The Youth Premier League will reach its climax tonight (19:30), when Hapoel Tel Aviv and Hapoel Gilboa Springs will open the final series that will be played using the best-of-3 method.
The main goal of the youth departments is to grow and develop players, and eventually lead them to a professional alumni career.
To that end, we asked four basketball players, who are closely following the league, to select the five players who they believe have the highest potential to become legitimate players in the Premier League, and perhaps even more so.
Niv Lampert (18 years old, coordinator, 1.94 m, Gilboa Springs)
Advantages: Excellent game vision and ability to control the pace, reaches the rings efficiently and can also finish with touch.
Good athlete, wonderful sense for the ball in steals, significant on the rebound and excellent on the open field.
Wonderful sense of the ball in steals, Photo: Twitter
Needs improvement: Needs improvement in shooting, it is not clear if he can play near the ball - something that is required of adult players in light of the large number of foreign players.
The defensive game is lacking, needs to reduce the amount of ball losses, and must be physically strengthened to be able to reach the rings with the same efficiency in the big leagues as well.
Ili Dolinsky (17 years old, forward, 2.04 m, Hapoel Tel Aviv)
Advantages: Excellent touch from all ranges, excellent post-up game, able to reach the ring and also throw from the post. Long first step, offensive movement and has a good sense of blocks and offensive rebound.
Excellent post-up game, Photo: Twitter
Needs improvement: plays today in positions 5-4 and should aim for
4-3 in the seniors.
Must improve physically and work on athleticism.
Has a bit of heavy legs on defense and needs to upgrade his shooting, ball control and choice of shots.
Also, if he works on it, he has the ability to roll in a pick-n-roll in to finish near the ring and not just out for a shot.
Ben Sharaf (16 years old, guard, 1.96 m, Emek Hefer)
Advantages: Game vision and delivery ability at the highest level, probably in relation to his height.
Timing is excellent as a morale in a standing attack and also in an open field, a good dedication choice.
Excellent shooting, both from catch and from dribbling, and no less important - high confidence in shooting.
Boasts good ball control and unique game understanding.
Ben Sharaf's highlight from the game against Serbia (did not play in the last quarter because he came out with 5 fouls).
Mentions that he is the smallest of the year of all.
recommended!!
pic.twitter.com/O2Yj5qHiYl
- Ido Yitzhaki (@ido_itzchaky) August 19, 2021
Needs improvement: is a definite leftist who is delivered almost exclusively on the left, and must improve the ability to produce and deliver with the right hand.
It is difficult to finish in the ring in front of players who are bigger than him and also to keep athletes athletic and agile from him, so one has to improve physically and work on athleticism.
Also, one should also know how to play near the ball in preparation for the alumni career that awaits him.
Game vision and delivery ability at the highest level, Photo: Twitter
Omar Meyer (16 years old, guard, 1.90 m, Maccabi Tel Aviv)
Advantages: Impressive physical abilities, athletic and well built with strong legs. Knows how to use his power, shakes players while moving to the ring, and also knows how to stop for a shot from half distance. Finish close and far from the ring with both hands, right who prefers to go left.A good open field player who knows how to utilize his speed and power and also keeps the ball well.
Impressive physical abilities, Photo: Twitter
Needs improvement: A good shot from the outside, but mostly takes shots that are comfortable for him - must improve the shooting from all situations and vary it.
Sometimes has difficulty making decisions in complex situations.
More work needs to be done on the technique, due to the fact that in adulthood the power will be less pronounced, and it will have to produce more than a dribble.
5 seconds to finish.
Omar Mayer from Maccabi Tel Aviv against Ben Sharaf from Hapoel Emek Hefer, two of Israel's future players in a one - on - one process over winning the State Cup for boys A.
This time Meyer's hand was on the top and he gave Maccabi Tel Aviv the trophy by Yoram Kaufman pic.twitter.com/kgVzP3Wte4
- The Israeli Basketball Association (@TherealIBBA) April 12, 2022
Amit Menachem (18 years old, guard, 1.87 m, Maccabi Haifa)
Advantages: An exceptional athlete, in terms of the ability to jump to heights and distances, and also in terms of length and speed of steps.
It is very difficult to stop him in an open field, reaches the basket easily and knows very well how to handle contact and finish inside the guard's body.
Knows how to take advantage of any space given to him to reach the ring.
Has a high awareness of available players, and needs scenes around to be effective.
A good defensive player.
Extraordinary athlete, Photo: Twitter
Needs improvement: Not bad shooting at the percentage level, but the technique is still not good enough.
Thanks to the athletic advantage the season has achieved a lot of available and comfortable situations that have helped him maintain a very high shooting percentage, but at the senior level he will need a better shooting technique.
Also, the delivery capacity needs improvement.
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