The 70-year-old king: Moti Arwasti interviews Miki Berkovich/Ahrle Weisberg, photography: Yotam Ronen, editing: Gilad Mann-Manheim
There are easy topics to write about, and there are topics that you don't write about wholeheartedly, for fear that the trigger for the article will be damaged.
This is one of those cases.
According to the people who have known him throughout his career, Benya Seror is a good guy who invests, trains and makes an effort, doesn't complain much and just tries to do his job.
The next article may present him somewhere in a negative light, but that is also part of the profession;
If the fact that led to its writing was a little less dramatic, it seems that it would not have been written.
Currently, on the eve of the home game against Ironi Nes Ziona (21:00), Seror, Maccabi Ramat Gan's only Israeli center, is 2 of 27 this season from the penalty box.
7.4%
In Israeli basketball, there were bad free kicks, ones that were considered iconically bad, but such an unusual statistic - we did not find it.
The figure that Seror puts up makes him the worst free kick shooter in the Premier League in growth basketball since the systematic statistical documentation began in the last 35 years;
He is ranked last among 1,561 players who have reached the line at least ten times in this extended period.
Not an easy topic to write about.
Benya Seror and the percentages of the penalties/image processing, from the league administration
Benya Seror (24) grew up in the youth department of Hapoel Gilboa/Ma'ain, and advanced to the seniors in Gilboa/Galil even before he was 20 years old under the late coach Lior Liubin. From the beginning he was marked as a tough fighter under the rings, a player who thanks to his impressive build (2.08 meters) gives A war against foreign centers as well. Offensively, on the other hand, things didn't go so well.
Saror scored most of his points on dunks or in the rim area. Opponents quickly discovered that he had a problem from the free throw line, and started sending him there. In his first season, things didn't look so bad yet - 6 of 12 in the regular league, which dropped to 1 of 5 in the playoffs. In the 2020/21 season, he already reached the line much more, and missed much more. 10 of 35 (28.6%) in the league, along with a big improvement in the playoffs, 6 of 8, including 4 of 6 in game number 2 in the playoff final against Maccabi Tel Aviv.
The sequel was less good. In the 2021/22 season, Seror was 6 of 28 from the line in the regular league and 0 of 7 in the playoffs. Last season, when Gilboa was relegated to the league national team, hit 6 of 20. And the season? The departure from Magen Ner to Zisman didn't change the picture either. He started with 2 of 3 against Kiryat Ata City, but missed the next three shots - and since then he has added 21 more fouls; a total of His streak is 0-for-24. Seasonal stat: 2-for-27.
And in total in his career in the Premier League, to date: 30 of 122, 24.6%.
Anyone who hasn't watched Saror throw a free throw, doesn't understand how he stands on such a dismal figure.
His technique is very unorthodox, and is more like dribbling the ball than shooting.
The result, as mentioned, accordingly.
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At least he's in good company.
Shaquille "Hack a Shaq" O'Neal, 52.7% career/GettyImages, Tom Hauck
The database of the league administration concerns penalty kicks starting from the 1989/90 season.
Few hit less than 40% in a season, when among the foreigners the list includes Reggie Upshaw, Simi Shito, Damon Simpson and Deandra Kane, and among the Israelis Terry Fair, Ofer Fleischer followed by his son Ido Fleischer, Dodo Asraf, Lior Eliyahu and Or Solomon for several seasons , and Tal Dan.
Some of those players dipped below 30% on the season, but none came close to Saror's 2-for-27.
At the high European level there are quite a few players who are identified with bad penalty percentages.
Since the establishment of the EuroLeague, the player who "managed" to achieve the weakest figure for an entire season is the Slovenian Gaspar Vidmar, who in 2009 stuck with Fenerbahce at 36%.
The same Vidmar almost broke his own record, when he presented 37% in a Besiktas uniform in 2013 in the senior factory, and in 2016 he set the lowest record in the Eurocup as well - 31% with Banvit.
A notable player who did not excel from the line was the Argentinian Fabricio Oberto, who in one season in the Euroleague was 38%, and his career average is only 42%.
The name associated with poor free-throw shooting in the NBA, and has actually become an icon in the field, is Shaquille O'Neal.
The career average of "Hack a Shaq" was 52.7%, and in his worst season (2007) he hit only 42% in Miami.
The lowest career percentage belongs to Ben Wallace at just 41.4%, including a season low of 33.6%.
The record for fouls per game in the NBA is held by Andre Drummond, who currently plays for the Chicago Bulls, and sent 26 shots to the wrong address in one evening.
Drummond has been on the rise in recent years, but at the beginning of his career he recorded a season of only 35.5%.
In recent times, the center of attention in Europe has been the center Angel Delgado, who played in the past for Hapoel Holon and currently appears for Besiktas in the Eurocup.
A few weeks ago he threw two airballs off the line, and went viral.
Since coming out of college, Delgado hasn't been able to hit 40 percent from the field for a season, but he hasn't dropped below 30 percent either.
This photo was not taken after a free throw.
Gaspar Vidmar, the worst in Euroleague history/Reuters
We tried to talk this week with some former Israeli basketball players who became identified with low penalty percentages.
Most of them are still carrying the burden, and preferred not to be interviewed on the subject.
The one who did agree to speak was Tal Dan, who finished his career with an average of 48.8% and more than 400 fouls from the line.
"I can testify for myself that I didn't have a technical problem, but more of a mental problem," admits Dan, the symbol of Nes Ziona.
"I would finish training with 49 out of 50 from the line, come to the game and feel like the whole world is sitting on my shoulders, and the ball doesn't go in."
During his career Dan tried to make some changes.
"I worked with shooting coaches, with coaches, and nothing helped. I would come to practice first, to throw, and leave last. Coming to the game, and the ball wouldn't go in. It was frustrating. The opposing teams would intentionally foul to send me to the line, And I would get rid of the ball in the last minutes so that they wouldn't send me there. It was on my mind the whole time."
- As someone who has been through this, do you have any advice for sorting?
"You have to know how to let go, take weight off each shot. When you realize that not every shot is the most important, then it makes everything easier."
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Maccabi Ramat Gan