Draft 2006 results for Lior Eliyahu and Yotam Halperin

[ziv]

halperin - his agent is said to be on the way to israel with a minimum contract from the sonics. the buy-out from maccabi is said to be about 500k$.

[Czarkazem13]

Also props to Jordan Farmar, who is half-Jewish with an Israeli step-father, who got drafted - unfortunelty by the L.A. Kobes. I believe he played in past Maccabiah games. Three Jews - one draft. Maybe a sign of the future.

[C02]

...And, he doesn't use his left hand whatsoever. Always goes right, very predictable.

[ip84]

There is game of Lior Eliyahu at the semi final of U20 against Lituvania at the official site. He scored there 27 points.
But the coatch put him and Avraham(Avi) Ben Shimol on the bench at the final minuts of the game (Eliyahu was punished for bad deffence, but he improved his defence, like many other things since then) and Israel lost at the final seconds after having a big lead...

mms://213.198.74.129/U20_ISRvLTU_160705.wmv

btw, what is written at his profile that Sharp is totally uncorect regarding his court vision and desicion making. He is more then above then avrage, and his desicion making is exelent. You can see the reports from Traviso camp about him.
His major problem right now is his shooting technic for being SF.

[Arik]

P.S. Congrats to the Israelis for having their first player drafted into the NBA

Thank you, stuart!
BTW I remember at least two another Israeli players (Katash and Shefer) who joined to Maccabi Tel Aviv and not NBA teams. Maybe Eliyahu and Halperin will do the same thing and they will prefer to become superstar in Israel instead of bench player in NBA team.

[SHARP]

Can you give me some information on Lior Eliyahu? What kind of player is he?

Stuart

http://www.nbadraft.net/admincp/prof...oreliyahu.html

[ziv]

as far as i understand it was a bad draft for point guards - and halperin (who isn't a real prospect for sg in the nba) sufferd from it. i think - though -that the sonics aren't a bad choice for him.
elyahu is a big talent - and ruomrs in israel attach him to maccabi next season - he's basiclly a four who plays great face-up to the basket, very good ball-handler, good finish, athletic, big-body - so he's a four with a lot of SF skills and his quickness allows him to beat many of his PF opponenets. he realy improved the past 2 seasons though his game still lacks some major aspects (outside scoring and some more face-up and post-up offensive moves) which stop him from becoming a major force in europe.
btw - rumors in israel were that he recived a promise of being selected and that's why he didn't withdraw his name. it wasn't known and it was basiclly a pure speculation (turning out to be true - or at least partly true).
back to stuart words - an importent day for israeli basketball. congrats to both players.

[Joško Poljak Fan]

Matiz, would you have selected Halperin before Eliyahu?

I've only seen clips of Eliyahu while I've never seen a game of him... so I can't be the judge here...
but imho Halperin is special, has it's flaws as well, but i believe he could become one of the best players in europe in the mold of Navarro, Macijauskas, Papaloukas... he has great technics, great inteligence only needs some more experience imo.
He wasn't a sure thing for NBA though since being 6'4 SG makes him a tweener, not very athletic one either, while he doesn't really have that typical PG mentality so he got underated from this point of view (as many great college players that are now stacked in europe not being given a real chance in NBA). Afterall considering the mentality of NBA nowadays, going in the late 2nd round wasn't that surprising afterall... NBA prefers athletic SGs like Sefolosha to inteligent less athletic SGs like Halperin...

[Roy M]

Indeed. I think the Solomon-Halperin combination is a good one for Maccabi. A good coach (come on - bring one for god's sake!) can really benefit from their different qualities.
Regarding Eliyahu - time will tell if he upgrades himself to be an Israeli key player (Burstein), an effective role player (Sasson), or a sad bench warmer (Green). My bet is somewhere between the 2nd and 3rd. Hope I'm proven wrong here; if I am - it will be interesting to see Maccabi's roster full of Isreali key players (hoping Caspi also becomes one) first time in many years.
D.

Not at all. Maccabi needs a real PG with Solomon. Halperin can came as a subtetute.

[Roy M]

Matiz, would you have selected Halperin before Eliyahu?

Stuart

P.S. Congrats to the Israelis for having their first player drafted into the NBA

second... Doron Shefer in 1995.

Eliyhu in between 3/4 position... long hands, quick, good rebaunder, not strong inagh to play PF in the NBA and not good 3pointer to play SF...

[stuart]

Matiz, would you have selected Halperin before Eliyahu?

Stuart

P.S. Congrats to the Israelis for having their first player drafted into the NBA

[Joško Poljak Fan]

I expected Halperin a bit higher, he definately deserves it considering his potential.Obviously scouts and GMs can't get over their stereotypes about how should each player look like for various positions.

[stuart]

Can you give me some information on Lior Eliyahu? What kind of player is he?

Stuart

[SHARP]

Indeed. I think the Solomon-Halperin combination is a good one for Maccabi.
D.

Pini wants Solomon for Olympiakos

[Digdis]

that means: both in Maccabi next season.

Indeed. I think the Solomon-Halperin combination is a good one for Maccabi. A good coach (come on - bring one for god's sake!) can really benefit from their different qualities.
Regarding Eliyahu - time will tell if he upgrades himself to be an Israeli key player (Burstein), an effective role player (Sasson), or a sad bench warmer (Green). My bet is somewhere between the 2nd and 3rd. Hope I'm proven wrong here; if I am - it will be interesting to see Maccabi's roster full of Isreali key players (hoping Caspi also becomes one) first time in many years.
D.