The Guardian of the Rings: The change of direction behind Maccabi Tel Aviv's choice of Alex Poiters

His numbers are not glittering, he is not a classic chin and his big break has not yet arrived.

But the Yellows' new foreigner fits Oded Katash's method, playing for a successful team and gaining immense trust from Xavi Pascual ("When he's on the pitch, you feel safe")

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21/06/2022

Tuesday, 21 June 2022, 10:55

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We ticked off: Today's summary clip, 21.6 (Sports 1)

Arrison Harrison buried a big three, 5.7 seconds to finish the semifinals of the 2014 College Tournament, and gave the signal for a celebration on the hardwood.

Kentucky defeated Wisconsin 73:74, and all the Wildcats players jumped and roared in a spontaneous and happy pile.

Only when the players got up did the medical staff realize that one of the players was sitting and grabbing his knee in a strange way.

It was Alex Poiters, and at first everything seemed fine.

He recovered from the injury and advanced to the final 48 hours later, where he lost with his team to Connecticut.

A few months later he went up to the layup in training, landed badly on the leg and tore the cruciate ligament.

So far he has been waiting for the big break, and so far she has not arrived.

He hopes this will happen in the next two years at Maccabi Tel Aviv, where he signed today (Tuesday).

More on Walla!

Alex Poiters signed for two years with Maccabi Tel Aviv

To the full article

Completely different from Žižić and Reynolds.

Alex Poiters in Zenit St. Petersburg (Photo: Reuters)

"The fear and apprehension that Alex has now and for us, it's just killing you," John Cliffy said candidly about Poiters' injury in Kentucky.

He returned for the 2015/16 season, his last in college, and collaborated with young Jamal Marie.

Although his numbers already matched a quality senior, the Wildcats were eliminated as early as the second round, and his NBA dream took a serious hit when he was not selected in the draft.

He tried to reach the best league in the world through the back door of the G-League, and got his first chance in 2017 in Philadelphia and Indiana.

At the end of the year he got a standard contract, but only got 4.2 minutes per game at the Pacers.

In 2019 he moved to Atlanta on a two-way contract, scoring 5.1 points in 21 appearances, and again stood out mostly in the Development League.

In the summer of 2019 he signed in China, but after a short period asked to leave, and Glatsray joined him.

He managed to register a good three months in Istanbul before the Corona interrupted the season, but that was enough to get Xavi Pascual to land him in St. Petersburg.

"He's a player who gives you a lot of things on the pitch," the Catalan coach said.

"He's not the greatest scorer, but when he's on the field, you feel confident in his actions."

"With our money, it's hard to compete for the really dominant highs."

David Blatt and Xavi Pascual (Photo: Official Website, Action Images)

In the two years he played for Zenit, Poiters never exploded.

His career highs include 21 points, 11 rebounds and an index of 27. He has never scored a hat-trick in the Euroleague, and has not even reached once in more than 30 minutes.

His two-year Euroleague averages are not exciting at all - 8.3 points, 4.2 rebounds, 0.6 blocks and 0.7 assists in 19 minutes.

So what did Maccabi Tel Aviv find in him?

First and foremost, High defensively well after a season in which its inside players, Ante Žižić and Jaylen Reynolds, were far from excelling in this aspect.

In addition, he is a player who better suits the modern style of play, who knows how to block in pick and roll and play over the ring.

For coach Oded Katash, who has had tall ones of this type bloomed over the years, Poyters should fit like a glove next to.

Maccabi is following Poiters from his first season in Russia, and was thinking of bringing him in even before Reynolds returned the previous summer.

At the India club this week that it is very possible that "Alex de Great", as he calls himself on his Twitter account, would have chosen to stay for another season with Pascual in the VTB champions, if only she had played in the Euroleague, but when conditions changed, he became relevant to the team immediately .

"With our money, it is very difficult to compete for the really dominant highs in the Euroleague, and to be honest it does not always prove itself," said one of the Maccabi men over the past week. "In the style of Žižić".

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