With the signing of Jarl Martin, Maccabi Tel Aviv completed its squad for the upcoming season yesterday (Monday). There are still 2-3 decisions left regarding sub-players, but the skeleton of the team is already built and ready.
First of all aim for speed.
In mid-June there was no group at all other than Roman Sorkin, and here in less than three weeks a group stands here on its feet.
Maccabi will not display any superstar in its roster.
Neither Mike James nor Nick Callathis are here, nor are Nando de Colo, although all three are some of the big names still on the market and have been mentioned as candidates.
What Maccabi has is a bunch of good and proven players.
6 out of 8 foreigners have Euroleague experience.
Seventh (Bonzi Coulson) with three seasons of European experience.
There are almost no gambles on the foreign squad, except for Jarl Martin who has never played in Europe.
Earl Martin.
Small gamble, Photo: From Twitter
The speed with which the group was built was not at the expense of thought.
It has a lot of quality, and a clear line to the offensive style of play and defensive tendencies.
There is mostly a statement here: what was is not what will be.
Maccabi has moved as far away as possible from the type of teams it has had in recent years.
It has been said here before, if Maccabi had replaced all the staff except Scotty Wilbkin, this would not have been a fundamental revolution.
The style would have remained, only the mantle around the big star would have changed.
Once Wilbkin is no longer yellow, it is a completely different story, because from now on Maccabi is no longer built on one player, from whom everything begins and everything ends.
Wilbkin.
Maccabi Tel Aviv is no longer a one-man team, Photo: Alan Shiber
Discussions on the coordinator's position will end this season.
In recent years there has been constant talk about whether Wilbkin is a coordinator or whether he needs a coordinator next to him.
This created a not-so-simple problem in the most important position on the field.
Maccabi is reacting towards the next season with two real coordinators and at a very high level: Wade Baldwin and Lorenzo Brown.
From betting on this position move to an insurance agency.
On the other hand, in this decision a hand is still a small gamble, because there are quite a few players on the roster who can score from the outside, but it does not have a large natural shot.
The walk on the two coordinators meant that there was no second guard on the squad with safe shooting.
Maccabi preferred another ball delivery over top shots.
The question is whether this will create an outdoor shooting problem.
The new staff is very athletic, with diverse players who can play from more than one position and will be very deep.
The face positions have significant athleticism (Nibo and Powers) and there will be a lot of Hall of Fame.
On the other hand, they are not both goal-scoring players, not ones in whom you can put the ball inside and go down to the defense.
Defensively this staff is also much improved than it was last season.
Now the question is how Oded Katash will connect the bunch full of talent and options.
Tomer Ginat.
Prefer Hapoel Tel Aviv, Photo: Oded Karni
And what a line there is not in next season's team.
There is no line for the Israeli players.
There has been no big move this summer on a blue and white player.
Moves of signing players like Yam Madar or Tamir Blatt, or returning Yuval Sussman (it should be noted: everyone has contracts abroad next season) could be in a big line in the field of Israelis.
The only attempt to go big on an Israeli actor was Tomer Ginat and he did not materialize.
Maccabi remains in a format of 8 foreigners as in recent years.
Israelis will continue to play a secondary role.
Were we wrong?
Fixed!
If you found an error in the article, we would love for you to share it with us
