A mistake, they are wrong, we were wrong: the mistakes made by Israel on the way to the moment of truth in EuroBasket
Along with the hope for new heights, the team is once again on the verge of relegation: the preparation was at a low level, the integration of Avdia into the force took a toll, the naturalization issue was mishandled and the rotation of Goodes caused restlessness.
Is she able to overcome the problems and qualify for the round of 16?
Almond light
08/09/2022
Thursday, 08 September 2022, 11:00
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Tikteknu: today's summary clip, 7.9 (Sport1)
Five years have passed since Israel's failure in the home European Championship, and throughout this long time the basketball association has been building on the correction that will come with the new and shiny generation born in the industry.
But tonight (Thursday, 6:30 p.m.) the team will once again face the abyss;
A victory over the Czech Republic in Prague will advance them to the round of 16 as in 2015, but a loss could put the dream aside and lead to their elimination in the first stage - for the fifth time in the last six tournaments.
Poor preparation against unworthy opponents
Israel held five training games in preparation for the tournament, and it seems that only Ukraine (which is under war) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (which suffers from serious budget problems) had less quality preparation than it.
She had two games in Georgia, one of which did not feature Toku Shenglia, and both of which Guga Bitadeza was absent, and apart from them she only met Romania and Auburn College.
The team won all five games, and what did they achieve in them?
Nothing, probably.
Reality slapped her already in the double loss in the World Cup qualifiers.
The national team had difficulties in setting preparatory games.
Her desire to participate in the Acropolis tournament in Athens was rejected by the Greeks, but a look at the quality preparation that the young teams made for their good summer shows that more could have been achieved with better opponents.
In addition, Israel suffered quite a few absences in the month of the run (Danny Avdia with Corona, Gal Mekel due to a family situation, Rafi Manko due to injury and more).
One of the team's players said before leaving for Prague that "it took us time to make adjustments from what we trained on, including in the preparatory games, to the level of our current opponents."
Ido Kojikro said to Walla!
A sport that he believes "was better to play against the youth team than against Romania".
And one of the professionals who worked on the team in previous championships revealed: "In the past we used to match training opponents with championship opponents, and this time it was like nothing."
0:5 in preparation is nice, but these games did not give the team any tools.
Yuval Sussman against Romania (Photo: Audi Tsitiat)
Avdia starred at the expense of the others?
The main story surrounding the team is Abdiya.
Until the summer, Washington's player managed to register only three appearances in the seniors, and he made it clear in advance that he would appear for the campaign in the summer.
The Wizards refused to release him to the window during the MundoBasket qualifiers in June, when other NBA stars were actually playing, and his inclusion in the framework was postponed and shortened even more.
For a whole month there has been talk in Israel about bringing Avdia into matters within the team fabric, something that finally happened in the championship - but probably at the expense of the team game.
His infection with Corona caused him to miss three of the five preparatory games, when he returned he had two weak performances against Finland and Sweden, and finally he took over the team's attack in victories over Finland and the Netherlands in Prague.
"The Israeli national team hasn't played big basketball for almost a year, but there was team basketball, a lot of players knew what their place was and thrived on it," says one member of the national team.
"When you bring in a character like Danny, and everyone wants him to succeed and works for him, it has a price. In two preparation games and two more Mundobasket games, it's hard to change everything."
Avdia added tension to the team when it comes to handling around.
Hundreds of fans waited for the young star after the preparatory games held in Tel Aviv, and made the players come out of side exits.
His dominance and the attempt to get him into things did not go down well with some of the players either - causing some to show dissatisfaction.
Not all the players accepted his status with equanimity.
Danny Avdia (photo: official website, FIBA)
The renunciation of naturalization
Even before the end of the season, representatives of the basketball association met with Maccabi Tel Aviv and John DiBartholomew, and agreed on his inclusion in the Eurobasket naturalized slot.
The guard flew abroad before the June window and received permission to join the preparation late, when he already has experience in the team's games with a good ability from the previous windows.
In practice, already in the first week of the team's training, talks began to be heard about the possibility that DiBartolomeu would be removed from the final squad. He was marked as one of the question marks , and aside from one good game in Georgia in the preseason, he didn't get many minutes and it doesn't seem like they are trying to work for him, as they have worked for other dominant nationals in the past.
Other options among the existing citizens were not really on the table - not Max Heidegger, not Spencer Weiss and not Will Reiman.
The idea of making a player who is not related to Israel a citizen (as is practiced in most European countries) came up in the last two years, but was not carried out - unlike what was done in the women's team with Jenny Sims.
One of the names that came up was Drew Crawford, who married an Israeli, but he remained just an idea.
When the time came to decide, DiBartolomeu saw that his position in the team was not good.
When he didn't dress for the game against Sweden, he already asked to return to Maccabi.
While most teams in the championship have a citizen who strengthens them, Israel gave up hers.
There are no leading actors and no walking with a fixed thought.
Guy Goodes (Photo: Reuters)
Lack of hierarchy on the court, unrest on the bench
Already with the announcement of the final squad for Eurobasket, there were claims that coach Guy Goodes made a mistake when he did not include players who would equably receive their marginal share as non-senior substitutes.
In practice, Idan Zalmanson was marked as one who should not play too much already in the preparation, and he did become the 12th player.
This is how an illusory situation was created.
On the eve of the game against the Czech Republic, Israel stands on a minutes distribution that shows that there are no leading players and no walking with a fixed mindset.
Avdia plays almost 32 minutes per evening, followed by seven players between 18 and 21.5 minutes and another four players (including Jake Cohen and Roman Sorkin, who were marked in advance as significant) with 12.4 to 14.8 minutes.
Many players have found themselves benched in at least one game, returning for many minutes in the next game, and disappearing while playing other games.
Goodes did not go with a regular rotation, which caused confusion and also eventually criticism from some of the players about the situation.
The restlessness in the team does not stem solely from the situation on the floor.
Even before the trip, some of the players pointed out various problems, but this is not an unusual situation - and these squeaks were also familiar from previous years.
Most national teams have a citizen who strengthens them, and Israel gave up hers.
John DiBartholomew (Photo: Bernie Ardov)
Disappearance of players within the method
Most of the players in the squad already had a significant role in the good and positive basketball that Israel presented under Oded Ketch in the Eurobasket qualifiers, when it beat, among others, Poland (to whom it lost twice this summer) and Spain.
Cohen, Tamir Blatt, Yuval Sussman - all have already proven that they are capable of looking good in the team's matches.
So what happened that many of the players went backwards?
Except for one quarter against Serbia, Cohen was non-existent.
Sussman played well in attack only against the Poles, Blatt found himself sidelined in the loss to Serbia, Tomer Ginat was forgotten in other games and so was Sorkin.
"Apart from Guy Panini and Gal Mekel, for all of them this is their first European Championship, and most of the players here have not faced players of this level at all until today," explains a member of the team.
"To be surprised that what went in the qualifiers against teams without Euroleague and NBA players didn't work now? It's not a huge surprise, but we expected certain players to go forward and it didn't always happen."
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