Dzikic’s refusal to come to Israel in the shadow of the war created chaos in the system. At first the foreigners joined him, and the team was humiliated in the opening rounds. Then some of them came without him, it was not clear who the replacement coach was and who was allowed to stand on the lines, and in Jerusalem they realized that this could not last for long. In practice, Ilias Kandzouris arrived three weeks after the Serbian managed his last game – and three months after the war broke out and disrupted everything.
Yonatan Alon returned to the capital at an early stage of last season on the standard of the sports director. Some will say that he replaced Yotam Halperin, but in reality he came in Guy Harel’s place. Each of the slow steps taken by the team this season can have logical explanations: not to “burn” Carrington as a foreigner in the league, and give up his services as an Israeli; to fully exhaust the attempt to keep Džikić; Not to land a local coordinator who won’t really help.
Everything is true, but the bottom line is bleak and especially not typical of Jerusalem’s behavior in the last decade. These are not just the names that were added in the middle of the seasons to make point and/or significant upgrades – such as Shelvin Mack, John Holland, Dion and Dijon Thompson, Eli Holman, Doverat, Richard Howell as an Israeli and even Lior Eliyahu. Last year, two weeks after Alon was appointed, Brandon Brown was added as an addition to the back line (which was less sparse than today), and shortly after Doverat was injured – the team managed to land Noam Yaakov on loan from Willerbane.
And the season – to put it mildly – less. Jacory Williams was signed almost a month after Morris Andor’s last appearance, and he made his league debut in the team’s 10th game. There is no replacement coordinator (as mentioned), and the disappointment with Lamar has not been reflected in his replacement or in bringing an addition to his side to date. The only significant step that was carried out in time and quickly was the addition of Nimrod Levy, with or without connection to the injury of Gabi Chachashvili, and it is still difficult to mark any of the Israelis of Jerusalem as a leading player without a question mark on his side.
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