By Stefan Djordjevic/ info@eurohoops.net
Hapoel Jerusalem has made it to the Basketball Champions League quarterfinals once again, and this time, they will face San Pablo Burgos in the Final Eight tournament to be held in Athens.
This is the team’s second year in the competition and they’ve also made the playoffs last season, however, Tenerife stopped them in the quarterfinals.
Can the Israeli squad make a step forward this time? Remains to be seen but their coach Oded Kattash will certainly do his best to lift Hapoel to the top.
If anybody can create a story for history books then it’s him. After all, he does have a few pages just for himself in the basketball legends of Israel. As a player, and now, he might make one more as a coach.
A promising career that ended far too soon
Four Israeli League titles, two Israeli Cups, two Greek Leagues, two-times FIBA EuroStar and to top it all off – was the EuroBasket Top Scorer in 1997 (22 ppg) and won the EuroLeague in 2000.
This was all accomplished by Oded Kattash before he turned 27 years old.
Unfortunately, sometimes life doesn’t go along with one’s plans and in this case – it stops them forever. Kattash got injured a few months after winning the EuroLeague with Panathinaikos and as the serious damage to his knee couldn’t be fixed properly, the young player, arguably not yet in his prime, was forced to retire prematurely.
A 194cm tall combo guard who could cover almost everything a coach would ask of him. He was playing with very high energy and confidence in the offense as well as putting on an aggressive defense. He had no issues following the scheme while still finding a shot for himself as well as for others.
His main weapon was speed and crossover which allowed him to drive for a layup or create extra ball movement but also had a formidable shot from both behind and inside the arc. Where he truly outplayed the opponents was, without a doubt, iso plays and transition.
A lot could be said about Kattash’s profile from his playing days but there is something much more important than that. There has been a great deal of very talented and successful player throughout the decades across the globe, however, how many of them can say that they became legends and will be remembered for a very, very long time? Not many. But Oded Kattash can.
The King of Israel
Kattash spent four years with Maccabi Tel Aviv (1995-1999) and that was the period during which he rose from a promising young player to one of the best players in Europe.
And that rise happened right in front of Maccabi‘s fans who have been known for their devotion and, indeed, they have given their ultimate devotion to Kattash. They gave him the title of “The King of Israel”.
The expression gains that much more value when you find out that it comes from a Jewish traditional song about King David, which the fans would sing to Kattash with his name in it.
As if that wasn’t enough, Kattash went through an emotional rollercoaster when he moved on from Maccabi to Panathinaikos in his last season. Why? He had to face his former team in the 2000 EuroLeague Final.
“Coach, I did not play well against Efes, but the final will be my game. I know them very well and I know they cannot stop me. We will win. For sure.’ I have never seen a player so convinced that victory could not slip away from him,” he told Zeljko Obradovic who was on the head of PAO.
And so it happened. Kattash lifted the trophy for him and his team, at the expense of Maccabi. However, while the Panathinaikos fans didn’t fully trust Kattash to step against his former team until the buzzer, Maccabi fans didn’t forget what he did for them and in fact, they started celebrating with him.
If that doesn’t confuse a man, what will? Kattash used to say it was his happiest and saddest moment at the same time but, in the end, Maccabi’s fans made sure there was no doubt. They actually met him at the airport after the Final and carried him around on their shoulders to celebrate.
In fact, Kattash recently reunited with his former PAO teammates Fragkiskos Alvertis and Giorgos Kalaitzis as the three of them, among other things, reminisced of the title as well as the story about the relationship between Kattash and Maccabi fans.
Who knows what could have been if the dreadful injury didn’t hit him just months later. However, one thing is certain. He was, is, and will forever be “The King of Israel” for the fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv.
When one door closes, another opens
“When one door closes, another opens, but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” – Alexander Graham Bell
Wise words, upon a time, by Bell and while they are true in many cases, Kattash didn’t allow himself to fall deep. Instead, he took the well-deserved rest for a few years and then started walking down a new road. The road of coaches.
It wasn’t too hard for a name like him to find a job and he certainly proved himself already in the first season. He was on the head of Hapoel Galil Elyon, leading them to second place in Israel for the 2004-05 campaign.
He was also named the Israeli coach of the year in 2007 and while his career so far had ups and downs, he showed constant improvement.
He did have a bad one-year stint with Maccabi in 2007-08, unfortunately, but he came out stronger from it, and already a couple of years later, he led Hapoel Galil Elyon to win the Israeli championship and against Maccabi in the Final.
He made a name for himself in the coaching world and has been working with the Israel national team as well since 2017. However, his true growth can be seen in the time he spent with Hapoel Jerusalem for the past two seasons.
He seems to have settled there for now and his playstyle has been instrumental in the team’s success. Hapoel won three Cups in Israel under his watch and made it to the League semis both times.
He may not have led the squad to the top of BCL yet but they have put on a historic season, most notably offensively and they will have a chance to prove themselves at the biggest stage of all – the Basketball Champions League Final Eight.
An offensive specialist
As their careers gain longevity and they themselves mature, coaches more often than not get recognized by a specific style of play they harbor.
In Kattash’s case, the answer is the offensive scheme and discipline. His style might resemble Obradovic‘s from back when he played under him, with lots of pick and rolls but Kattash’s implementation has more to it with lots of spacing and a faster pace. Numbers and results speak for themselves.
For the first time in four BCL seasons, one team is both the most efficient shooting team in the league and also the most efficient offensive team overall. Their respective numbers of 120.2 in offensive rating and 58.5% in effective field goals are both BCL records.
Additionally, Kattash’s squad has the best ever half-court offense (1.04 points per play), the best ever pick-and-roll offense (1.09 points per play), and the best ever late-clock offense (1.15 points per play).
Impressive, right? Indeed. So much that it also surprises Kattash’s assistant Liam Flynn who has been following the process first-hand.
“Coach Kattash’s offensive system is one of the most unique and efficient styles of play in world basketball. Using three out two In spacing when the rest of the world is going to more four out and five out? Most people would think it’s a traditional post-up heavy system. But we actually have no traditional post-ups in the system – it’s mostly PNR play. And both the bigs and the guards are playmakers in the system. Honestly, It’s one of the most creative offensive systems I have ever seen. And even though we play two bigs inside there is still space created for driving, cutting and rolling lanes.”
Kattash has gained respect from his players and staff, from his rivals, from his idols and peers. He has experienced a movie-material but short-lived career as a player and now he has a chance to write a new chapter as a coach. What better way to than to lift the Basketball Champions League trophy.
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League