Photo from Wilgar via Flickr
It’s been a bad week for us here at NBA Outsourcing, with our beloved Hapoel Jerusalem falling apart in every which way against Hapoel Galil/Gilboa on Sunday. Lax defense combined with selfish offense to create an 89-68 drubbing, and really, it wasn’t all that close. Jerusalem ran absolutely no plays on offense – a typical possession saw a poorly executed high screen and then a bad shot – which I can’t help but blame on the coach.
Not that the players were any better. D.J. Strawberry was the only member of the squad who was somewhat functional, scoring 16, but the outside shot wasn’t falling for him (o for 4 from three) and he had 4 turnovers. The real disappointment, though, was Avery Bradley. After sitting out the first two weeks as the team wanted to slowly integrate him into the mix, the young Celtics guard started Sunday’s match, and did virtually everything wrong, forcing bad jumpers and bad passes alike. In the first half he at least showed some tenacity on the defensive end, pressuring the ball, one time even producing a clean strip of former N.C. State forward Courtney Fells en route to two successful free throws, but as the game carried on Bradley’s energy dropped. A miserable performance outright, with 7 points on 2-8 shooting, 0 assists to 4 turnovers, and a whole lot of frustration in 25 minutes.
An NBA player who did have a very strong showing was Craig Brackins, who lit up Barak Netanya for 24 points in a 90-86 Maccabi Ashdod win. Brackins was hitting from virtually everywhere, connecting especially well on pick and pops with veteran guard Meir Tapiro (12 assists). Craig threw in 6 rebounds for good measure, but it was all about the scoring for him. We mentioned this in Week 1, but the European game gives Brackins an edge that he just can’t get in the NBA – instead of being too small for the 4 and too slow for the 3, Brackins become a full blown power forward who can cope with opponents in size and blow by them with speed.
Brackins hardly did this alone – former Kentucky guard Ramel Bradley followed his 31 point opening night show with 24 of his own, and is generally a beast. Josh Carter helped out with a much needed 18 on 13 shots, and Alex Tyus continued to outjump less athletic adversaries to the tune of 11 and 10. Explosive guard Adrian Banks - wearing a pair of bright, pink shoes that have become his trademark in Israel over the past year – led Netanya with 24 points, and Jerome Randle threw in 19 for the losing side.
In other NBA-oriented news, Trevor Booker has left Israel, returning stateside for treatment on what I can only assume is something related to the thigh contusion that bugged him for the past few weeks. I couldn’t gather if Booker is leaving Bnei HaSharon for good or not – the team said that it hopes he can recover before the lockout ends, thus enabling a return. I’m skeptical, though, because the team has already signed J.J. Hickson as Booker’s replacement, and I sincerely doubt the team can afford two NBA caliber guys. Hickson should begin play next week, and we eagerly anticipate the sight of him coasting along on mere athleticism.
Meanwhile, the team managed to squeak out an 84-82 victory over struggling Maccabi Haifa. Once again, Bnei HaSharon led a very top-heavy attack – only 7 players even saw the court Sunday (two of them 15 minutes or less), and only 4 scored more than 2 points. Those four were once again Tweety Carter (22 on 13 shots, 7 assists), LaceDarius Dunn (21, 14 of 16 from the charity stripe), Delroy James (21, to go with 8 boards and 11 drawn fouls), and Kenny Lawson (16 on just 7 shots, to go with 8 boards of his own). This foursome seems to have developed good chemistry, and seeing how Israeli League rules dictate that teams may only register 4 non-Israelis each game, it will be interesting to see how Hickson fits in.
On the losing side, Haifa continues to struggle despite an impressive roster on paper. Haifa got a strong showing from former Summer League star Tyler Wilkerson (19 points on 8-10 shooting), Sean Williams did virtually as much good as Sean Williams can with 11 points, 8 boards, 4 dimes and 4 blocks, and Sylven Landesberg threw in a solid if only middling efficiency 15. But the team as a whole struggled from beyond the arc (4 for 18), couldn’t pull off the crunch time turnaround.
Moving to our final NBA representative, Jordan Farmar rested in Maccabi’s Saturday (84-60 over KK Å iroki in the Adriatic League) and Monday (87-83 over Ironi Ashkelon in the Israeli League) wins. I also couldn’t catch any of those two games except for the first quarter of the Å iroki game (in which I was excited to see Boris Barac, who starred on Croatia’s U19 team this summer), so I won’t pretend to know what went on. Farmar returned Thursday against Nikola Pekovic, Acie Law and Partizan Belgrade. Farmar had a solid all around game with 11, 6 and 6, getting to the rim and running the offense with much better fluidity than last week, as Maccabi raced out to a large lead that they eventually almost lost. The final score was 70-66, but really, it wasn’t nearly that close. Also, I have to say, watching this game really did remind me how awful Acie Law is, even though he finished with a respectable 12 and 4. He’s just… yeah.
Finally, some Omri Casspi news. Nobody actually knows what the hell is going on with the Israeli forward, but from what I gather, the current direction is joining Maccabi Tel Aviv in January if and only if the entire NBA season is canceled. This way, Maccabi protect themselves from a dual Farmar-Casspi midseason defection. However, other reports in Israel site Casspi’s intention to join Israeli coach Sharon Drucker, who is currently managing Italian squad Montegranaro. Even further reports say that Casspi could join Montegranaro for two months, and then, if the NBA season is canceled, move to Maccabi. So basically, nobody knows. Personally, we at NBA Outsourcing hope to see Omri take the court for the Cavaliers in a renewed NBA, but we’re funky like that.
