The game against Hapoel Jerusalem in the arena at the end of March last season was James Young’s third overall in the Hapoel Tel Aviv uniform. He managed to score 12 points in 10 minutes and 15 seconds, until in the second quarter he made a bad move and went down to the locker room. A few days later, it became clear that Young tore his crotch and finished the season – another frustrating moment for Hapoel Tel Aviv, which also suffered from irrational bad luck during the entire previous season when it came to injuries. This season: Go know where James Young would have been if not for that injury, and go know where Hapoel Tel Aviv would have been if not James Young.
Going back to the beginning of the previous season. Danny Franco, then another Nahariya city coach, wanted Young with him. Idan Peleda, the professional manager of Hapoel Tel Aviv, was also very interested in Gard, who in turn wanted to return to the NBA and signed with the New York Knicks. “A, and Young also chose to reach a second term in Israel.
“We offered him a new contract the day he was injured”
With the addition of Young, Hapoel Tel Aviv at that point in time – of the 20/21 season – has put together one of the highest quality staffs since returning to the First Division: Young, Justin Tillman, Tyrrick Jones, JP Tokoto, Paul Stoll, Bar Timor and Ehad Yam Madar. The quality squad that finished the season whetted the appetite of the Hapoel Tel Aviv chiefs, who decided that this season they would “gamble” less foreigners.
Hapoel Tel Aviv’s first move to try to sign Young. How much did she want that? Already that evening at the arena, where Young was injured, Steel Age Contacted his agent and offered him a contract for next season as well. “Even though he played so few games, he was very connected to the club,” Steel said. “We decided to go for it, we offered him to stay and do all the restoration here. The truth is that there were very long and difficult negotiations, about a month and a half passed since the initial offer until we signed.”
In the end, it was Young’s injury that ultimately left him at Hapoel Tel Aviv. Hapoel closed with him on a salary of about $ 140,000, which on the one hand is relatively high compared to what Hapoel Tel Aviv usually pays to foreigners. On the other hand, it is low compared to what Xiang would probably have been able to get if he had been completely healthy. Hapoel helped Liang recover from the injury – she left him in the country at the beginning of the summer, when the treatments also included physiotherapy and personal training.
Hard start
The thing is that despite the restoration, and even though James Young is a big name – the start of the current season was far from smooth for Young and Hapoel Tel Aviv. In the first round, but Hapoel Tel Aviv creaked and was far from being a connected basketball team, when after 5 rounds it recorded one victory (over the weak Maccabi Rishon Lezion) and it seemed that again, the Reds dig themselves too deep a hole too early in the season.
Although Young put up reasonable numbers (12 points on average in the first five games), it was clear to him that this was not really it. He scored in not good enough percentages outside the arc and it was obvious he was forcing a little too much. Hapoel even examined the market to see if there were any more suitable players for the team in his role, when the name of ex – Hapoel Jerusalem, John Holland, came up as a candidate, but in the end, they decided to continue to believe in Yang.
“We all knew what his set of abilities was, but we also knew he was starting the season. This is after a serious injury and after a very long rehabilitation in the summer,” he explains. Danny Franco. “It has a lot of physical aspects. It took James a long time to get to the right weight and the right pace, he was also accompanied by a lot of minor injuries back. For a team like ours, James is a very significant player, we knew we were building the staff around him and we knew what to get. “From him to be a successful team. From the moment he started to get into his own rhythm, it helped us win more games.”
It has indeed been slowly released for Young, who in the last four games looks like the player that Hapoel Tel Aviv have been so eager to see, showing even more impressive ability than he showed in the Maccabi Haifa uniform in the Corona season. He scored 24.5 points in the last four games, culminating in the previous derby, then scoring 26, including a huge basket at the last minute that in retrospect was the squad that decided the match. “Because of the less good season opener, somewhere he also started to lose confidence,” says Steel. “Once he had one really good game, against Gilboa / Galil, he regained his confidence and started to fly up. We work with him on personal abilities and from here on I believe it will be James Young that we know.”
The barometer
Young’s numbers may tell the story of the whole group. Hapoel Tel Aviv has lost 6 games so far, with Young scoring 12, 5, 12, 8, 11, 13. In wins: 23, 12, 18, 23, 26, 26, 23. That is – 10.1 points on average in losses, 21.5 in wins. More than twice. It may not necessarily be a “dependence” of Hapoel Tel Aviv, but the equation is clear: when Young is good, Hapoel Tel Aviv is good and wins. When Young is injured or recovering from an injury or less well, Hapoel Tel Aviv loses.
It is no coincidence that in light of the great improvement in his ability recently, the 26-year-old guard leads Hapoel Tel Aviv in the important offensive categories. Minus the average since the start of the season. “He has played a very significant part in our improvement as a team,” Franco states. “When key players like James find their pace it also helps other players stand out.”
Hapoel Tel Aviv, it should be said, are not really surprised by Young’s overall improvement. They knew exactly what they had in hand, after all some players get a contract offer on the night they are injured and absent for several months. As a legitimate NBA player. Maybe one day he will return there, until then he will try to carry Hapoel Tel Aviv (without Jacoben Brown) on his back for a second derby victory in less than a month. And if he continues from where he left off before the break, it’s quite possible.
