The Israeli national team will want to forget the World Championship qualifying campaign, and quickly.
With a negative balance of 8:4 and a lot of disappointments along the way, it is clear to all that the results did not match the expectations at all.
However, the dismal campaign ended on a good note, mainly thanks to one man - Noam Ya'akov.
One of the prodigies of Israeli basketball signed with Hapoel Jerusalem in light of Noam Doveret's injury, and immediately proved that he is worthy of the Premier League.
From week to week, he received more and more responsibility from Aleksandar Džikić, which also led to a call-up to the senior Israeli national team.
"Noam Yaakov is just as good as Mim Madar, and can already play in the Euroleague"
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The debut was last Friday, against Finland.
The 18-year-old center came off the bench, got 19 minutes and responded with 12 points, rebounds and two assists, before going out with five fouls.
Last night (Monday) he was already upgraded to 27 minutes against Slovenia, and was one of the best players on the floor.
Yaakov again changed the momentum, provided 18 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals, and was an important part of the Israeli victory.
"Both the team and the players helped me a lot, it's not always easy to get a young player and they did an amazing job," said the young coordinator at the end.
"I knew there were good players in the team and I was sure I could fit in."
"A superstar in the making. Israel got a glimpse of a bright future when 18-year-old Noam Yaakov flirted with a triple double," tweeted the FIBA Twitter account. "What a player!" added FIBA broadcaster Jeff Taylor.
The scout Ander Isokiza tweeted: "Is Noam Yaakov the new Yam Madar?"
As I recall, last summer Yaakov starred in the European Youth Championship, ranking second in the tournament in points per game (19.3), and he did so with extraordinary efficiency - he had 47.1 percent from the field (sixth place in the championship), and 39.3 percent from outside the arc (eighth place in the championship) - all this Along with 6 assists per game (first place in the championship) and 6 rebounds per game (15th place in the championship).
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Noam Yaakov
Israel basketball team