Two days after Jarrell Martin, Darren Hilliard also landed in Israel this morning (Monday) ahead of the start of training for Maccabi Tel Aviv. The striker who came from Bayern Munich said: “Usually you hear some bad things about places, but about Tel Aviv and Maccabi I only heard good things from the players and the people I talked to.”
Hilliard commented on the expectations for the coming season: “The goal is to win as much as possible. Championship, cup, reach the Euroleague playoffs and from there we will progress. We have a talented team and the expectations are high, we will have to remain patient.” On the squad built by Eliyahu he said: “We have a lot of talent, but also a lot of experience. Besides Bonzi (Culson) and Jarl, we have an experienced group that has experienced big games in the Euroleague. So besides the talent, I think we have experience and game wisdom at the highest levels , so we have no excuses. All that remains is to win.”
Hilliard added about his memories of the yellow crowd as a guest player: “When you come to play against Maccabi, you know there will be a hostile atmosphere with loud fans and a team that fights. That’s the thing that stood out to me the most when I arrived as an opposing player. There is a playoff atmosphere here from the first game in the Euroleague. It’s a great feeling that now the fans are on the side mine. I hope we will give them many reasons to be happy.”
Here comes DHilliard6X ⭐️#FireUp | EuroLeague pic.twitter.com/8NzHc9hrYq
— Maccabi Tel Aviv BC (MaccabitlvBC) August 22, 2022
After that, the renewed Maccabi Tel Aviv revealed the jersey numbers of the players for the upcoming season. In the segment of players who continued in the club, John DiBartholomew (12), Jake Cohen (15) and Roman Sorkin (9) kept their jersey numbers, while Yeftah Ziv changed his number from 99 to 33. Guy Pennini returned to jersey number 10, which he also wore in the previous term in yellow, and Rafi Manko got number 8. Number 1 that belonged to Scotty Wilbkin was not used, and the lowest number will be 4 of Lorenzo Brown. The highest number will be Bonzie Coulson’s 50 – the same number he also wore last year in Krashyaka.
The full numbers:
4- Lorenzo Brown
5 – Wade Baldwin
6- Jarl Martin
8 – Rafi Manko
9 – Roman Sorkin
10 – Guy Panini
12 – John DiBartholomew
13 – Darren Hilliard
15 – Jake Cohen
18 – Tomer Agmon
20 – Austin Hollins
22 – Alex Poithers
31 – Josh Nibo
33 – Yeftah Ziv
50 – Bonzie Coulson