Israel split their opening 2025 Eurobasket qualifiers with a 72-70 win at Portugal and a 88-79 defeat in Slovenia and while the blue-and-white brass were probably very content with a 1-1 record on the road, there is plenty of work that has to be done.

Head Coach Ariel Beit Halachmi’s squad showed all kinds of issues throughout the two contests that will need to be solved going forward into the next international windows which take place in November 2024 and then February 2025 with three of the four remaining games slated to take place at home.

Israel’s percentages from beyond the arc (10/55, 18%) and from the free throw line (25/43, 58%) were hideous, there was very little flow within their offensive game and boxing out for rebounds on the defensive end was atrocious as both opponents did as they pleased on the offensive glass, corralling a combined 33 offensive rebounds. One would hope that all of these problems can be corrected when Israel plays a desperate 0-2 Ukraine in a home-and-home series in November but there are other issues that will need to be solved before that window as well.

The entire story of having a naturalized player on the roster that can make a difference needs to be figured out and figured out quickly.

Every team is allowed to have one naturalized player in their squad as per the FIBA rules and for one reason or another, the blue-and-white have yet to figure out how to bring a player in that can help in a variety of manners just like many other nations have.

Over the past few years basketball aficionados have seen naturalized players take center stage for national teams from across the spectrum.

Whether it’s been Maccabi Tel Aviv’s American point guard Lorenzo Brown leading Spain, yes Spain to the most recent European Championship to seeing Codi Miller McIntyre helping Bulgaria take down the World Champions in Germany, nations small and large are finding a way to improve their chances by using the rules to their advantage.

However, for Israel to use the rules to their advantage, the player in question that they would like to have as a naturalized member of its squad has to meet the requirements of obtaining citizenship which in the Holy Land is no simple manner. Whereas come countries hand out passports like bottled water, Israel does not.

Beit Halachmi had identified Hapoel Jerusalem guard Khadeen Carrington as a player they would like to have on their roster as a naturalized player and the Israel Basketball Association worked diligently in trying to have the Minister of the Interior approve his citizenship application.

However, the rules of citizenship in Israel are not as easy as 1-2-3 and if one isn’t becoming a citizen through the “Right of Return” then the process becomes that much more difficult.

The IBBA tried for close to a year to ensure that Carrington would receive citizenship, but unfortunately the procedure was unable to come to a positive conclusion.

One athlete that did see his citizenship application approved was Hapoel Beer Sheva central defender Miguel Vitor who has played with the Israel National Soccer Team over the past couple of campaigns and helped out in a position of need. But as governments in the country changes, procedures do as well and perhaps of Carrington had submitted his application at the same time Vitor did his would have been approved as well.

There’s no question that Beit Halachmi was counting on Carrington receiving citizenship when he took over as the coach last summer for his first campaign with the national team as they participated in the Premier League-Olympic qualifying tournament.

Without a player like Carrington, who can provide instant offense Israel saw how their attack sputter at times without having a go to guy that can take the ball to the hoop unabashed. Instead, the blue-and-white needed to rely on their outside shooting which did not hit anywhere near the mark against Slovenia and Portugal.

It was crystal clear that Israel needed a creator and while Yam Madar is the closest to that, he’s still a work in process and can’t bare the burden of offense by himself. Most of the other players need someone to play off of in order to get their chances whether it’s from the inside or the outside.

Slovenia showed how well they can play as a team with every player filing a certain role even without their superstar in Luka Doncic who plies his trade during the season with the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks. Whether it was sharpshooter Klemen Prepelic, swingmen Jaka Blazic and Gregor Hrovat or naturalized Slovenian big man Mike Tobey, it was clear that Israel’s opponent was a well oiled machine, knowing exactly what they wanted to do and how they wanted to do it while maximizing Tobey’s talents to their advantage.

There were points against Slovenia where it looked like it was the Varsity vs. Jr. Varsity team and that can’t happen again. While Israel took a quick 20-8 lead after the opening ten minutes it was not the Slovenian big guns that started the comeback, it was the likes of Leon Stergar and Ziga Demic, not exactly household names.

Israel needs to get to that stage of play from their national team and also trust their depth which was not the case against Slovenia. They need to know what they can expect from each player, who can do what to their best abilities and then supplement the roster by a naturalized player who can help lift the blue-and-white to the next level.

While it sounds so easy, the fact is that the citizenship issue will always seem to hang over the national team’s head and if that’s going to be the case, then Beit Halachmi and the IBBA will need to figure out how to overcome that challenge. Be it by finding a naturalized player who fits the rules and regulations of the State of Israel and then work around that individual but they’ve got to play by the rules just as club teams like Maccabi Tel Aviv had done so well over the years as much as they may not like or agree with them.

The issue with that is there may not be a naturalized Israeli that fits the bill to obtain citizenship swiftly of caliber right now that can be of help to the national team. In the past, Israel had the likes of Alex Tyus, Rich Howell and David Blu who filled a big man’s spot which hasn’t been a major issue recently for Israel (although with Roman Sorkin having been injured in the Portugal game Beit Halachmi certainly could have used a big man).

The spot that Israel needs to fill desperately is no doubt that of guard who can create for himself and create for others and who provides a point of attack at any single moment. That is the way the game of basketball has moved and Israel must move with it as well.

To go into yet another window, their second in a row without a naturalized Israeli is yet another failure by the powers that be who are charged with ensuring that the national team can compete as best as they can. A solution must be found and it’s up to the Association brass to figure out how give Beit Halachmi the proper tools to succeed.