1) While Hapoel Jerusalem just keeps winning there is almost silence coming out of the club. Not a peep. Players injured? No problem, we’ll make some signings. Player unhappy? Sure, we will let you head out. First half deficit? Jared Harper will take care of that.

The capital city Reds not only keep on winning but they are doing it almost unnoticed whether it’s in the EuroCup or the Israeli league as the victories just keep piling up for Yonatan Alon’s squad.

But with all that silence hardly anyone, save for their fans know that they have compiled 7-2 record good for second place behind Valencia in the EuroCup and they are 6-1 at the top of the domestic league standings. However, the biggest and baddest part about Hapoel Jerusalem is without question Jared Harper.

The diminutive guard is just absolutely tearing up both leagues with points aplenty from every which direction. 19.7 points per game in the Holy Land next to 23.1 in Europe is a lot of baskets and he’s making them in a variety of fashions whether it’s by driving to the hoop, taking contact and going to the line or from beyond the arc, Harper is the energizer buzzer extraordinaire.

Let’s break it down a bit further.

3P EuroCup – 16/34 47.1%
3P Israel – 17/32 53.1%

2P EuroCup – 31/63 49.2%
2P Israel – 18/35 51.4%

FT EuroCup – 75/85 88.2%
FT Israel – 51/56 91.1%

That’s not bad, not bad at all.

But while Harper is the key component to the Jerusalem engine, it’s not just him, it’s the entire team from Yovel Zoosman and Khadeen Carrington, to Gaby Chachashvili and Jeremy Morgan who are both slowly but surely finding their roles on the team.

Ironically, in besting Turk Telekom 94-77, Hapoel also beat the like of some very failure faces in Kyle Alexander, Braian Angola and last but most definitely not least Speedy Smith. Smith who was Harper before Harper got to Jerusalem.

Smith entered the new season after two successful campaigns with the Reds and was ready to roll into his third, but with the signing of Harper, it seemed that the wiring was on the wall that co-existing was going to be somewhat of an issue. Not to say that both are not good guys, they are both great people but there’s only one ball and you can’t cut it into two and that just made things all that much more difficult.

Eventually Speedy asked to move on and Hapoel was not going to stand in his way and allowed him to leave. Both parties acted classy in terms of public eye as the guard made his exit in what was as best as one could have hoped.

The bottom line is, better keep an eye out on the Reds as they will most certainly be a player in the months to come in both competitions as they will now prepare to head down south for a game against Hapoel Beer Sheva who under new/old head coach Rami Hadar which will to be a picnic.

2) While there is silence over at Hapoel Jerusalem, the exact opposite is going on at Haopel Tel Aviv where headlines galore rule the day and rule the night. It seems that every time you go to one of the Israelis sports websites to even those abroad, Ofer Yannay’s team is in the news. And you know what? He is loving every minute of it.

New all-star coach? Check. Top Israeli point guard returning to Israel joins the Reds? Check, check. Buying top import player from another local team? Check, check, check. Big time center making a U-turn after looking to sign with another team? Check, check, check, check. Former NBA star 50-50 to remain in Israel and creates waves across the globe? Check, check check, check, check.

It was no doubt a very, very busy week as to a day went by and Hapoel Tel Aviv wasn’t the leading item in the sports news.

Dimitrios Itoudis, Yam Madar, Marcus Bingham, Johnathan Motley and Patrick Beverley are definitely all worthy headliners, but ultimately, quiet must descend onto the club in order to not just win a week and win the battle on the websites. Hapoel Tel Aviv will need to win on the court.

Just because a team may be in thick, bold font every day of the week and twice on Sundays doesn’t mean that they will be in the Euroleague next season or winning the Israeli League title for the first time in over 50 years.

It’s a lot more than just being in the headlines, it’s a matter of taking a loaded roster with a overabundance of talent and making decisions. Who will stay and who will go? How can the team best benefit from player A and player B on the court at the same time and finding out how to stop the other team on the court and that is not as easy as it looks and sounds.

That was proved very true in a 82-80 loss at the hands of Ulm as their Israeli star guard Ben Saraf, who was not having his best game, nailed a midrange jumper over Tomer Ginat to give the German club the lead and the eventual win. Obviously this is not the way Itoudis and the rest of Hapoel Tel Aviv wanted to see the game end, especially when their record is now 5-4 after the first round of EuroCup play which leaves them in 4th place with the same identical record as both Ulm and Besiktas.

Of course, it will take time for Itoudis to get the team playing the way he wants to see the play and championships aren’t won in November or December, but the games now can have an effect on their positioning and home court advantage later on, so they’ve got to be careful.

However, the talent levels oozing out of the Drive In and with some adjustments a team like Hapoel Tel Aviv should be fine.

Next up for the Reds is a tricky game up in Gan Ner against Hapoel Gilboa Galil as the Israeli basketball world and beyond will be focusing in on the Gilboa region of Israel to see how they stack up now with the likes of Yam Madar, Marcus Bingham and Johnathan Motley will stack up.

Plenty of good times ahead, but if the club really wants to reach the highest of heights, the volume needs to be turned down or else what could be like a dream season will turn very quickly into a nightmare.