By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
The first minutes of the Round 6 EuroLeague game of Maccabi Tel Aviv against Olympiacos Piraeus included a piece of valuable experience for Yellows’ swingman Yovel Zoosman.
Zoosman began the match tasked with guarding the most dangerous offensive player of Olympiacos. It’s a role he has been accustomed to from the previous season and particularly since the arrival of coach Giannis Sfairopoulos in November 2018.
This time, Zoosman was called to play defense against three-time Final Four MVP Vassilis Spanoulis. Less than three minutes into the game, Spanoulis drew the second foul from the 21-year-old Maccabi wing after swiftly changing direction in his trademark first step. Sfairopoulos was forced to quickly substitute his young player.
“I knew he [Spanoulis] was going to do that. But, he still did it. He has a really quick first step that I didn’t really think it’s that fast and quick,” Zoosman told Eurohoops.
“That’s crazy… in his age,” Zoosman reacted when being told that Spanoulis is 37 years old.
The words came out of Zoosman’s mouth carrying a clear air of modesty. Despite being humbled by the speed of a player 16 years older than him, Zoosman was thankful for receiving some extra homework material in what is a constant learning process towards becoming the player he dreams to be.
“I need to watch the game and learn a lot from what he did,” Zoosman added. “The more you play the more you practice, the better you are going to be. That’s it basically. Game situations are important. The more you do that, the more you learn from the mistakes. After every game I play, I watch it. And I try to learn as much as I can. And I try to not make the same mistake twice.”
Zoosman jumped to the 2018-2019 EuroLeague as the FIBA U20 European Championship MVP and a gold medalist with the Israeli national team. It took him a couple of rounds into the season before seeing his duties increasing considerably and evolving into a player who often assumed the part of a “glue guy” for Maccabi.
It was halfway through the season when Zoosman began spending more and more minutes on the floor during which undertook key missions on defense, where he was entrusted with containing the “enemy no. 1” of the opposing team. On offense, he served a function as a weak-side shooter or cutter but also a dime-dropper. He actually sometimes found himself running the pick n’ roll and facilitating with his passes.
He ended up averaging approximately 17.8 minutes in the EuroLeague regular season. He helped the Maccabi operate on offense efficiently enough to finish the campaign with a team-high 102.1 rating. His heavy impact on defense is reflected in the overall rating of 91.2, a team-best, among steady rotation players of the Israeli squad.
“I also like the pressure,” Zoosman said to Eurohoops. “If you want to be a good player you need to handle the pressure. There’s no way a good player is going to shy away, hide away from pressure. And I’m trying to do the best job I can. Sometimes there are bad games. Games where I don’t play the way I want and where things don’t go as planned. But I’m going to keep learning and practicing in order to be better.”
Although he was projected to be a second-round pick in the 2019 NBA Draft by multiple experts, Zoosman wasn’t selected by any team. He proceeded to pursue an opportunity of landing an NBA deal by joining the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Summer League, before returning to Maccabi for his fourth EuroLeague campaign. At just 21.
“It’s [being undrafted] even more motivation,” Zoosman said to Eurohoops. “Now I need to prove everybody and show them that maybe they were wrong. But I don’t want to pay attention to that too much right now. I’m in a very good club. That’s the club I want to be in Europe. That’s my home. I like it here. I like the fans, I like Tel Aviv and Israel of course. I’m Israeli, after all.”
“Versatile” is a word that is often used to characterize Zoosman’s game and the player wants to live up to that description to the best of his abilities.
“There are a lot of things to improve,” Zoosman said, putting a heavy emphasis on the “a lot”. “My shot probably. Game situations. There’s always room to improve everywhere really. Making fewer mistakes and take the right decisions. Floaters, pull-up jumpers off the dribble. Everything. Trying to be aggressive on defense, as much as I can.”
“Getting bigger, stronger, tougher. There isn’t one thing. In order to be as much versatile as I can, that’s how it goes.”
Feature photo by Seffi Magriso/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images. Photo: EuroLeague. Stats: EuroLeague Basketball, Overbasket.com