Blatt says Maccabi will benefit from Katash resignation

Efes Pilsen's Israeli coach speaks to 'Post' before crucial game for Tel Aviv team.

By ALLON SINAI
blatt david 88 (photo credit: )
blatt david 88
(photo credit: )
Efes Pilsen's Israeli coach David Blatt has said he believes the coaching change at Maccabi Tel Aviv will work in the yellow-and-blue's favor when Maccabi plays his team in Turkey on Thursday. "Players respond in the short term to this type of shakeup and certainly from a motivational standpoint Maccabi will be very strong and energetic," Blatt told The Jerusalem Poston Wednesday. The former Maccabi coach, who led the Russian national team to the EuroBasket title last year, threw his support behind the Israeli club and its now ex-coach. "I don't think they made a mistake by signing Oded Katash," he said. "They took a risk. They took a very talented and special kind of young coach and unfortunately it didn't work out. There were plenty of reasons to believe that it would work and that it would help the club in many different ways, which it did initially." Blatt claimed that the expectation level at the Tel Aviv club he coached for two seasons doesn't give its head coach any real chance of remaining at the position for more than a couple of seasons. "There's an over the top set of expectations at Maccabi that are almost impossible to live up to. I think that the measure of success at the club is unrealistic both in terms of the management and in terms of the fans. The patience that people have for developing and building is basically nil. "On the other hand, in this particular case the recent losses in the league are kind of unprecedented. You don't see Maccabi lose three league games by so many points in such a short space of time and unfortunately that kind of thing demands an over the top reaction. "I'm very sorry to see Oded leave. He's a good guy and a really good coach and I wish he didn't feel he was in the position where he felt he had to leave."