Maccabi Tel Aviv faces Zalgiris on Thursday (8pm Israel time) as they look to find a way to get back onto the winning track and improve on their 3-10 record in Euroleague play. The yellow-and-blue had quite the week with their head coach Oded Katash’s fate hanging in the balance as he went from being forced to maybe staying on to now being the club’s bench boss through the end of the season at least according to Jaylen Hoard.

Where the truth really stands, perhaps only the good lord knows, but regardless of where that truth may be, the fact is Maccabi needs to win games in order to compete as well as to be relevant as they are about to return to playing continental contests back in Israel beginning next week.

The fans for the most part love Katash and he can do no wrong as the blame for the team’s poor season is squarely placed on management’s shoulders with no ifs, ands or buts. There’s no question that the bench boss is just one piece of the puzzle and that ownership has not kept up with the Joneses, especially the one named Ofer Yannay who owns the other tenant at Yad Eliyahu.

The Hapoel Tel Aviv big boss and spent, spent and spent some more in order to field not only a competitive team but one that can compete for the top spot in the Euroleague which is a must because the Reds don’t have a long term license to play in the league and are only there due to winning the EuroCup last season.

When Maccabi fans see the likes of Vasilije Micic, Dan Oturu, Elijah Bryant and Chris Jones on the other side of the court well, they see a lot of red steam coming out of their own ears thinking and dreaming about what should be for their own team. The yellow-and-blue have been competitive but the key words there are have been, not currently.

Now any rational person understands that the basketball business in Israel has suffered over the past few years since the outbreak of the war and that for sure includes Maccabi having lost plenty of money having to play abroad. That shouldn’t be a shocker to anyone including the fans and with the war, business has suffered.

To the fans Maccabi is a way of life, part of the daily routine and it’s a religion. The same is true to ownership but they are also the ones who put in plenty of the dough and to lose more, well, it’s a business. I have no doubt that one things get back to some sense of normalcy they will once again invest the way the fans expect and what had been seen a number of years ago when Katash took Maccabi to back to back Euroleague quarterfinals before falling to Monaco and Panathinaikos respectively as well as when Ioannis Sfairopoulos’s dream season of 2019-20 was halted due to COVID-19.

However, Maccabi can be doing a better job and that falls onto management including the general manager Claudio Coldebella and the head coach Oded Katash. They’ve got to find a way to get more out of this squad, one that does have a number of former NBA players. They are better than what has been produced thus far and Katash and the players have to work harder both on and off the court, both physically and mentally to get better results as there is plenty of basketball to be played.

Katash spoke about the uncertainty surrounding his position over the past week at Ben Gurion Airport just before the team flew to Lithuania, “A lot of noise, it’s not always pleasant and not fun. But I’m fine, I know the business and that’s why I’m here. That’s it, lots of noise, lots of uncertainty.”

“You can’t project “business as usual” to the players, because they understand, they’re sharp, they hear exactly what’s going on, they live it, they feel it. Me too, I’m not a coach or a person who hides too much. So it’s not business as usual. The question is, how do you get out of it and keep doing the things that are up to us. Regarding the coping, I’m definitely in a different place compared to situations in the past, because this specific situation is very different, quite clear. For someone aware of the situation it’s clear.”

The players, as Katash mentioned had to deal with all of the talk swirling around the team and center Marcio Santos explained what it’s been like from his point of view, “We need to just stay focused. We know there are a lot of rumors, a lot of people saying stuff and saying what’s going to happen. But we never know what is really going to happen. We need to focus on the day by day. Today the game is Zalgiris and tomorrow it’s another day, another game, another day.”

Oshae Brissett also chimed in about having a short break from Israeli league games during the international window, “The last few days were really good and we had really good practices. I feel like everyone kind of needed this break, we didn’t want to change too much. We just want to do what we’re doing, obviously, a lot better and a lot harder coming into these games and I think that’s the main thing that we all needed from that break.”

While Brissett and Santos as well as the rest of the team will try and turn the page and perhaps they also didn’t go too deep into the details of what the last week had truly been like for the team, Katash wanted to make it clear that the issues that had been around the club still exists.

“The lack of clarity created all kinds of really embarrassing moments. Things don’t always depend on me, but it was a bit embarrassing. The point is that okay, somehow the noise passed and an announcement came out and we’re kind of past that, but the important thing is that the problems haven’t been solved. Meaning, it’s not that we overcame some crisis and now we’re setting out on a new path in a different situation.

“Our problems haven’t been solved. Our weaknesses are clear, there are things that need to be done in order to fix and change, so that we’ll be better. No one should mistakenly think this event is over and now we’re going to steamroll. No, we have the same problems, with the same difficulties and that’s it until we take responsibility and make a move or two to strengthen the team.”

Zalgiris is no doubt a tall task for Maccabi as they have been one of the best teams in the Euroleague and Katash is going to have to try and get the most he can out of his team. Santos for one knows that once the Euroleague games come back to Israel Maccabi should be in a better situation.

“I think we need to go through the adversity. We know we didn’t play at home and we were just playing Belgrade. I think coach is doing a good job and he’s a really good coach, we’re working hard and we’re learning. We still have a lot of new players so I think we have to keep putting in a lot of work. He helps us, he has patience and he tries every day to get us better, to get the entire team better and to get everybody together. I think with the games coming back to Israel, well that’s going to help a lot.”

Brissett added his thoughts on what Maccabi can do to improve and what Katash could possibly do to see the team take the next step, “You know, we’re the ones out there playing. So I feel like it kind of falls back on us. That’s how I look at it. I’ve always been that type of player. I’m the one out there on the court, whatever, however many minutes he wants to play me or whatever happens during the game, I feel that’s on the five guys that he trusts to put out there and we have a great team. So at the end of the day, it’s not about what he could do. I feel like it’s the guys that are on the court. We got to take the responsibility and look inwards and try to turn the season around.”

Katash knows that there has to be changes and the team needs to bring in some new players to fill holes as well as to improve the squad that is out on the court while also working with what he has to get the best possible results.

“A center is clearly something we need and you don’t have to be a rocket scientist in basketball to understand that and yes, something else, something else but we won’t get into that now. We need to strengthen the team and to be more high-quality. As for working with the players we have, that’s what we’ve been doing since the beginning of the season, that’s the battle we are enduring and from the beginning of the season we’re trying to be as good as possible within what we have.”