Hapoel Tel Aviv opened up their training camp which will take place in Sofia, Bulgaria, the same location that the reds will be hosting their home games in their debut Euroleague season due to the security situation in Israel. In fact, Hapoel will be based out of Sofia and will fly to Israel for domestic league games as well as travelling to their continental clashes from the Bulgarian capital.

As Head Coach Dimitrios Itoudis squad began their preparations for a busy campaign ahead, the bench boss along with a pair of players in Elijah Bryant and Dan Oturu as well as general manager George Hinas and owner Ofer Yannay spoke about the challenges that the team will face in the short and long term.

“Preseason is more than 60% of what your trying to build,” Itoudis began. “We are fortunate as we are proud that we have so many representatives with five on the Israel national team and good luck to them. We have reps also in the Serbian and Brazilian national teams but unfortunate that there are seven players that are not with us.

“Given also the fact that our preseason will be cut in the middle due to the Israel Super Cup having to be played on September 13, unity and chemistry are critical and we have to become a team. But we will also be missing some players and I don’t know how we will look. We made an impact with the signings and it’s on us for us to make it a team which will take time.”

The bench boss also talked taking the team into the Euroleague, “We are new in this competition. But the investment made by the owners were significant and the Euroleague sees that. We expect a lot from ourselves what it will be we will see. The Euroleague is brutal and a marathon with a lot of good teams and with 20 teams and 11 double weeks. We will be located in Sofia and will have to fly to Tel Aviv will have more flights and time in the air.”

“We have the foundation,” Yannay remarked. “We need to win titles in the Israeli league and the fans needs to feel our dominance in the local competition. In the Euroleague, we want to finish in the top 6, or reaching the play-in. I am dreaming about beating Panathinaikos by 30-points in the final.”

Hinas spoke about the off-season and signings, “We wanted to have an extended roster and Euroleague is a different monster and as a club we have not played their before, we had to take into account, the body fatigue and the stress. We counted flights hours and we had to take this all into account and consideration of the Euroleague and Israeli league.

Hinas also talked about signing one of the all time Euroleague greats in Vasilije Micic, “Vasa’s signing took long and during the Iran war it was difficult to attract okayed but all in all I think we did a good job. He makes sure we keep a high level of signing, exposure and a high level of recruiting. Every move we made was specific to our needs. Vasa is a legend.”

As for goals, Hinas was straight and to the point, “To win the league, the cup, the super cup and get into the Euroleague playoffs would be considered a successful season.”

Bryant spoke about his decision to sign with Hapoel Tel Aviv, “I like the project and ambition that everyone has and that was very intriguing for me. I’ll miss my teammates and my time in Turkey but I’m excited about the new challenge. I think during the process was seeing what the roster was going to look like. If you look at the Euroleague continuity has a lot to do with it and there are some great players that won the EuroCup last year. With that it gives you a very good chance to be where you want to be at the end of the season.”

Oturu also discussed what convinced him about joining the reds, “When I learned that Elijah was going to be coming here that gave me some good influence about coming here. I know that the team had a very successful season in the EuroCup and they want to be successful in the Euroleague as well. I’m grateful and blessed to have the opportunity to eat this jersey and crest and I can’t wait to begin the season.”