There were two quotes from the postgame press conference that struck me following Hapoel Jerusalem’s 84-79 Super Cup win over Maccabi Tel Aviv in what was no more than a glorified preseason game.

The Reds naturalized Israeli Khadeen Carrington’s “Unfinished Business” was one of them and the other belonged to yellow-and-blue head coach Oded Katash, “We’re not ready”.

Both of those two small but concise quotes really summed up where both of these teams are as their respective European seasons are about to begin next Tuesday when Maccabi tops off against Anatoly EFES in Euroleague play and when hapoel faces Hamburg in EuroCup action.

Jerusalem has plenty of continuity and Katash noted that in his comments as well. Yonatan Alon’s team brought back most of the core players on the team whether it’s Jared Harper, Justin Smith, Austin Wiley, Yovel Zoosman, Nimrod Levi and Carrington while bringing in a number of new ones who are all upgrades on players that departed. Anthony Lamb, Cassius Winston and Roy Paretzky will all help Hapoel as they attempt to win championships as Carrington said.

The reds, with many key players returning, are looking to go for the gold and could very well be in the best shape of any of the Israeli league teams due to the continuity which should no doubt help them as they look to win those championships whether its the EuroCup, domestic competition or State Cup. After a ho-hum first half by Jerusalem, it became abundantly clear as to the advantages of having so many returnees while dominating the majority of the second half.

Over at Maccabi, continuity is not what one would use in describing this year’s squad as there are many new faces and ones who are going to be critical in the success of the club. Lonnie Walker, who we did not see play in this game due to a back issue, Jeff Dowtin, Oshae Brissett, TJ Leaf, Marcio Santos and Gur Lavy are all significant newcomers with the likes of Roman Sorkin, Tamir Blatt, Jaylen Hoard and John Dibartolomeo returning.

Katash’s club made some real moves to change the face of the team and as he said succinctly that not only are they not ready but no matter what they will do in the remaining days before the continental season gets underway, they won’t be ready and that they will try and win games while still meshing as a team.

After what was a decent first half, the second left plenty to be desired for Maccabi fans.

When you look at the scoresheet what bounces right off the page is the top scorers, all of whom were regulars last season for their clubs. Be it Sorkin and Dibartolomeo for Maccabi or be it Harper and Carrington for Hapoel, it was if we were kind of, might have, perhaps or maybe ended last season with the Super Cup.

Very few of the new players made a huge impact on the game itself. Sure, Anthony Lamb, Cassius Winston and Paretzky all had fine showings for Alon’s crew while Brissett showed that he can play as well for Katash’s charges. But it was few and far between as to which players really put on a show from the newcomers.

It’s hard to be critical of any player in a game like this and it’s doubly difficult when we haven’t seen much of Maccabi Tel Aviv and it’s so, so early on.

But, and of course there’s got to be a but, Maccabi better get their ducks in order very quickly because the Euroleague is coming fast and furious as it’s right around the corner.

The likes of TJ Leaf, Gur Lavy and Jeff Dowtin along with Jaylen Hoard have to be better than they were in the Super Cup. Should they to be, it’s going to be a log, long season, one that Maccabi will be reliant on Lonnie Walker who hopefully will be in the lineup on Wednesday night when the yellow-and-blue play Kiryat Ata in the quarterfinals of the Winner Cup Preseason competition.

Should Katash’s squad get past Ata, then they will most likely tip off once again against Hapoel Jerusalem in Friday’s semifinal in a rematch that will be even closer to the Euroleague’s opening night. That will be yet another test for Maccabi before they get to play EFES and then Paris in the first double week of the campaign.

The following week Maccabi will visit Sofia and play the Tel Aviv Derby in Bulgaria as odd as it sounds. But as odd as that may be, Katash and Co. may head into that game with a pair of losses in Euroleague play and two defeats at the hands of Hapoel Jerusalem with pressure mounting on the bench boss and players which would not be in any shape or form the way Katash would want to see the season begin. But that’s also a true possibility.

Is it too early to sound the warning bells?

Katash mentioned that no Euroleague team would say that they are ready for the first game at this point, but some will be more ready than others. If Maccabi can’t compete out of the gate – and they should with the quality of the roster as well as with Walker who we have yet to see with the naked eye, then it will be a very long season ahead.

There’s no way that the yellow-and-blue will want to have another campaign similar to the last one, which is without a doubt the last thing that everyone around Maccabi wants to occur.