If Maccabi Tel Aviv coach David Blatt can get his team to play at least as well as the sum of its parts, it will be one of the greatest achievements of his career.
By ALLON SINAIDavid Blatt 521(photo credit: Asaf Kliger)
This may sound strange, but last season went too well for Maccabi Tel Aviv’s basketball team. The 2010/11 campaign was supposed to be one of rebuilding for Maccabi, not one in which the yellow-and-blue reach the Euroleague final.The expectations from Maccabi at the start of last season were almost unprecedentedly low, but coach David Blatt built a team that went on to become one of the continent’s best, a lot more quickly than even the most optimistic of its fans could have hoped.Only Greek powerhouse Panathinaikos denied the yellow-and-blue a sixth continental title in club history, beating Blatt’s boys 78-70 in the Euroleague final at the Palau Sant Jordi Arena in Barcelona.The future seemed extremely bright, as Blatt had seemingly found the perfect combination of youth and experience and local players and foreigners.Key players Sofoklis Schortsanitis, Lior Eliyahu, David Blu and Guy Pnini all remained with the team, and the side’s prospects in the coming season looked especially promising after playmaker Jeremy Pargo agreed to a two-year contract extension in May.But just as Pargo was the catalyst to Maccabi’s resurgence last season, he could well prove to be the man to blame if the 2011/12 campaign doesn’t go as well as hoped.Despite signing a new lucrative contract following a sensational first season at the club, Pargo notified the team in July that he would like to opt out of the two-year deal, as he wants to play in the NBA, which has been suffering from a work stoppage since then.“Maccabi Tel Aviv has conveyed to the player that in light of the NBA lockout and the fact that he does not and will not have a guaranteed contract with any NBA team for the coming season, the announcement by his agent is a violation of the contract between Pargo and Maccabi Tel Aviv,” a club press release read. “In spite of that, Pargo has expressed his intention of remaining in the US and waiting until the end of the strike.”According to Maccabi, Pargo had an opt-out clause in his contract, but it could only be activated by August 1, with the player having to present a signed contract offer from an NBA franchise.Pargo’s announcement sparked panic at Maccabi, and together with the club’s decision to add more than 20 games to its schedule by signing up to play in the Adriatic League as well as the BSL and the Euroleague, the yellow-and-blue went on a buying spree it could well live to regret.After already adding former Duke University guard Jon Scheyer, center Shawn James and Devin Smith to a roster that also includes Tal Burstein, Richard Hendrix and Milan Macvan, Tel Aviv went against its instincts and previous judgment by signing New Jersey Nets guard Jordan Farmar until the NBA lockout ends, while also bringing in 34-year-old Greek legend Theodoros Papaloukas and young Israeli guard Yogev Ohayon.Maccabi had said that it had no intention of signing NBA players who will likely leave the team midway through the season. However, it eventually decided to make an exception for Farmar, an American Jew with strong connections to Israel, after he approached Maccabi and offered to play for the yellow-and-blue for a nominal sum.“I think it’s going to be a great life experience to be able to play professionally at a very high level for an organization that is committed to winning,” said Farmar, who has won two NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers and is currently one season into a three-year, $12-million contract with the Nets. “I’m just here to do whatever I can to help for the time I am here. I’m committed to this team, to the coaching staff and the organization for the time I am here, and I want to do my part to help the team grow,” he said.“I thought this was a great opportunity for myself and my family, and I couldn’t wait to come,” he added at a press conference at the Nokia Arena last week. “Leaving at the end of the season is not something I’m looking forward to.But there is a business aspect to it to. Part of my contract says that when the NBA restarts, I have to go back. I understand that my situation is unique, so I’m not here to ruffle any feathers. I’m here to be a positive influence,” he said.“I came out here when I was younger,” said Farmar, who was raised by his Jewish mother, Melinda, and stepfather Yehuda Kolani, a Tel Aviv native.“I got approached by other teams in Israel, and I reached out to Maccabi. I said I wanted to come out here and play for Maccabi. I honestly came to them and asked if there was any opportunity if we could make it work, and that’s how it started.”Despite his original reluctance to sign a player that will probably not be around for the business end of the season, Blatt conceded that he simply couldn’t say no to Farmar.
“This is a very exciting and special signing,” Blatt said. “Due to the unusual situation with the NBA lockout, players of the highest level have suddenly found themselves available. It is true that we promised ourselves that we wouldn’t get involved in such a venture, but this is an extraordinary and rare case. I must say that in all my years as a coach, Farmar is one of the more special players I have met. The most important thing is that Jordan has a strong connection with the country, having deep Jewish and Israeli roots, and we see him one day being a permanent and leading player at Maccabi once he ends his impressive contract in the NBA.”Tel Aviv also almost added Israel’s only NBA player to its roster, but income tax issues meant that it failed to come to an agreement with Cleveland Cavaliers forward Omri Casspi.It’s just as well because two players leaving without much notice at a crucial stage of the season could have been destructive for Maccabi.Blatt is, of course, hoping that the NBA work stoppage lasts a full season, but he has protected himself from Farmar’s expected departure by building a 13-man roster of senior players to which he still hopes to add another player.But this could well prove to be a curse in disguise.With three competitions to deal with, Blatt needs a big squad to avoid fatigue later on in the season. But with so many senior players to please, he has an almost impossible task of trying to keep everyone happy.Four and even five of the team’s players may never leave the bench when the Euroleague campaign enters its decisive stage, resulting in plenty of sulking faces and a possibly caustic rift in the roster.Maccabi will have one of the more impressive squads in continental basketball even without Pargo, but it may quickly discover that it isn’t so simple to replace the most important cog in its machine.Blatt has been through a lot in his career, and he has generally recorded resounding success.However, if he can get this Maccabi team to gel and play at least as well as the sum of its parts, it would surely be one of the greatest achievements of his career.And all of this because Jeremy Pargo refused to wait one more season to realize his NBA dream.
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