Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv held its first practice of the 2011 – 2012 season at Nokia Arena, though a number of people were absent. Sharp: “We’ve brought some great players. It’s going to be a mental and professional challenge for everyone.”
By Amy Samin
Training camp officially opened today (Sunday) for Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv, with the season’s first practice held in Nokia Arena. Due to the upcoming European Championship, a number of people were not in attendance: five players who are on the Israeli National Team, one player who is on the Serbian National Team, and head coach David Blatt who is the head coach of the Russian National Team.
Still, it was a great opportunity to check out the moves of some of the new additions to Maccabi: Theo Papaloukas, Jordan Farmar, Shawn James, and Devin Smith.
They were joined by Sofo Schortsanitis and Richard Hendrix, both of whom have returned for their second season with Maccabi. Rounding out the group were two youth players, Yariv Amiram and Idan Zalmanson, and two players from Maccabi’s farm team Hapoel Yokneam Megiddo, Moti Moscovitch and Thomas Sanders.
But the guy who stole the show was none other than Derrick Sharp, who after 15 seasons playing in the yellow and blue opened this season as an assistant coach alongside Guy Goodes. “It doesn’t feel like a new job,” said Sharp. “There’s no difference between the other seasons and now. Anyway I didn’t play too much in the last couple of years. It’s always fun to see everyone after the summer – they’ve come back refreshed and ready to work hard. We need to prepare ourselves for ninety-something games. It’s going to be a mental and professional challenge for everyone.”
“We’ve brought some great players. We welcome them; the whole club is very excited. It’s a very interesting and fun time for everyone. Who will be the next Derrick? The media will decide that – I didn’t start all that.”
“It was a little bit hard because it’s the first practice, but that’s okay. I’ve been waiting to play at Nokia,” said Papaloukas at the end of practice. “There are new faces here, new teammates, and a new arena for me. It will take some time to learn how everyone thinks and what they want. For now the most important thing is for us to come together as a team and get into shape. Derrick Sharp? It’s part of life that he has become an assistant coach. He was a great player, and I’m sure he will help everyone feel a part of the team and get acclimated.”
