Local Hoops: Vujcic returns with Olympiacos for Mac TA friendly

By ALLON SINAI
Maccabi Tel Aviv will officially bid farewell to Nikola Vujcic on Saturday night when it hosts the Croatian's new team Olympiacos in a preseason friendly at the Nokia Arena. Yotam Halperin, who also signed with the Greek side in the summer, is also guaranteed a warm welcome, but the star of the night will be Vujcic. The center was a key contributor to the team in the past six seasons during which he became a true fan favorite. Vujcic was first signed by Tel Aviv in 2001, but was loaned out to French club Villeurbanne for the 2001/02 season and helped the club to the championship. The following season, he returned to Maccabi and played a significant role in the team's 2004 and 2005 Euroleague triumphs. He was the first to record a triple-double in Euroleague play and was widely regarded as one of Europe's finest centers of the last decade. In his last effort for Tel Aviv, Vujcic scored Maccabi's final basket of the BSL Final Four with 6.5 seconds to play in the final game against Hapoel Holon this past June, but Malik Dixon's two points seconds later denied him one last winning shot. Maccabi will also be hoping to record its first significant preseason win on Saturday after losing all five of its training games in Europe in the last couple of weeks. Despite the consecutive defeats new coach Effi Birenboim was adamant in Maccabi's season opening press conference on Thursday that the preseason tournaments will prove to be beneficial. "We gained a lot from these tournaments," Birenboim said. "We may have trained less than we would have liked to, but we learned a lot about the team and the players. "We are working so that Maccabi plays exciting, dynamic and team basketball, and most importantly wins its games." Part-owner David Federman explained to the team's new players that losses at Maccabi are unacceptable. "One of the main differences between the NBA and the Euroleague is that in the NBA you can afford to lose games while in the Euroleague every defeat can be decisive. We need to fight in every game so that we can reach the places we're aiming for."