Noam Dovrat is a special player. The 18-year old has been turning heads as he continues to improve, develop and mature as a player who will enter the 2022 NBA Draft where he will look to be the next Israeli to make the jump the the greatest league in the world.

Of course, he still has plenty of time, but 2022 is right around the corner worth a season and change left before Dovrat could join fellow Sabra Deni Avdija after being listed as 59th in the ESPN 2022 NBA Draft rankings. So far, so good for the 6”5 guard.

רק מקום 59 במוק דראפט?@Mike_Schmitz, לטיפולך

איזה דאנק של @NoamDovrat1! pic.twitter.com/EVRwAkKa56

— Winner League (@WinnerLeague) April 22, 2021

In arguably his best game as a professional in a defeat at the hands of Hapoel Holon, Dovrat screed 21 points in a variety of fashions over the 37 minutes he received from head coach Guy Goodes. But it wasn’t only his offensive it was his defense as well stopping CJ Harris on numerous occasions.

Dovrat began the game scoring on a baseline cut to the bucket, the he went with a runner on the lane, a 3-pointer, a floater in the paint, a mega sized dunk of the whopper variety, off the glass on an inbounds play right before halftime, another triple as the list continues.

Sitting with poise in the post game press conference unaccompanied by any staff member, Dovrat addressed his desire to play in the NBA, “It’s still far away off. Another year and a half off. This is my goal and I have a lot of work to go to reach my goal.”

As for the ESPN list? “I’m happy that I am on that list and I know that I can improve but I’m putting it aside for now. I don’t want to look too much ahead but that’s the goal to make it there.”

Coach Goodes reflected on Dovrat and the process from the process that the guard is going through form his viewpoint, “We are a small club compared to a team like Maccabi Tel Aviv. We constantly have scouts looking at Noam and he is someone who may be under the radar. This year we weren’t in Europe so that may not have helped him. Jeremy Pargo deserves credit for working with him on a personal one on one level and he has improved and done some things athletically like the dunk we saw against Holon as he went to the basket.”

“He should be moving up that list and his development is going well and he’s learning. It’s great for us to see him continuously developing for the club. It’s a big honor to have him at the club and that we are able to give him what we can and what he needs to succeed.”

Dovrat has also been able to emulate and follow what Deni Avdija has been going through in his first season as he also spoke about the Wizards forward’s injury, “I want to wish him good health and I’m sure he will come back even stronger. I want to wish him a Refuah Shelema. I am following him but I’m concentrating on myself and I have a way to go. You can see that he i someone who operates at the highest of levels.”

As for Dovrat’s NBA chances according to Goodes, the bench boss had some high praise for the youngster, “Last year we played Ulm and Killian Hayes who is now in the NBA. If you compare the two now in terms of the level of play I’m not sure that Hayes is much better. Noam has matured since last year and has self confidence in his abilities.”

With Avdija already in the NBA, Yam Madar having been drafted by the Boston Celtics and with Noam Dovrat seemingly knocking on the door, could we see three Israelis in the NBA within the next few years?

Now that would be something!