the International Scouting Department of the Golden State Warriors.

For the past decade he has served as the New Orleans Pelicans International Scout and was among the first to discover Yannis Antocompo, one of the best players in the world.

Prior to that, Arbel worked for the high-tech company ICQ and also wrote and edited for various sports sites in Israel.

Now in his first interview since receiving the prestigious job, he tells "Israel Today" about scouting in the modern age, working in a huge and successful organization like Golden State, Steph Kerry's specials and more.

When you go to find players, what are the important things you are looking for in a player?

"Let him have as many things as possible that cannot be taught. It can be on the physical, professional or mental level, but there are quite a few layers of basketball that the player has or does not have. The more tools he has that cannot be taught, the greater his chances of reaching the highest levels. "

Are you looking at the player's current level or what level he may reach in the future?

"If it's young players, then the goal is to predict what level they can reach in the future. Their ability today is less relevant. We will look for signs that will show us what he can do in the future. Sometimes it will be above the surface. Sometimes we will have to dig to find it. "If they are mature players then we already know what their level is, and the job is to see if what they are doing now can translate to a higher level in general, and to our team in particular."

Yaron Arbel,

Today you can get all the statistics and sometimes all the games online, why do you have to travel to see the player up close?

Does it add up?

"Adds a lot. First of all to understand the physical dimensions of the player, it is something that is very difficult to understand through a screen. Not only how tall he is, but also how long, strong and other things. For example to understand if it is a healthy body or prone to injuries. Most of the time the focus is on the action, where the ball is. Our eyes often have to be elsewhere. Another very important layer is to gather information about the player's background, and this is much better done in face - to - face meetings with people who know him, than in a phone call. "Watching video and statistical analysis is an important layer in itself, but it can not be all the work."

How do you get the names of players in all sorts of places in the world, how do you even know that there is a talented player in a small team in a league?

"The vast majority of players come to the national teams at a young age. Certainly if they are a talent at the Naba level. There are rarely exceptions, with the most famous example of course being Yannis, and that's where a very important layer of work comes in - your network. "If someone shows up out of nowhere, there will be someone who will draw your attention to the matter. These are also the people who help find the information about the players when we do the background checks. This network is a very important part of the job."

You're been in the world of scouting for over a decade, has and in what world has this world changed since you came in until today?

"Basketball has made tremendous technological advances in recent years. Once upon a time teams needed someone to send them DVD games from around the world. Today almost any game can be found online. The world is much smaller in terms of ease of communicating with people in all corners of the world. "It is at completely different levels, as is the availability of information. At the physiological level, too, this is a much more advanced world. The physiological measurements of the players are not similar to what they used to be, and here too the availability of information has greatly improved."

Stephen Kerry.

Phenomenon, Photo: AP

You are now joining the Golden State organization.

Tell us a lot about the corporate culture and work practices there, what can you tell us so far?

"I joined a team that is at the top of the league, has reached five finals and won three championships, and there is no one in the organization who walks around with his nose up, as if he invented the game. It's really, really not obvious. It may sound cliché to some people, but until you get into The organization does not know how real this is - it is a team of very smart people, who work very hard and all with modesty and humility that is rare to find in places that have recorded such great successes. I am petty. "

In the Golden State big run, in the middle of the last decade, the Warriors were actually at the forefront of threes and were ahead of the entire league in the number of shots per game, in the ability to get comfortable shots and of course in percentages and effectiveness.

Since then all the teams have jumped on the bandwagon and today it is no longer something that only sets Golden State apart.

But what makes it special?

"Everything you mentioned touched on the offensive side of the game, but miss how good the team's defense is. Even in the biggest years, with all the revolution the club brought to the game on the offensive side, it was a great defensive team. Last season, when the team was not ranked at the top of the league "She was still in the top 5 on the defensive side. This season we are ranked first in defensive efficiency, by a considerable margin from second place. Being able to be in the top of the league on both sides of the field is not something that is easy to find."

If one has to point to one major trend that has been very prominent in the last decade in the

"With your permission I will also add Clay Thompson to the discussion. In the Warriors' games there are sections where the team on the offensive erupts, with Steph or Clay running without a ball and settling into a throwing position. This puts the defense in such a panic .It's always been for me the best example of how they changed the game. Panic worn so basic in a broken game, tells the whole story. It's a different game today. Once throwing a three in a passing game was one of the biggest crimes a player could commit. Today it's the right action. Once throwing from the logo was irresponsible. "In training. You see it at a young age as well. There were and are a lot of great players in NBA history, only a few can say they changed the game."

Clay Thompson, Photo: AFP

Is there a difference in the players Scout is looking for according to the coach on the team or the players who play in it (e.g. near Kerry and Thompson should look for something other than near Anthony Davis and Zion Williamson)?

"Definitely. The idea is not to find good players, but good players who will fit the system and the system. Just because a player does not look good in one team does not mean that he will look bad in another team. The term used to describe those players you mentioned is" complementary players. " Naturally they have to complete what you already have, and if you have guards with tremendous shooting then next to them you need other players than if you have tall ones that are very difficult to stop near the ring. ".

Today in the

"The teams do not look at any market more or less. Our job is to know everyone who needs to know, and it does not matter if he comes from Cameroon, Spain, Illinois or Israel. Israel has released Naba players in the past, it has a presence now and it will in the future. "If there was a certain legitimacy, according to markets, our work would have been much easier. The reality is more random, and the players always come from a different place."

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