Not the same Katash, not the same Maccabi: on the difference in the appointment of the coach to that of 2007

More experienced, elsewhere in life and already withstood the pressures.

Expecting at least, coming after a bad season and aiming for other things ("no one thinks we're rushing to win the Euroleague)".

15 years after the unsuccessful match between them, how will the coach's comeback to the Yellows end?

Almond light

19/06/2022

Sunday, June 19, 2022, 12:00 p.m.

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David Blatt with Nikola Vujicic and Avi Even after returning to Maccabi Tel Aviv (Instagram Maccabi Tel Aviv)

At the beginning of June 2007, Maccabi Tel Aviv was at a significant crossroads.

A year after the dynasty of Pini Gershon and David Blatt ended and after a reasonable season under Nevan Spahija, which ended without a trophy, but with a championship and playoff in the Euroleague where the team stopped against CSKA Moscow before reaching the Final Four. Oded Katash.

Katash of 2007 was a young coach, 33 years old in total, after 3 quite successful years of training at Hapoel Galil Elyon, two appearances in the semi-finals of the league, and good work with the team's youngsters. A few years ago, it ended with a complete collapse, dismissals after less than three months, and a continuation of a season with the professional manager / CEO Zvika Sharaf, a season that ended with finals in the Euroleague, the National Cup and the league, but without a title.

15 years later, Oded Katash returns to the position of coach at Yad Eliyahu, is there any hope that it will end differently?

Probably so.

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To the full article

Total collapse.

Oded Katash in the previous term at Maccabi Tel Aviv (Photo: Berni Ardov)

Let's start with the obvious.

Oded Katash of 2022 is first and foremost a man and a much more experienced coach than the one who coached Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2007.

It's doubtful he's caught up in inappropriate things like he's caught that season, and he's unlikely to be a critic of his pastimes or snooker games, things that were very mainstream at the time.

"At the level of conduct, it's a completely different ketchup," says one of his close friends.

Since the unsuccessful episode in Yad Eliyahu, Katsch has managed to win a championship with Gilboa / Galil, lead Hapoel Jerusalem to two appearances in the final 8 of the FIBA ​​Champions League and win the state cup in 2020, register a pretty big success at Hapoel Eilat and raise the Israeli team to Eurobasket From the World Championships, he also failed on the red side of Tel Aviv.

But what makes the people of Maccabi Tel Aviv believe in the current Katash more than before is the success in Jerusalem, especially in the days when the Yellows put a big team in front of him in 2019/20, and the fact that he also had a reasonable term in Panathinaikos.

"Oded went through more than a thing or two in his career that proved he was fit for a higher level, and wherever he went he had his fingerprint," Yad Eliyahu said in recent days, "if we leave the emotional issue for a moment, the fact that he is connected to us and our audience "Very fond of him and connected to Elion, he worked in some very stressful systems, and recorded nice successes so it's really not like the last time, that he came here as an inexperienced coach, as a kind of rockstar. This time he comes thanks to his record as a coach, and not as a meteor." .

The success in Jerusalem convinced Maccabi Tel Aviv that it was ready.

Oded Katash (Photo: Lilach Weiss Rosenberg)

If it is a different ketchup, when it comes to experience, it is also a different Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Maccabi Tel Aviv version 2007 was a team that was very close to its big years in the Euroleague, and the fact that it also ended that season with a loss in the final.

The ambitions were very high, the stars, Nikola Vujicic, Will Bynum, Marcus Pfizer, were the ones who raised the bar of expectations, and into this environment came a coach lacking any experience at a high European level capable of anything.

Although Maccabi Tel Aviv in the 2022 version arrives after a season in which it was in the Euroleague playoffs, it was neither in the final of the league nor in the cup, and is very far from the European top.

The Yellows do not hold a golden generation of players, and are looking for a process of rebuilding.

"The current expectations and the expected pressure are much more sane," agrees one of the Maccabi Tel Aviv players. "Especially in light of the fact that Oded was under pressure in the last places he coached."

And despite the feeling that the pressure is going down a bit, Maccabi Tel Aviv version 2022 does not want to tolerate mediocrity.

The Yellows will not be ready for a season like the 2020/21 season, so they were not in the picture of the playoff chances from the February area, and will try to build a team that will give hope the following season as well.

What Maccabi is not yet ready to hear, after the failure in the local framework this season, is about the continued loss of power in Israel.

"What is important after a season like this is also to be successful in the league and in the cup," the club says, "We believe that together with Oded and strengthening the Israeli staff, we can do it."

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