Maccabi Tel Aviv heads to Lithuania for a date with Zalgiris on Thursday as they will look to improve on their 2–2 record early on in the Euroleague season. But with a watered down squad due to a combination of injuries, the war and security situation, the yellow-and-blue are playing with a very, very thin squad and that has change ASAP or else it’s going to be a long season ahead.

The most successful franchise in Israeli sports has had one issue after the next bringing in players to help and it’s crystal clear that the only way Maccabi Tel Aviv is going to be able to sign players at this point is by overpaying them and then some if they plan on being competitive in both the Euroleague and the Israeli league this season.

Tamir Blatt is now out for close to a month, Wenyen Gabriel has yet to make his debut, Rokas Jokubaitis is on the shelf, Saben Lee is in Belgrade and hasn’t practiced with his new team as he has concerns about coming to Israel and on top of that, Maccabi needed a guard and forward before all of the above even occurred.

Players have been turning down Maccabi with the latest being Boogie Ellis just out of USC who is looking to make his professional debut after having been cut by the Sacramento Kings. Antonio Blakeney, who had been on both the yellow-and-blue and Hapoel Tel Aviv radars ended up signing with the Reds for a reported $750K plus bonuses for making the Euroleague and winning Israeli titles as one after the next keep dropping like flies.

If Maccabi wants to have any chance to complete they’ve got to open up the purse strings or else it’s just not going to happen.

Head Coach Oded Katash needed players even with the ones who had been signed over the offseason and with the injuries the situation has really become dire. The bench boss was absolutely beside himself after defeating Hapoel Gilboa Galil this week in domestic league play as he saw Blatt hobble off with a partial hamstring tear.

“It’s a very tough situation that we’re going through with the injuries and the playing time load,” Katash said. “it’s hard to concentrate and focus only on basketball. We kind of fell off our feet again, it cost us in the Euroleague game (against Partizan) and it almost cost us against Gilboa. I’m happy that we found the way to win, but we won’t be able to hold on like this for long. We need to get stronger, we need more players, we need a deeper roster to meet the goals we’ve set for ourselves and that’s what we’ll try to do.”

Heading into the Zalgiris matchup, Katash will have only two pure ball handlers in Lee and Omer Mayer who has yet to really be battle tested as a young XX year old. With that, the bench boss will need to be creative with a lack of players but management should have brought a player or two in last month but if you’re not going to ante up right now, Maccabi’s going to just have one problem after the next trying to sign players.

“In our case we need a guard and forward without a doubt,” Katash continued. “Every player that is added to the squad will help us. The injured players will help us once they return and that’s the goal, that all of the players will be back with us and we will be one complete team that we can build some kind of process and be competitive at the levels that we want to be. It’s not easy, you have to remember that last season we also had such difficulties, but that was a team that had more continuity from the previous year so it was easier. We know what the situation is and it doesn’t get any easier – neither the game schedule nor the flights, so anything signings can help. Unfortunately, the injured players will not return this week.”

Blatt had been playing well above his career average in minutes and that cost him when he suffered the hamstring injury that will keep him off the court for about a month which is also why Maccabi needs more players, fast. All of a sudden Blatt’s playing time went from 18.9 minutes last season to 28.6(!) this year. Just a click under ten more minutes per Euroleague game which is an absolutely insane jump. Katash had hoped that Blatt’s injury would not have been as serious as it is and now the club can’t rush him back either else he will never be back to where he needs to be.

“We need everyone, everyone healthy. There are a lot of players who have played a lot of minutes, much more than the average in the Euroleague and unfortunately injuries are also part of this matter. It’s not easy, it’s very frustrating, but that’s the situation, but we also have to take things in proportion. We want to be a a certain spot with the team else but the situation we live in exacts much more significant and important prices on the sporting side and we will try to do the best within the circumstances.”

One player that is healthy but will only join the team for the pregame morning shoot around is Saben Lee. The guard did not return with the team to Israel for the local league game and stayed abroad due to the situation in the Holy land which will no doubt be a massive hit to Maccabi’s preparations for Zalgirirs. One wonders if he was part of the practice sessions via Zoom while in Belgrade as the rest of the team was in Israel. The bottom line is, Katash is not happy one bit that a brad new player and one who is so crucial for the team’s success isn’t with the club.

“It’s obviously not optimal and the situation is on the verge of impossible. In his first game with the club the reaction was probably natural and we played a bit differently. But for the places we want to get to, he needs to be with the team and he needs to practice. It’s difficult for me to give an answer as to how this can be done because I have never come across something quite like this.”

Katash’s continued, “We were lacking players and we played without enough guards for a few minutes and even the players that are here were a little tired. We need to be deeper, beyond the injured players as we are missing at least two players because we need to be better than that. This is not good enough.”

It seems though the only way Maccabi will be able to sign new players is if they pay them well or else there is no chance they will sign with the club and even less of a chance that they will play in Israel. This is not how a professional basketball team can operate.

The franchise certainly took a financial hit since the beginning of the war but if they want to reach the heights and goals that Katash is speaking about and be competitive both in Israel and Europe then they’ve got to spend. It really all comes down to dollars and sense. If they don’t then this will really be a long, long and frustrating season for the yellow-and-blue along with its fans.