Yotam Halperin returns to Maccabi

Return of the prodigal son..



Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv is happy to announce that Yotam Halperin has signed a contract for the next three seasons. Maccabi head coach David Blatt had this reaction to the agreement: “We’re very happy. We wanted to bring him to the team last season. It was very important to bring him back, and to renew Pnini’s contract, and I’m very pleased we were able to do both of those things. The players that come to us do so because they want to, and their decisions involve making some concessions. We’re talking about one of the top players in Europe, a player that I and everyone else in the Maccabi system wanted on the team.”

Halperin (27, 1.96) played in the Maccabi Tel Aviv youth league, where he won both the state cup and the championship twice. In October of 2001, when he was only 17 years old, Halperin made his first appearance with the Maccabi Tel Aviv professional team. Four years later he was signed by Union Olimpija Ljubljana, where he also won both cup and championship. That summer, Halperin tried his luck with the N.B.A. draft, where he was chosen in the second round at number 53 by the Seattle Supersonics and was not guaranteed a contract.


Halperin returned to Maccabi for two seasons starting in 2007. In the 2007 – 2008 season he led the team to the final game of the Euroleague Final Four. He finished that season with averages of 10.2 points, 4 assists and 2 rebounds per game. In 2008 he signed with Greek powerhouse Olympiacos for two seasons. With them he reached the final game of the Final Four in 2009, and won the Greek Cup the following season, when he helped his team defeat arch-rival Panathinaikos.

Halperin finished his second season with Olympiacos with averages of 8.2 points (45.2% shooting from three-point range) and 1.9 assists in the Greek league, and 4.5 points and 1.9 rebounds in the Euroleague. To date, Halperin has won 5 Israeli championships, 2 European cups, 4 Israeli cups, one Slovenian championship, one Slovenian cup and two Greek cups.


source : maccabi.co.il



Click here to return to the homepage.

Olympiacos interested in Vangelis Mantzaris?

A strategic move..


According to basketnet.gr, Dusan Ivkovic has asked for information regarding Vangelis Mantzaris(1.95-PG), one of the best point-guards of his age group. Mantzaris had his break-out season with Peristeri where he was trusted the helm of the team and he didn't do bad at all. He averaged 8.6 points 3.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 28 games in the Greek A1 league.

This could be regarded as a future investment for Olympiacos or even a strategic move, as in collecting all the young players with potential from the market. Mantzaris has been implicated in rumors with Panathinaikos as well so it could be a wise move cutting off the main rival's supply line. Mantzaris is now a free agent so it will be interesting to see where will he end up.

Click here to return to the homepage.

Chuck Eidson waiting for an offer from Panathinaikos

Highest bidder wins?


According to allstarkourouna.blogspot.com, Chuck Eidson(2.02-SG/SF) is waiting for an offer from Panathinaikos before he makes up his mind. It seems that Eidson has offer from quite a few teams including Unics Kazan that offered him 4.5 million euros for 3 seasons and Barcelona who offered close to 3 million euros for 2 seasons.

But it seems that Eidson is waiting to see if Panathinaikos will be making him an offer as Eidson is on the top of the list of players that Obradovic wants to sign. This is all well and good however the situation is still uncertain in Panathinaikos and should the owners of the team leave noone knows who's going to pay for the current contracts, let alone signing another expensive player like Eidson. There is also another factor here according to the article and that is the player's wife, who'd rather move to a warmer climate instead of the mountains of Kazan..

Click here to return to the homepage.

Maccabi announced John Scheyer for 2 seasons

Another one for Maccabi.


Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv is proud to announce that it has signed Jewish-American guard Jon Scheyer (23, 1.96) to a two-year contract.

Scheyer, an intelligent, talented and competitive player, was born in Illinois. As a stand-out high school player, Scheyer led the Glenbrook North Spartans to an Illinois High School Association Class AA championship. In his senior year, Scheyer once scored 21 points in the final 75 seconds of a game, earning national recognition for what was called at the time one of the best high school performances ever. In his final year of high school Scheyer averaged 32 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals per game. In addition to his nickname, the “Jewish Jordan,” Scheyer earned the title of Illinois Mr. Basketball in 2006.


source : maccabi.co.il



Click here to return to the homepage.

Gist and Bogdanovic to sign with Fenerbahce

Another double whammy!


James Gist(2.06-PF/C) and Bojan Bogdanovic(2.00-SG/SF) will be the 2 new additions of Turkish champions Fenerbahce according to milliyet.com. Gist comes from a good season at Partizan Belgrade where he won the Adriatic League and also the Serbian League averaging 11.4 points and 6.9 rebounds in 14 games in the Euroleague and also 12.1 points and 6.1 rebounds in 23 games in the Adriatic League.

Bojan Bogdanovic has had his last season with Cibona and now he's got the transfer he wanted to a wealthier and more powerful club. He is also a member of the Croatian National Team. He averaged 18 points and 3.5 rebounds in 10 games in the Euroleague and also 18.9 points 3.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 24 games in the Adriatic League.

Click here to return to the homepage.

Sašo Filipovski to coach Union Olimpija

Sašo Filipovski returns home!


Union Olimpija Ljubljana agreed terms with Slovenian head coach Sašo Filipovski. Filipovski already spent more then a decade in Slovenia's only Euroleague team as an assistant coach and as youngest Euroleague head coach during 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 seasons. Filipovski signed a 3-year deal with Union Olimpija Ljubljana.

Sašo Filipovski, Head Coach of Union Olimpija: "I am extremely happy to return to the club where I already worked for ten years. I have great memories and I am already excited about the work and new challenges which come with new responsibility in Union Olimpija. In my opinion, it is good that we signed a 3 years contract because I think we can do great things in this period of time. I would like to thank everyone for the trust they are showing me and the responsibility they gave me. Right now, I am still in Italy but I am returning to Slovenia on Monday and I will immediately start working."

source : union.olimpija.com


Click here to return to the homepage.

Maccabi Tel Aviv interested in Giorgi Shermadini

This just came in..


According to sources of the Hoop from Israel, Maccabi Tel Aviv are in talks with Panathinaikos regarding Georgian center Giorgi Shermadini(2.16-C)

Shermadini had a great season with Union Olimpija Ljubljana (on a loan agreement from Panathinaikos) as he was 2010-11 All-Euroleague Honorable Mention averaging 7.4ppg, 3.4rpg, 1.1bpg, 3rd in field goal percentage (71.4%), with a free throw percentage of 84.8%, all that in the Euroleague.

He was 1st in field goals in the Slovenian League (68.55%), 2nd in the Adriatic League (72.1%) and 3rd in the Euroleague (71.4%). He is also a central member of the Georgian National Team and led the Euroleague Top 16 in blocks with 2.2 blocks per game.


Click here to return to the homepage.