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.