TEL AVIV (Israel) - Israel has been laying the foundation for future success at various youth tournaments, particularly the FIBA U20 European Championship, in recent summers. The Mediterranean country reached the U20 Final in 2017, then won back-to-back U20 titles in 2018 and 2019 and this summer made it to the U20 Semi-Finals.

Leading players in those teams have improved since. Yovel Zoosman, an U20 European Champion in 2018 and the MVP of the event, won a German league crown this past season, his first outside Israel, with Alba Berlin. One of his Alba teammates, Tamir Blatt, had been in the 2017 U20 team that reached the Final.

Deni Avdija, who was a member of that 2018 team, was proclaimed tournament MVP in the same event the following year and was a lottery pick of the Washington Wizards in the 2020 NBA Draft. Another key man in the 2018 team, All-Star Five selection Yam Madar, a point guard, was a 2020 second round pick of the Boston Celtics. Avdija now has two years of NBA experience under his belt while Madar has remained in Europe, honing his skills this past season under the watchful eye of legendary Serbian coach Zeljko Obradovic at Partizan in Belgrade.

If Israel have been trending upward with respect to the youth, is now, realistically, the time to capitalize on it at EuroBasket - a tournament in which Israel last reached the podium in 1979 when Mickey Berkowitz was the tournament's leading scorer? To go from success at youth level to senior level is not straightforward and especially not in Europe, the most competitive of all continents.

Israel head coach Guy Goodes has used the World Cup Qualifiers to the benefit of his young players

What could work in Israel's favor is that the country's younger players have gained valuable experience in the international windows, developing chemistry and learning how to compete in tough games. Coach Guy Goodes will have led Israel in eight European Qualifiers for next year's World Cup by the start of FIBA EuroBasket 2022.

Avdija played in two European Qualifiers games for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup, one EuroBasket Qualifier and was expected to feature in the window before this EuroBasket. It's tempting to think a player of his ilk, Israel's NBA guy, would automatically take the team up a few notches, just as Dirk Nowitzki usually did for Germany when he joined the team most summers, yet a quantum leap in quality with an NBA player is never guaranteed.

In terms of the FIBA Ranking, the only Group D opponent at EuroBasket lower than Israel - 42nd - is the Netherlands at number 47, yet Israel should like their chances against every rival, including a sixth-placed Serbia team that has been struggling for good results in the international windows. Finland are at number 35, Poland 13th and Czech Republic one place higher.

History suggests Israel should like their chances of not only advancing from Group D but also doing very well in their pool. At previous EuroBasket tournaments, Israel were 7-2 against the Finns, 4-1 against the Czechs, 7-4 against the Dutch, 2-2 against Serbia and 6-3 against Poland.
 

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