One of the significant issues last summer at Maccabi Tel Aviv was the question of the coordinator. Yannis Sapropoulos preferred the Keenan EvansWhile a number of votes in the professional team and management wanted to continue for another season with Chris Jones. In the end, Maccabi decided to go with the coach – and the Hapoel Haifa coordinator was signed at the expense of Jones. Just before they meet each other, tonight (Thursday) at 21:05, after an almost full European season – it’s time to check whether Maccabi Tel Aviv’s decision has proven itself?
There are quite a few similarities between Jones and Evans. “Both came to Maccabi Tel Aviv with relatively little money, with no Euroleague experience – and in fact jumped into the deep water of the highest European level for the first time in their careers.” . “Joining Maccabi Tel Aviv for a player who has not played in the Euroleague team before is not easy. “The pressures are different, the expectations are different, and not everyone is up to it.”
Using the advanced statistics platform InStat we made a comparison between the debut seasons of the two in the yellow uniform.
In numbers
On the one hand, there are many similarities in Evans’ situation with Jones at Maccabi Tel Aviv, but there are also many differences. In the top five in 34 games, with Yannis going many minutes with Scotty Wilbkin in the No. 1 position. Evans, at least for Yannis, came to be the man with the ball in hand and started in the top five in 25 games out of 26 this season.
The numbers back that up, too: While Evans averages 25.1 minutes in the Euroleague this season, Jones received just 17.3 in the 20/21 season. But even though Evans got almost 50% more pitch time, personal offensive figures are almost identical – 8 points on average for Evans versus 7 for Jones, 3.7 assists for Evans versus 3 for Jones, 46% from the field for Evans compared to 47% for Jones.
Even in the more advanced statistics, the equality is pretty much maintained: Evans ‘offensive index stands at Jones’ 96? 95. Evans’ defensive index is 96 as well, Jones’s 94. Evans is making one point for Pose this season, you probably won’t be surprised to hear that Jones also made one point when he wore the yellow uniform last season.
A pretty significant difference, and some would say quite surprising, is in the Hosege category – a figure that weighs the percentage of offensive actions the player is involved in while on the floor and ended up with a field goal, a free throw or a loss. Although Evans’ role within the team’s fabric of the season is larger, he stands at 16.6% Usage, while Jones stood at 21.1% last season – a significant difference.
Trust Mianis
The big difference in the situations of Evans and Jones in their first season at Maccabi Tel Aviv was their status within Yannis’ squad. He did not cross the 20-minute mark once and even thought of replacing him at that point in time.
Evans, despite his inexperience at the Euroleague level, arrived from the start as the first coordinator. Unlike Jones he actually got a lot of credit, but was mostly unstable, in addition to the fact that he fell ill at Corona during the season. The absurdity is that precisely after Yannis – the one who believed in him and wanted him most of all – left, he began to flourish. Since the game in Belgrade where he started in the top five and got 6 minutes in total, Evans has looked excellent and reached his peak in the victory over Real Madrid with a career record in the Euroleague of 19 points.
“Keenan and Chris are players who came in a relatively similar situation, but very different players,” said Maccabi Tel Aviv. “First of all, they are both good people, positive characters in the locker room, with each having different advantages. Keenan keeps better, bigger, excellent penetrating. Jones on the other hand has an excellent morale and is more of a game manager. Who is more suitable for Maccabi Tel Aviv? We’ll see that at the end of the season. “
The second season test
So the end of the season is approaching, and so is the decision of Maccabi Tel Aviv regarding the man in position number 1, when here too there are quite a few parallel lines between this year and the previous one.
One of the reasons why quite a few people at Maccabi wanted to see Jones continue is his positive end to the season – and the fact that the “rubbing period” in the Euroleague was behind him. The current season at Wheelerban proves well that he has indeed adapted to the senior enterprise in Europe, having dramatically upgraded the averages to 13.3 points, 3.6 assists and 40% off the arc in 27 and a half minutes per game. True, his status at Wheelerban is completely different from that of Maccabi Tel Aviv, but there is no doubt – Jones has made a leap this season.
Evans arrives in April of this season, about as much as Jones last year, also in a big climb. After a hesitant season full of question marks, he has recently begun to show signs of belonging to the Euroleague. “I’m glad Keenan is progressing from game to game, he’s an amazing guy, an excellent player and constantly wants to get better,” Avi Even said. “Chris is a great guy, the question of whether we should have left him not even in our head, it’s not on the table. Right now Keenan’s progress is important to us and I’m glad it’s happening.”
Maccabi, for its part, will have to make a pretty similar decision this summer as last summer: whether to continue with the rookie quarterback for a second season, or prefer to go for someone else – maybe more experienced, maybe younger and more talented, and you know – maybe even Chris Jones himself. It is possible that the matchup between them tonight will give the Yellows the clarity they need.