Tiktekno, summary of today's events in sports, 25.2/Sport1
In the summer of 2018, after leading Israel's reserve team to win the European Championship and being crowned MVP, Yuval Sussman went on what was supposed to be the safe path to stardom.
From Sani Bacirovic to Milos Teodosic, from Arsen Iliasova to Nikola Mirotic - almost every one of the winners of the tournament's outstanding player award before Sussman, sooner or later became either an NBA player, or a Euroleague star.
Almost six years have passed, and the picture has changed.
If at the end of the 90s and the beginning of the millennium the MVP award predicted with almost 100 percent certainty a bright future in European basketball, today the margin of error seems much larger.
Maybe it has to do with the fact that the tournament was held once a year instead of once every two years, as was customary in the past;
It may be the fact that more and more young talents skip the tournament, after scouts are exposed to them at earlier ages;
One thing is certain: the prestige of the European Championship for reserve teams has decreased, and with it the individual quality of the MVP winners.
While Danny Avdia, the winner of the award in 2019, proves that the tournament is still capable of producing stars on a European scale, Yuval Sussman, who was crowned a year earlier, is emerging as the opposite example.
At the age of 25, and on the eve of the game of the Israel national team against Slovenia (7:00 p.m.), the one who led Israel's reserve team to a historic gold medal win in 2018 with impressive and extraordinary dominance, has not yet broken out, and there is already great doubt if he will.
that's not it.
Sussman/Danny Maron
After leaving the nest at Maccabi Tel Aviv to try to flourish at Alba Berlin, Sussman hoped that the move to Hapoel Jerusalem would be a step down for a step up.
But Sussman's last and worst period, which culminated with a weak game of 0 points, 0 of 2 from the field, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 16 minutes against Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Israeli Classic, illustrated that this is not necessarily the direction.
Sussman hoped to embark on a new journey in the uniform of the Israeli national team and believed that the magic of the reserve days could be restored under the baton of Ariel Beit Lahemi, under whose system he flourished in the summer of 2018. Judging by the first game of the campaign against Portugal, in which Sussman was satisfied with only 3 points, Sussman For many minutes in the second half and when he returned to the last moves in defense, he committed an unnecessary foul that almost cost Israel the game - this is also still a prediction that is far from being realized.
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A lot has changed since then.
Sussman in the reserve uniform/official website, FIBA website
But Sussman is not alone: in fact, he hopes not to duplicate the career script of the two previous MVP players before him.
Mark Garcia, 2016 standout, was at the time a rising talent in Barcelona, and his days as a senior player in the senior team seemed numbered.
In practice, he wandered around Spain, first on loans to Manarsa and Real Betis, then to Fuenlabrada, Burgos and Braugan, and had trouble fulfilling the promise.
Last summer, after another frustrating personal season, he left Spain for the first time and signed with the Polish Dabrova Gornica in an attempt to restart his career at the age of 27.
Garcia does put up impressive numbers and scores 19.9 points per game (ranked third in the league), but it is hard to say that the potential has been realized considering the shuffling of his team In the center of the table in Poland, without a real horizon.
Garcia may get another chance in Spain next season, but it is highly doubtful that he will become the Euroleague star that many saw him as in his youth.
In the video: Mark Garcia stars in Poland
He was followed by another super talent, Vassilis Haralampopoulos.
The versatile and massive forward was marked from a very young age as a future star.
He was named MVP of the European Youth Championship in 2015 after leading the Greek team to gold, and repeated the feat two years later in the uniform of the reserve team.
After receiving a huge contract from Panathinaikos and failing to fit in, he too, like Garcia, fell into the loan routine, first at Pauk Thessaloniki, then at Labrio, and then as an Olympiakos player also at Ionikos.
After already being marked as a flop in Greece, Haralampopoulos tried to open a new page in Italy.
He moved to Venice, continued to Portitudo Bologna and Pesaro, and this season joined Dinamo Cesari, where he recorded a personal record season, approaching a double-digit points average.
Even in his case, the potential has faded, at least for the time being.
Will Sussman follow their path?
It seems that the coming months will be decisive.
It is also possible otherwise.
Avdia/Image processing, Elsa/Getty images
The last ten MVP winners of the European Championship for reserve teams (league averages)
2012: Leo Westermann (Kreilsheim, Germany) - 10.6 points, 4.1 assists
2013: Amadeo Della Valle (Brescia, Italy) - 13.5 points
2014: Jedi Osman (San Antonio Spurs, NBA) - 7 points, 2.5 rebounds
2015: Marco Godoric (Fenerbahce, Turkey) - 8.8 points, 4.2 assists
2016: Mark Garcia (Dbrova Gornice, Poland) - 19.9 points (third in the baskets), 2.8 rebounds
2017: Vassilis Haralampopoulos (Dynamo Sassari, Italy) - 9.6 points, 4 rebounds
2018: Yuval Sussman (Hapoel Jerusalem, Israel) - 8.4 points, 4.8 rebounds
2019: Danny Avdia (Washington Wizards, NBA) - 13.6 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.7 assists
2022: Juan Nunes (Ulm, Germany) - 10.8 points, 5 assists, 3.6 rebounds
2023: Elias Kamardin (Vichy/Clermont, French minor league) - 12.3 points, 3.1 assists
Another MVP who became a senior player.
Marko Godoric/GettyImages, Sonia Canada
All MVP winners in the European Reserve Championship (since 1996)
Rasho Nestrovic
Igor Rakucevic
Sani Bechirovic
Nikos Zisis
Erzam Lorbek
Nikita
Kurbanov Arsen Ilyasova
Milos Theodosic
Miroslav Radoliza Kostas
Papanicolaou
Andrew
Alvesi Nikola Mirotic Leo
Westerman
Amedao
Della Valle Jedi Osman Marko Godoric
Mark
Garcia Vasilis
Harlampopoulos
Yuval Sussman
Danny Abdia
Juan Nunes
Elias Camardin
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