Tamir Blatt's French Lemonade | User Content

Tamir Blatt conducted negotiations for a long time with Hapoel Tel Aviv for a three-year contract in the amount of 1.5 million dollars net per season - and signed this week. The reasons for the delay lie in the conflicting desires of the player and the club. Blatt preferred to delay the signing until the situation of the red squad and its degree of relevance in the Euroleague became clear. On the other hand, the coaching staff did not see Blatt as a significant cog in the European tournament. Not only did they not promise him minutes, but it was made clear to him explicitly that he would likely not get to see the parquet in the top tournament. Coach Dimitris Itoudis believes that one should invest in other paths. According to reports, the entire negotiation was initiated and conducted by the owner Ofer Yannai, without a professional demand from the management staff. This is the place to ask - how did a senior Israeli player, with a resume of five Euroleague seasons and 35 appearances in the starting lineup in two different teams, reach a situation where he is supposed to sign a huge contract with a club where the coach designates him the role of the fourth point guard and ignores him completely in building the squad?

During the last year, and especially towards its end, Blatt made a series of decisions that on the face of it harmed his professional status. After three reasonable years at Maccabi Tel Aviv, he averaged 7.1 points and 5.2 assists per game in the Euroleague. Good numbers, but not ones that change world orders. When the contract ended, Blatt demanded a significant salary upgrade - from the area of 900 thousand dollars towards 1.5 million dollars per season. Maccabi refused, but the talks continued and the feeling was that the gaps could be bridged. But then, during the local playoffs, two events occurred that were out of his control. The first was a calf muscle injury in the semifinals, which ended the season for him and prevented him from participating in the final series. The second event was a direct result of that same final series, in which Maccabi won 1:3. In Blatt's absence, the yellow team proved to themselves that they are capable of beating Hapoel even when he is injured in the stands. At the same time, on the red side, Yam Madar proved that he is in phenomenal shape - one that Itoudis almost did not use in the Euroleague. Madar finished the series with averages of almost 20 points and 8 assists per game. This ability throughout the playoffs created in Madar the understanding that he can and must succeed even outside the red uniform. The combination of these circumstances, along with the understanding that Madar is ready to get out of his contract at Hapoel, opened for Maccabi Tel Aviv a perfect window of opportunity to acquire him - a deal that indeed went through. Now, Maccabi has in hand a younger and better-conditioned point guard, who fits exactly into the slot that Blatt wanted for himself.

In fact, the signing of Madar signaled to Blatt the way out. His decision to refuse Maccabi's original terms led him to graze in foreign fields, and indirectly - Madar's decision determined his future path. While Madar closed with the yellow team, Blatt agreed with Ofer Yannai on a move in the opposite direction, but hurried to delay the signing. And rightly so: there is no logical reason that a coach who did not count Yam Madar in the Euroleague would grant playing minutes to Blatt in the same tournament. Especially when Hapoel has already landed two senior point guards like Tomas Satoransky and Yogi Ferrell, who join Vasilije Micic (and this is even before the rumors about the possible arrival of Russell Westbrook and when Tyler Ennis is still registered with the team).

The plot twist comes from an unexpected direction. The French Euroleague team, Villeurbanne, has fallen into heavy financial difficulties that forced it to release senior players, and budget control even prevented it from approving its new players. The French are desperate for players, especially those who will come in a loan deal where they will not have to bear their full salary. Combining Tamir Blatt at Hapoel Tel Aviv may lead to his loan to the French Villeurbanne, a solution that serves the management interest of Hapoel and the financial interest of the player. This outline allows the club to sign a senior Israeli without creating professional congestion in the rotation, while ensuring playing minutes for Blatt at the Euroleague level. On one hand, he secures for himself the huge financial contract he demanded from Maccabi; on the other hand, he will get significant playing minutes and a central stage in a team that is hungry for a boss on the court. This is a rare case of a total "win-win" for a player who seemed to have reached a dead end. One good season in France may arrange for him a safe and more prestigious return to Hapoel's rotation in the future - just as successful playoff series arranged for Madar the sparkling move to Maccabi. Blatt put himself at the end of the season into a trap where he had a huge contract in hand, but without a chance to see the parquet. But just as he knows how to thread an impossible pass between the defenders' hands, he found the loophole that allows him to both get the big money and play basketball at the highest levels. Blatt juggled lemons, and along the way produced for himself an excellent French lemonade.