Although the final score may indicate a one sided blowout, it was anything but in Hapoel Tel Aviv’s 107-69 victory over Kiryat Ata in Israeli basketball’s Winner Cup preseason tournament. In fact, it was a chance to see the return of the Reds prodigal son Tomer Ginat along with the 2022/23 Premier League newcomer who made their intentions for the upcoming campaign known.
 
The contest was also an opportunity to see some new players in action that arrived in Israel for the season to come whether it was from the NBA, G-League, Australia, Europe or the youth league as everyone wanted to make a good first impression in front of an impressive 3,000 fans at the Drive In Arena.
 
Tomer Ginat was the catalyst as to why so many supporters came out to the Winner Cup first round contest, a competition that in the past would have not be such a great draw. But with the off season signing of arguably the best Israeli available in Ginat, Hapoel Tel Aviv made it be known that they are going to be a serious player this coming year be it domestically or in the EuroCup.

However, Hapoel version 22/23 isn’t just Ginat and his 16 points, 8 rebounds in 17 minutes, but a variety of players who have honed their skills in various locales. That includes veteran point guard Xavier Munford who arrives from Australia while also having had NBA, EuroLeague and G-League experience, big man Chris Horton coming over from a few seasons in France, Jaylen Hoard who also spent time in the world’s best league plus holdovers J’Covan Brown and JP Tokoto who will provide some solid expertise.

Danny Franco’s Reds also has one of the best Israeli contingents in the league to go along with Ginat in Bar Timor, Idan Zalmanson, Gil Beni, Adam Ariel as well as youngsters Lotan Amsalem, Eyal Harel and Ilay Dolinski.

When looking at the personnel above, there is no question that Hapoel Tel Aviv will make some waves this coming season, however, the attention getter will no doubt be Ginat who decided to come home after spurning Maccabi Tel Aviv’s offer after a couple of years abroad in France.

“It was great to have Tomer Ginat back here at Hapoel.” Head coach Danny Franco said. “There’s not many Israeli players that has his standing as both a person and player, it was great to have him back on the court and I enjoyed it very much.”

Ginat also spoke about his triumphant return to the club that he had starred with between 2016-2020, “It was really exciting to be back and it took me some time to get used to that. But it was great and a lot of fun and most importantly we won the game.”

The fans were so excited to welcome Ginat back that many wore shirts that had a quote, “Love Never Fails” in Hebrew that the forward had used himself when announcing that he decided to return to play with Hapoel.

“It’s great in my eyes, it’s a privilege a huge privilege and I hope that this line will prove to be true very, very soon. It’s very important that the fans support us the way they do as they have really been with us for a while no matter what the game is and where it may be as they go on the road with us as well. It’s very crucial that they are here with us to help us win.”

But once again, to see so many fans come out spoke tremendously of the support the club gets especially this coming season when there will be plenty of ups and downs as well as travel across the continent.

One of Hapoel’s key players will be Xavier Munford who arrives in Tel Aviv with many years of solid international experience which could be seen right from the get go as he can not only score, shoot the 3 and dish out the rock, he is also a terrific defender who picked up 3 steals and drew 4 fouls to go along with 11 points and 5 assists.

Franco spoke about Munford being that which the club lacked last year as well as what he brings to the table for the Reds, “I want him to be that ingredient that we were missing from last season and take the pressure load off of J’Covan and help mange the game. He’s another quality player and person and has an elite understanding of the game. Having two quality players who have a very high basketball IQ will help us succeed.”

Ginat who just recently joined the squad after participating in the Eurobasket group stage in Prague also spoke about the high hopes he has for Munford, “He’s very talented and can help us a lot so while I joined the team a bit late but I was able to see him and can say that he can and will take us to a very good place. We are still trying to come together as a team both on and off of the court.”

Another player that arrived at training camp with a short-term contract but earned a full year deal just days ago is Jaylen Hoard who has been impressive so much so that the Reds had really no choice but to keep him. There was going to be no way that they would think of setting him free due to what the forward has already brought to the table including 13 points and a thundering dunk.

“We very much like him and he’s a rookie in Europe,” an excited Franco commented. “He hasn’t played in European ball and doesn’t know the league but he has really become a part of this team very quickly. He came here as a question mark and he really became one of us that we couldn’t give up on him. He could be the steal of the season.”

The 27-year old Ginat grew up in the north of the country near Nahariya where he played as a youth. From there, the Israel National Team veteran moved to Kiryat Ata from 2014 to 2016 before making his way to Hapoel. At Kiryat Ata, Ginat was given a chance by the then coach Sharon Avrahami who also brought him to Hapoel when he took the position there in 2016. For Ginat to play against Kiryat Ata and Avrahami was quite the emotional moment.

“Kiryat Ata is a place that is very close to my heart and it’s the place that first gave me the opportunity and Sharon Avrahami was my coach there so this was somewhat of coming full circle for me. I hope that they have a successful season, their first in the Premier League.”

Speaking of Kiryat Ata, on the other side of the court, Avrahami who is once again in charge of the club looked exactly like a squad that had just earned promotion and the head coach made it crystal clear as to what the goal is for the upcoming season.

“For the club’s first season in the Premier League, the goal is to stay in the league as we moved up a league more as a surprise. So the main goal is definitely to stay in the league and anything after that would be great.”

While the goals of the two team’s are quite different, they are still a bit alike as both will be entering a new competition with Kiryat Ata in the top domestic league and Hapoel Tel Aviv in the EuroCup.

Each will certainly have growing pains without a doubt and both with be on a rollercoaster with many ups and downs as they try to find that even court that doesn’t dip either way. That will no question be a challenge, but the immediate mission right now according to Ginat is the next contest on his team’s schedule, “We are turning our attention to our next game on Saturday night against Beni Herzliya in the quarterfinals. We have a lot of work to do.”