The Israel Under-20 National Team ended their European Championship campaign with a fourth place finish after having won back-to-back titles in 2018 and 2019 with the likes of Deni Avdija, Yovel Zoosman and Yam Madar. The 2022 edition featured Noam Dovrat, Gilad Levy and Harel Rinski with each one sporting their own question mark coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Avdija, Zoosman and Madar were all known quantities when they competed and the results spoke for themselves as they dominated the field and today all three have been working up the ladder of success whether in the NBA or in Europe. That was definitely not the case with Dovrat, Levy and Rinski who came into this summer’s competition with plenty to prove and prove they did.

Dovrat who moved from Maccabi Rishon Le’Zion to Hapoel Jerusalem in the middle of last season had not been the same player prior to his elbow injury as the 2020/21 campaign came to a close. The guard seemed tentative, concerned and worried once he got back on the court sometimes wearing a wrap or brace around his elbow and sometimes not.

For a player who had been touted as the next Israeli player to be selected in the NBA Draft, he was far far from it following his unfortunate mishap at the end of a league game. Dovrat began the season as the Rishon Le’Zion captain but as the losses compiled under head coach Guy Goodes, the pressure continued to build up around the 19-year old.

Just as Goodes departed Rishon so did Dovrat as he transferred to Jerusalem on December 31, 2021 and the pressure to carry an entire team on his shoulders dissipated. Once the move was made, the Rishon Le’Zion native began to work his way back into proper playing shape but still did not show the flair, approach and confidence that he had a year earlier when he put down a monster dunk against Hapoel Holon that sent the rim rocking as fans sat in awe.

Heading into the 2022 European Championships in Podgorica it was clear that Dovrat needed to raise the level of his game and show the scouts in attendance that was still the player that they had seen dominate the 2019 U18 FIBA Division B competition where he was named MVP along with being a member of the All-Tournament team.

What Dovrat did in the 2022 edition put him right back into the conversation with scouts and basketball aficionados alike by leading the blue-and-white to the semifinals. While they fell to a superb Spanish side, the guard was named to the All-Tournament team with 17.7 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.4 assists in 7 games in a little over a week of play as his club team Hapoel Jerusalem and its fans salivated over every single time he touched the ball. With the fantastic showing, Dovrat will surely be a key player on the Reds this coming season.

Quite fabulous.

Gilad Levy, a brand new member of Hapoel Jerusalem entered the European Championships after having honed his trade in Spain with Estudiantes had shown signs of dominance but not on the big stage after having very modest numbers the previous few years in FIBA youth competitions.

What the very big man at 7”1 did was phenomenal as he made his mark early and often as he did as he pleased at both ends of the court to the tune of 15 points and 9 rebounds a game as he was a true force in the paint.

Levy, who is an Orthodox Jew, will return to Israel for the 2022/23 campaign and will no doubt be able to be a game changer down low whether it is to score inside or be a factor by changing up an opponent’s offense. The 20-year old is definitely not your typical Israeli hoopster and proved just that announcing to the world that he will be a force to be reckoned with for years to come as Jerusalem fans once again had reason to celebrate.

Harel Rinski recently signed with Hapoel Galil Elyon following a season at Hapoel Ramat Gan in the Leumit League, Israel’s second division after having been a can’t miss prospect with Maccabi Tel Aviv as he starred in their youth system. The forward was so highly touted that he also made an appearance with the yellow-and-blue’s senior squad as well in 2019/20 as it looked like the he was going to be the next great thing. However, some hiccups along the way left scouts wondering if Rinski was going to find his way out of the shell and have that breakout that everyone had been waiting for.

Well, Rinski decided that the breakout would be from deep at the European Championships as he went 26/48 for 54.2% from deep to make 3.7 triples per game to lead the tourney by far. Every time the ball left Rinski’s hands one knew that it was going to go swish which must have delighted the Galilee fans.

There were plenty of other players who showed that they can be counted on from Eliad Tal, Eitan Burg and Amit Aharoni to Roy Paretsky and Avner Dror. While head coach Oren Aharoni did a good job on the sidelines perhaps Israel could have been that much better had he used more than a 8.5-man rotation and had Yuval Sznaiderman on the roster instead of Shoham Gatt who played just 3 minutes all tournament.

We shall never know the answer to that question, but all in all, after watching a successful young Israel team that took the bronze at the Maccabiah to go along with the Under-20 squad in Montenegro one can be certain that the future of Israeli hoops is bright.