{"id":30046,"date":"2010-10-07T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-10-07T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8080\/federman-maccabi-always-aims-high\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T08:35:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T05:35:33","slug":"federman-maccabi-always-aims-high","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/federman-maccabi-always-aims-high\/","title":{"rendered":"Federman: \u201cMaccabi Always Aims High\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Amy Samin<\/FONT>

<\/P>

Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv held its traditional celebratory press conference to kick off the new season.
The speakers included the principals of the team, the head coach, the CEO of Electra, and a representative from Channel 10.<\/FONT>

<\/P>

Shimon Mizrahi<\/B>, Chairman of the Board of Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv, said during the press conference: \u201cSignificant changes were made this year.
David Blatt has come home, and he is someone who understands the Maccabi organization very well.
I can tell you that we have a unified team with an Israeli flavor.
We are proud that Lior Eliyahu and Tal Burstein have returned to us from Spain.
We have a not insignificant number of Israeli players this year, and it\u2019s possible to say that they formed the foundation of the Israeli national team this past summer.\u201d<\/FONT>

<\/P>

<\/P>

<\/FONT>David Federman<\/B> said, \u201cI would like to ask for some consideration from the media.
Regarding Megiddo\/Yokneam, we believe in working with the community.
It\u2019s mainly Guy Pnini\u2019s doing.
Five or six years ago, there was a debate over whether or not to release Pnini, I requested that Shimon ask the coaches whether Guy would play in the line-up, and the answer was \u2018no chance.\u2019
He went to Jerusalem and a lot of effort was made to get him back.\u201d<\/FONT>
<\/P>

\u201cWe need to take care of our youth.
Dozens of youths disappear into various teams.
We want to keep track of them and see who is capable of playing for Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv.
The combination of helping the community and keeping an eye on our young players can be a successful one.\u201d<\/FONT>
<\/P>

In his remarks, David Blatt<\/B> said, \u201cI am happy to return to this organization.
We\u2019re a family, and we will try to bring honor to this great club.
I hope that together we can do special things this year.
We don\u2019t run from any challenge and we can be in contention for every possible title.
We have the ability.
On paper, it\u2019s impossible to say we\u2019re the best in Europe, but we have the potential and we have the players.
During the preseason we saw an excellent team.
We\u2019re not at our peak yet.
The new staff needs time to reach a good level of performance.
The guys are working very hard.
We\u2019ll improve, we\u2019ll move forward, and we will be a strong team.\u201d<\/FONT>
<\/P>

<\/P>

\u201cThe truth is vastly different from what I read and hear all the time.
This hounding is not appropriate.
I don\u2019t think 13 players are too many.
We usually see teams with 15 or 16.
We have a lot of players who can play several positions.
I need to find the solutions.
We have the resources, and together we will deliver the goods in every way.\u201d<\/FONT>

<\/P>

\u201cThe league has greatly improved in quality this year.
We have exciting and challenging games and that benefits all of the teams, not just Maccabi.
For this reason we have an extensive staff that faces a big challenge, and not just against Jerusalem or Gilboa\/Galil.\u201d<\/FONT>
<\/P>


<\/P>

Before the press conference, Lior Eliyahu<\/B> said, \u201cI hope that very soon we will understand in which direction the team is headed.
Success?
We\u2019ll see at the end of the season.
We need to improve and be cohesive.
I\u2019ve come to Maccabi in the position of another player, and I need to do more things beyond what I\u2019m used to doing up until now.
I\u2019m a part of the team, the professional staff will decide how much.\u201d<\/FONT>

<\/P>

Guy Pnini<\/B> commented, \u201cWe\u2019re not 100% ready yet.
The season will be starting very soon, but we\u2019re still in the learning stages.
There are new players, a new coach.
It\u2019ll take time.
We\u2019ve had two training camps, and I think we\u2019ll play well against Gilboa\/Galil.
Europe isn\u2019t a bonus; we have definite goals in the Euroleague.
The Israeli League is our bread and butter, and we need to take things one step at a time.\u201d<\/FONT>

<\/P>

Doron Perkins<\/B> added, \u201cI enjoy being in Maccabi.
I\u2019ve already been in the high levels, but with Maccabi there are tremendous expectations.
I\u2019m getting used to Coach\u2019s system and learning the type of game.
Yes, there\u2019s pressure here, especially after the loss of the championship last season.\u201d<\/FONT>
<\/P>


<\/P>

samintranslatons@yahoo.com<\/U><\/FONT><\/A> <\/FONT><\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv held its traditional celebratory press conference to kick off the new season. Blatt: \u201cI hope that together we can do special things this year.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"custom_author":[],"class_list":["post-30046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30046"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30046\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":495690,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30046\/revisions\/495690"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30046"},{"taxonomy":"custom_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/custom_author?post=30046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}