Israel - 'My mission now is to survive' says embattled Maccabi coach

From www.haaretz.com
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Maccabi Tel Aviv took a day off training yesterday, but it was anything but quiet at Yad Eliahu as storm clouds gathered over the team a day after its sensational State Cup semifinal defeat to Bnei Hasharon.

Maccabi chairman Shimon Mizrahi described the defeat as a "tremor" and left in the air the question what would be the outcome of that tremor.

The first to pay the price could be Noel Felix. The former Seattle SuperSonics center has hardly played this season and received only six minutes against Bnei Hasharon.

"Perhaps I should move to another team that will give me the chance to play," Felix told Haaretz. "No one has told me that the team wants to release me and in any event it's all out of my hands.

"After the defeat to Badalona [in the Euroleague] I was told that I would get my chance. Judge for yourselves if I have received it."

Maccabi has a week left in which it can make new signings and sources on the team's board say that Felix has to be replaced. But Maccabi coach Neven Spahija is not enthusiastic about the available replacements for Felix.

"The only thing that can help us is a mega-star and there are no mega-stars available in Europe right now; they are all in the NBA," Spahija said yesterday.

"That's why we saw Tau Vitoria replace (Zoran) Planinic with (Ender) Arslan, and Olympiacos bring in (Vrbica) Stefanov in place of (Damir) Mulaomerovic. There are no stars, and gambling on NBDL players is too much of a risk because we are a team with a lot of young players."

Spahija knows that his position is not guaranteed either.

"My most important mission now is to survive," the Croat said before turning on his players. "My players were empty against Bnei Hasharon; I don't understand it. I think we all need a day off to cool down a little and start over again."

Spahija has a contract with Maccabi for another season, but rumors that he will not even end the present one at Yad Eliahu have begun to gather pace.

Shimon Mizrahi declined to back his coach when he said when asked in a radio interview whether Spahija could face the axe: "For the moment, we hav e no thoughts in that direction".

However Maccabi's senior co-owner David Federman dismissed the option of replacing the coach. "Spahija will complete the season; the possibility of replacing him has not even been discussed," Federman said.

Buford fails drugs test

Former Maccabi Tel Aviv guard Rodney Buford failed a drug test after the team's Euroleague game against Zagreb earlier this season, basketball's governing body FIBA yesterday told Buford's current team, Azovmash Mariupol of Ukraine. Buford was released by Maccabi two weeks after the game at the end of November.

Buford has been suspended four times in the past for similar offenses.

Shimon Mizrahi said Maccabi had not been notified and that it was not the team's concern as Buford was no longer a Maccabi player.