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Maccabi Haifa, last season’s Israeli Premier Basketball League’s runner-up, enters its 2009-10 season this weekend featuring a number of American stars who have generated global interest in the team.
The team, owned by Miami businessman and former NJ native Jeffrey Rosen, plays a 22-game regular season schedule out of Israel’s third largest city.
Haifa enjoyed a resurgence last season, moving up from the Second Division to the Premier League first for the first time in 10 years and earning an appearance in both the State Cup Finals and Championship game.
This year’s signing of the 6’11, 260-pound center Jeremy Tyler, who left his San Diego High School after his junior year to turn pro, has further turned attention to Maccabi Haifa. Tyler is the first American player to forgo his senior year and play internationally while awaiting his NBA eligibility. He joins forward Davon Jefferson out of Southern Cal., and team captain Ido Kozikaro who also plays for the Israeli National team. The Heat also signed Jason Rich, former Florida State standout, as well as Jesse Pellot-Rosa, former MVP of the Puerto Rican League, who played for the New York Jets football team in 2007.
The Haifa Heat has entered into a U.S. television deal under which highlights of its games and features about the team. Inside Israeli Basketball will be shown monthly on a network of stations including the YES Network (Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network), Comcast Versus (TV home for National Hockey League) and JLTV (Jewish Life TV, available in over 25 million homes in the U.S.). The games will also be available online through a partnership with TV.com.
Maccabi Haifa streams all of its games live, as well as on-demand on the Internet, as well as on Jewish Life Television each Thursday at 8 p.m. ET. Select games will also be broadcast on SUN Sports throughout Florida. The monthly Inside Israeli Basketball show will run through the season’s conclusion in May.
The season gets under way Oct. 25 as the Heat takes on perennial powerhouse Maccabi Tel Aviv at Romema Arena. Tel Aviv played the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 18, a game in which their coach refused to exit the game after being called for two technical fouls
The league is comprised of 12 teams, which includes five-time European champion Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Jerusalem, which compete against elite teams in the Euroleague.
In related basketball news, Tel Aviv’s coach Gershon learned his lesson from the Knicks’ game. He managed to stay on the court for the full contest as the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Israeli squad 108-96 on Oct. 20. And Sacramento Kings rookie Omri Casspia gets a nice write-up on the basketball blog in the Sacramento Bee. he scored 22 points, including four of five from three-point land in a 143-127 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday night.
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