Maceo Baston (27, 2.06), the new Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv power forward, landed this afternoon at Ben Gurion Airport and was driven straight to Yad Eliyahu where he took part in the team’s first practice session.
Baston, who has several tatoos, was happy to meet Anthony Parker, his ex team mate at Quad City in the CBA. Parker said about Baston: “Our fans can expect a lot of spectacular plays from this guy. He is more athletic than me”. Baston explained why he opted to play for Maccabi and not to continue in the NBA (last season played for Toronto Raptors): “I heard a lot about Maccabi and already realised that this is a well organised professional club, just as an NBA club”.
Baston says that his main strength is defense: “You win Basketball game in defense and I prefer to stop an opponent rather than score a few more points. But don’t worry. I love scoring & dunking. I know what the expectations are from us this season. After several seasons in Italy & Spain, I know European basketball pretty well. I believe that with the players we have here, we can make the Final Four”.
This was also head coach Pini Gershon first training session in Yad Eliyahu for two years: ” I am very excited to return. We have some excellent players but to be successful we have to make a team out of them and on this we are going to work for the next few weeks”.
Another new face on the floor was Deon Thomas (32, 2.04). who played for Maccabi Rishon Letsion in 1999 and in Spain for the last three seasons. Thomas is married to an Israeli and is expecting to get an Israeli nationality so he will be able to join the team.
