Ira Lee recently joined Hapoel Beer Sheva in place of Kris Bankston, who left Israel following the start of the war. Lee impressed right off of the bat in his debut game in the Premier League with a 14 point and 11 rebound double-double while drawing 6 fouls and adding 2 blocks on the way to a PIR of 24 in 21 minutes.

Just ahead of Hapoel Beer Sheva’s visit to Hapoel Holon on Thursday (6:30pm) let’s find out a little bit more on the 25-year old forward.

Lee played his college career at Arizona between 2017-2021 and then began his professional career that took him to Finland, New Zealand and France before landing in the Holy Land and signing with Maale Adumim of the Leumit League. However, due to the war, Israel’s second division decided to play without foreigners which allowed Beer Sheva to pounce and ink Lee for the 23/24 campaign.

Tamir Yarden who is an announcer for the Leumit League’s broadcasts recently joined Moshe Halickman on the 9th in Europe Podcast where he spoke about what Lee brings to the table.

Yarden said that Lee is a foreigner who anyone can fall in love with. As soon as anyone sees him play you can understand very quickly what he was talking about. Beyond the stats, points and rebounds, Lee can to dribble as much as he likes all the way to hoop for monstrous dunks in addition to alley-oops. His athleticism is simply exceptional and he is solid on defense. Beyond that, Lee also knows how to shoot 3-pointers, which makes him a weapon from anywhere on the floor. According to Beer Sheva he was originally loaned by them to Maale Adumim and now he has joined the team and has become an integral part of the southern capital squad.

Maale Adumim’s assistant coach Rotem Shmueli also spoke about what lee brings to the table.

“We receive a lot of offers from all kinds of different agents,” Shmueli began. “One of the agents we are most connected to is Eyal Grossbard because he is seen in our eyes as reliable and professional so we pay close attention to the players he sends to us. He sent us a list of players who fit our requirements – tall, very mobile, young, with a positive character and a high work ethic. First, we go over the statistics from the past seasons and if the data impresses us then we look at the games that the player had been in and we have conversations with his previous coaches.

“We were very impressed by his broad set of abilities. This is a player who can do it all: good on both sides of the court, score from the outside, high level athletic abilities, intelligent and a player that coaches love to coach, due to high discipline and understanding of the game. The most fun is learning about an extraordinary combination of tremendous power with delicacy and emotion in shooting and finishing.”

Shmueli spoke about the privilege of coaching Lee, “It was a wonderful experience. As a coach I felt that it was very possible that there are so many ways he could be used. He even passes the ball at a high level and knows how to put the ball on the floor. Beyond that – his work ethic is simply inspiring. He was always there already sweating and working hard. Even off the court he was very pleasant and was a good teammate to all of the players. He is a very smart and creative guy. Beyond basketball, he also knew how to sing and draw.”

I addition, Shmueli is sure that Lee will be able to make the leap to the first division, “I think he is suitable for the Premier League and I told him that. He has not yet proven himself at these levels but I have no doubt that if the coach gives him confidence and believes in him then he will not regret it. He has a very serious skill set.”

Shmuel also has a special story about Lee, “There are all kinds of special and positive stories about Ira, but my favorite happened after the war broke out. Within a week, almost all of the teams sent their foreigners abroad until further notice. Many of them had already decided not to return to Israel and of course I can’t blame them. At a stage when there was great uncertainty and tremendous doubt whether there was any reason for imports to return to Israel – he decided to come back with the goal of continuing to train with us. His desire to be with the team and continue to train and work hard were greater than the fears of war in a foreign land. He returned and continued to train with us and after about two weeks he was released to Beer Sheva. In my eyes, this was amazing and it is indicative of his professionalism as a person and a player.”

Some of Lee’s Maale Adumim teammates spoke about what he brings to the table:
Yanir Binyamin: “First of all off the court he is a really good person, he is a humble man who works as hard as possible. His abilities on the court for his position, in my opinion, will bring him to the highest levels possible.”

Roy Loberbaum: “First of all he is a very nice person and as a player he is very physical and athletic with excellent dribbling ability for a big.”

Roi Avneri: “A very talented and diverse player who works very hard, and above all a good person who has a very positive character in the dressing room. I’m sure he will be successful in Beer Sheva.”

Matan Ben Aken: “A crazy athlete and with tons of potential and he is also a good locker room guy and. A great player.”

Gil Noivitz: “Ira is a very versatile player, who is able to produce points in many different ways. In the little time we got to be together, I got to know a very sociable person with the great desire to contribute to the team.”

Matan Hachamo: “Amazing personality that is needed in every dressing room. Hard worker at the highest level, we used to train quite a bit together beyond regular practice. A versatile player who can play and adapt to many methods.”

Roy Josela: “From the few times that I played with him I can say that he is one of the more athletic players that I played with… with good shooting as well… I felt that he could just make a basket whenever he wanted… and a fun player to have in the locker room. Too bad he left and I must say he is a good singer.”