Making the right plays

Now in his third season with Hapoel J'lem, Timmy Bowers is ready for a new assault on the league title.

By JEREMY LAST
timmy bowers 224 (photo credit: Asaf Kliger)
timmy bowers 224
(photo credit: Asaf Kliger)
In a league where annual roster overhauls have become the norm, Hapoel Jerusalem guard Timmy Bowers has bucked the trend. The 26-year-old has just begun his third season playing for the team in red in the capital, and this fact alone shows just how much he is appreciated by the Hapoel management. Only two other of the main players from last year's squad - Sharon Shasson and Erez Markovitch - have remained at Malha. There's no doubt that last season was disastrous for Hapoel Jerusalem. After the team's two consecutive second-place finishes in the Israeli Basketball Super League (BSL), fans had been hoping 2008 would be the year Hapoel would finally grab the league title from perennial champion Maccabi Tel Aviv. Instead, coach Dan Shamir was unable to inspire his team, and Jerusalem finished in a disappointing sixth place in the BSL, missing out on the end-of-season Final Four. Even though he led the team to win a second consecutive Israeli State Cup, Shamir subsequently quit his job and, over the summer, was replaced by former Maccabi Tel Aviv assistant coach Guy Goodes. There were initial teething problems for the team, especially in the pre-season games in Europe. But the impressive performances Jerusalem rendered in winning the Winner Cup in front of its home fans and then defeating Ironi Ashkelon away from home in its first league game of the season last weekend are testimony to the new atmosphere created by Goodes. Speaking to In Jerusalem at Hapoel's season-opening press conference held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel last week, Bowers said he has noticed a significant difference this time around. "Obviously the personnel of the team has changed, but I think the biggest thing is the mind-set of the players. I think everybody here this season wants to win [and] they want to play as a team. I think that's the biggest change - the chemistry," Bowers noted. "Last season, it was so-so. You know, I don't really like to speak about last season, but it was a lot of different personalities, so it was kind of hard to make that run that we needed into the Final Four. We won the Israeli cup, but I don't know if it was friction or whatnot, but it was something. The chemistry wasn't there. I tell you first hand, the chemistry wasn't there." Although Shamir was a successful coach, his off-handed approach was seen as a major factor in the lack of success in the league last season. Bowers refused to criticize his former coach but stressed the stark contrast with Goodes. "He's [Goodes] definitely a different coach. Both of them are great coaches, but his personality is different. Players are able to talk to him," Bowers said. "With Dan, he's kind of a business guy. Come to practice, work hard, do what you got to do and go home. Come to the game, do what you got to do and go home. I'm not taking anything away from him because a lot of coaches are like that. But with Guy he's more sort of a player's coach. If the players have problems - any type of problems, not just basketball - people can talk to him. I haven't had much to talk about. But during the pre-season when we were in Belgium, maybe we disagreed on a play call or something like that, and I was able to talk to him and tell him what kind of styles I like to play in and things like that. He really took to me and listened to me and gave me his point." Jamie Arnold, Dror Hagag and Guy Pnini may have all left, but Bowers has stayed and is clearly central to the team's success. Last Saturday night against Ashkelon he played 37 minutes and scored 20 points. But the season is only one week old and it is still early to be talking about Jerusalem as potential champions. "It's too early, it's kind of hard to tell," Bowers said when asked about the chances of challenging for the top spot. "We've got a good group of guys. Good players on and off the court. That being said, I think we have a chance to compete with Maccabi [Tel Aviv]. Right now, obviously Maccabi is Maccabi. They're going to be Maccabi every year. They're going to be the best team in Israel - the team to beat in Israel. What we want to do is try to be able to compete with them." Jerusalem will get its chance to prove its credentials later this month when it hosts Maccabi Tel Aviv; but before that comes the difficult task of qualifying for Europe. In recent years Hapoel has become a regular fixture in European basketball's second-tier competition, which had been known previously as the ULEB Cup but was renamed the Eurocup over the summer. But this year the team was given the chance to play in Europe only after Israeli champion Hapoel Holon pulled out due to financial constraints. On Tuesday Jerusalem will play the first of two legs against Russia's Unics Kazan, with the winning team making it into the coveted group stage. Looking ahead to next week's game in Russia, Bowers admitted it will be difficult, but he will do everything he can to help his team make it into Europe. "It means a massive amount to me," he said. "We've always played in the ULEB Cup competition. This season it's not going to be any different. We're going to go into the Kazan games and we're going to try to win both games. But we know it's going to be a tough game because Kazan is a great team. We just have to stay positive and try to work toward that point." Born in Milwaukee, Bowers studied at Mississippi State University and still calls the deep South his home. However, he has been living in Jerusalem for the past few years and last month brought his wife and two children back with him to Israel. "I'm very comfortable here. For me - and I tell a lot of other American players this - Israel is very easy to adjust to because most people speak English, the food is pretty good, everything is pretty good. I've talked to a lot of the other guys who have played abroad in different countries, and they say it's not as easy to adjust," he said. "I haven't been nervous since I've been here. I just watch where I go and mind my business. I don't really go out very much. Sometimes we go out to eat, but my wife and kids are here now and I'm a family man. So I pretty much stay at home with them."