The Friday Interview: Harush: Aggressiveness, enthusiasm to define Hapoel Jerusalem in 08/09

The Reds' assistant coach reveals his plan to bring more trophies to the capital.

By LOUIE LAZAR
hapoel jerusalem 88 (photo credit: )
hapoel jerusalem 88
(photo credit: )
Almost an hour after Hapoel Jerusalem had completed its impressive drubbing of Bnei Hasharon in the Winner Cup semifinals Wednesday night, Matan Harush was still beaming. You couldn't blame the assistant coach for his giddiness. During several moments of his team's 101-75 rout, a casual observer could have confused Jerusalem with the storied franchise that had performed during the game's intermission: the Harlem Globetrotters. To the delight of both Harush and a near-capacity home crowd at Malha Arena, Hapoel had just imposed its will on an opponent, dominating Hasharon at both ends of the court. Offensively, rapid ball movement had led to open threes and easy dunks and layups, while screw-tight defense and strong rebounding had helped it record easy points in transition. The only detail that seemed to be missing was that the basketball was orange and not red, white, and blue. Taking in this clinic-like performance from the sidelines, Harush - a Jerusalem native who has been on Hapoel's coaching staff for five seasons - was reminded of better times, like in 2004, when his players captured the club's first European championship after defeating Real Madrid in the final. His mind also trailed back to his years with Hapoel's Junior squad, a team he coached to multiple championships. In its recent history, Jerusalem, while no match for the perennial, dominant power of Maccabi Tel Aviv, has played a strong second fiddle to its rival, winning the Israeli Cup the past two seasons and coming within a basket of the Israeli League title two seasons ago, in addition to its ULEB Cup win. "Of course, we've always been the second team in Israel after Maccabi Tel Aviv, but in Jerusalem there are always very high expectations," said Harush, who began his coaching career at the age of 16. The 29-year-old spent two years coaching in Maccabi Tel Aviv's youth system before he moved to coach the Hapoel Jerusalem youngsters in the summer of 2000. In 2003 he was given the opportunity to work as Jerusalem assistant under then-head coach Sharon Drucker. He left the club for a year in 2005 before returning to assist Dan Shamir and now Guy Goodes. "We don't have to mark or assign a goal because everybody knows that this team, this club, wants to win every game," he stated. "Our main goal, [however,] will be to give our crowd a reason to come to the next game. Because we have the best crowd in Israel, and we will work for them. We will make them come again and again and cheer us and give everything for them." But as Harush knows, things haven't been easy of late. Last season Hapoel finished a disappointing sixth in the league, at 13-14, thus missing out on the playoffs. After the campaign, its budget was slashed approximately in half, and it lost a number of key players as a consequence, including starting point guard Dror Hagag - who departed for Maccabi Tel Aviv - and forward Guy Pniny (13.9 ppg), who left to play in Europe. To retool its roster over the summer, Hapoel added gritty players like former University of Iowa sharpshooter Adam Haluska - who played briefly with the NBA's New Orleans Hornets and Houston Rockets last year - as well as Travis Watson, a veteran forward and prolific rebounder. Unfortunately, Haluska limped off the court in the second half of Wednesday's game, and has since been placed on the Injured List. He reportedly sustained a leg fracture and will miss a few months. Omar Sneed, a big-time scorer with Maccabi Rishon Lezion a few years back, was also added to the mix. Holdovers from a year ago include Sharon Shason and Timmy Bowers, both of whom averaged double-figure points in 2007-08. Conceding that Jerusalem isn't blessed with the collective talent of some of its past squads Harush downplayed the importance of wins and losses when setting this team's expectations. Instead, he emphasized more effort-based qualities such as defensive intensity, heart, and hustle as keys to the franchise's success this year. "Our signature seems to be defense," Harush said. "Our goal is to be consistent in our aggressiveness because we know that we [don't have] the most talented players in Europe. But we know that we're gonna work for the crowd, and for the club, and we will go down and dive to the floor and grab loose balls and play aggressive. That will be Jerusalem's [trademark] this year. "This year, we're gonna play with a lot of enthusiasm," he added, "We cannot promise to win every night because this isn't the Jerusalem of the past couple of years, but we can be sure that we're gonna fight every night and we're gonna give everything. This is a very big tradition and we're gonna [try to go] to win all the competitions. We expect that from ourselves." Before heading off down a Malha Arena tunnel at the interview's conclusion, Harush assessed his team's strengths and weaknesses. "For sure our strengths are defense and enthusiasm and energy and to give the unexpected, not only in tactics but to make everybody want to see us because of our [effort]. "As for our weaknesses, I won't tell you. Every team has weaknesses."