The 2022/23 season, which will start this weekend, will be marked by a record number of Israeli teams that will play in European establishments and the large number of foreigners that will fill the Premier League.
For this reason, at the Israel Hayom offices, we gathered four former players, some of the greats who dribbled on the basketball courts in Israel, for a joint conversation about the state of the industry: Meir Tapiro, Shimon Amsalem, Pepi Turgeman and Ben Reiss.
Moshe ben Simhon
The first thing we asked to hear from the distinguished panel members was the key statement of each of them for the new season.
Tapiro:
"One of the things I look forward to at the start of every season is to see which Israeli will break through and be dominant in Israeli basketball in the years to come."
tapir
Israeli Shiprotz, photo: Gideon Markovich
Reyes:
"I would like to see less train traffic of foreigners in the league. As a fan, it is easier for me to connect with teams that leave foreigners for a few years. I see many teams that replaced all their foreigners; on the other hand, I see Hapoel Tel Aviv, which left its Israeli base and part from the foreigners, and she looks better and more ready for the season. It's easier to connect with them emotionally."
Rice.
Fewer movements of foreigners, photo: Gideon Markovich
Turgeman:
"I wish to myself that they will be able to restore my desire to watch basketball first of all, I almost don't watch basketball anymore. The games in the league don't interest me. To see this amount of Americans, I can watch NBA and I will enjoy it more."
"I played for a few years, went through several national teams. If I'm not interested in Israeli basketball, there's a problem. Hapoel Tel Aviv, for example, made me want to buy a subscription this season. They brought back a domestic player who was identified with the club, and if they had less foreigners I would have more More desire. I wish we could see icons one more time, I wish they would restore my desire to want to watch basketball."
interpreter.
Just want to get back to enjoying yourself, photo: Gideon Markovich
Amsalem:
"Pepi said a great thing. You don't see our generation on the courts. At young ages, basketball flourishes, and amazing things happen. It is when you reach adult age, that you see that the managers have built themselves a private league. In my opinion, the agreement between the administration and the union is important for the future of Israeli basketball. states that in the coming years there will be 14 teams in the league."
"Everyone wants to reduce the number of teams and fines, I say that we should do exactly the opposite - increase the number of league teams and increase the fine for the fifth foreigner. Our main goal should be the promotion of the Israeli player. That is what we are working for, because the direction in which Israeli basketball has been going in recent years is Not good".
Islam
I believe that the agreement will be good, photo: Gideon Markovich
"The team reflected what is happening in the league"
like all the basketball fans in Israel, Tapiro, Amsalem and the other members also sat frustrated in front of the screen during the last Eurobasket, when they saw how one of the talented generations we had could not even get past the group stage.
Amsalem:
"We need to think about how we don't lose Israeli basketball, it's all a question of balance. We came to the European Championship with the best squad that has been here in the last 15 years, and we didn't go through a phase because today all the players are complements and not leaders. We want to produce Players who will be symbols of a team."
Turgeman:
"They say that the Israelis are not athletic or not good enough, and that is not true. The team did not succeed, not because there are no players. The team reflected what is happening in the league. You have to build a team like you build a team with key players, central players, players energy".
"In countries like Serbia, etc., when players like Dani Abedia and Yam Medar grow up, they are given the keys to the teams. In the NBA, they take 18-year-olds from the draft, and turn them into key players in teams worth 2 billion dollars. I saw Danny Abedia sitting on the bench in a critical game, so When will he be a key player?"
Tapiro:
"There are many reasons why the team did not succeed, many young players who have never been to the European Championship and lack experience. This is one of the main reasons for what we saw.
A group with a glorious past, photo: Gideon Markovich
So what can we improve? How do we do that even after the transition from young ages, we will have leading and central players?
Reyes:
"Compared to the other members, I actually think that the situation today is good and improving compared to a few years ago. Since I retired in 2014, the situation has improved, and I want to say a good word: the decision to drop the Final Four and the decision to limit the number of foreigners, these were correct decisions in my opinion. I do see more young people playing today than I did in my time, because they lowered the number of foreigners."
"But if you want us to improve even more, then the answer is playing minutes. We need to make a positive preference for Israeli players. There is a built-in problem here with taxation, or the fact that in the first three years we can't earn money (because of the army). At 18 I can't go play in Ljubljana Or in Gran Canaria and stay here for three years and beg to be given a place in training in one of the teams."
Turgeman:
"It is very important that the players be at least in the top ten in training from the beginning. The biggest improvement you make is through training, when you play with senior and experienced Israeli players and with good foreigners. What branch of work in Israel would allow 60 percent foreign workers? Anything could happen in high-tech such a?".
The panel in its entirety, photo: Gideon Markovich
"I told him: maybe the Israeli coach is lazy?"
According to the former players, one of the reasons for the deterioration of the Israeli player's condition is precisely the behavior of the Israeli coaches.
"For years, the Israeli coaches did not help the Israeli player, because they thought that with foreigners they could be more successful," says Turgeman.
"Only in recent years, when the teams started bringing in foreign coaches, they started to feel a little what the Israeli players felt over the years. They started to understand that the foreign coaches are a bluff."
Tapiro:
"If you already mentioned the foreign coaches, note that most of the foreign coaches gave more space and opportunities to the Israeli players than the Israeli coaches. For example, an Israeli player has a better chance with a foreign coach than with an Israeli coach."
Turgeman says:
"I once had an argument with a senior coach, who told me that the Israeli player was lazy. I said to him: Maybe the Israeli coach is lazy? I did not come from a sports culture that trains all day. I came to a team from the neighborhood, and from the first moment the coach had to tell me, 'On the day First you have shooting practice, on Monday you spend a few hours in the gym.' Instead, they trust the players to work on their own."
Tapiro claims: the foreign coaches gave the Israelis more opportunities, photo: Gideon Markovitch
"There is a system here that has been crooked for years"
Contrary to what the former players and also the active players say, there are many factors in the industry who believe that the Israeli players have a great responsibility for the situation they are in.
The managements claim that the financial demands of some of them are very high, in clubs from the north and the south they say that many players are not at all ready to hear offers from them, and the claims that the players are spoiled are also news for the morning.
When we asked about it, Turgeman got angry.
"It's like having a family with problematic children and you blame the children."
Amsalem interrupts him: "An excellent example."
And Turgeman continues: "There is a system here that has been crooked for years, and what we are seeing now are the results. We need to see how to balance the situation."
Tapiro:
"It's clear that the Israeli player has responsibility for his moves and steps, and he can't complain to anyone about his decisions. In our time, we earned much more money than today's players. With $100,000 in the past, you could buy an apartment, and today you can't With that, even a room. So the groups' claim about the money is incorrect."
Turgeman: "It's like having a family with problematic children and you blame the children", photo: Gideon Markovitch
The Ministry of Sports has to decide: only four foreigners in each team
At the end of the conversation we asked the former players to suggest their correct format for the Premier League.
Reiss:
"You can't ask the teams to think ahead, because they think about survival and how each one succeeds. That's why the decision has to come from above, from the state. The Minister of Sports, from the basketball association. Let them make a sweeping decision - there are four foreigners in each team. If the administration is allowed to be responsible For that, the situation will not change. We have a lot of potential, there just needs to be a decision from above."
Tapiro:
"There needs to be a fixed method and path in the league, how to integrate the young players and build a large Israeli community around the industry. We need to give incentives to the small teams so that more young people participate. Maccabi Tel Aviv is looking at the Euroleague, so bring as many foreigners as it wants. Even so, the Israelis already They don't want to go there, because they understand that they won't play in Europe and will just fill holes in the league."
"I agree with Ben. There needs to be a decision from above, that teams that receive public money must follow the guidelines that will be received - four foreigners. That way we can take care of the thousands of children who play basketball in Israel. If it is decided that all the teams have a private owner who finances the team and does not receive public money, So let ten foreigners register or as many as they want."
Tomer Givati, Avi Segal and Yaakov Meir, photo: Gideon Markovich
Amsalem:
"Equality and correct branding of Israeli basketball more in the direction of Europe, and less American basketball. It is clear to us that we will not go back and return to two foreigners, but four foreigners for all teams with a lot of minutes for the Israelis, this is a solution that everyone can live with. We need to make two stations for the exchange of Foreigners during the season, so that there will be no confusion with the players who change and allow the registration of six-seven foreigners for each team in the season."
"Stop looking at how much the Israelis earn, how much they want. After years of research we have done, the Israeli player earns the least in world basketball. Today, an Israeli player from the top of the league earns about a million dollars and a little in ten years, which is the least in the world.
"All the players here can't to buy an apartment, and that means Israeli basketball has failed.
If we fail to get people out of the industry who can make a decent living - that means we have failed and that something is broken."
were we wrong
We will fix it!
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