2024-05-06 14:53:24
Tyler Ennis didn’t wait long to dribble a basketball for the first time in his life. In fact, it only took him a few days until he snatched the basketball coach from his father’s hands and began a winding path that finally led him, after quite a few disappointments and new hopes, to the hands of Hapoel Tel Aviv, the 2024 version.
Stefanos Dedas’ new guard grew up next to his half-brother Dylan Ennis, who is also a well-known player on the European scene. The two trained together, ate together and dreamed together about a future career. Fast forward 29 years, and they are fulfilling themselves on the European stage, but as mentioned, at least for Tyler, this road was particularly arduous.
It actually started well for him. The guard came to Syracuse College and already in his rookie year in 2013 was selected as a second five in the ACC. Ennis had a fantastic season of 12.9 points, 5.5 assists and 3.4 rebounds which led to a lot of attention directed at him. “I’ve hardly seen players do what he did in his first year in college,” complimented the Villanova coach at the time Jay Wright, “He’s just special.” Ennis took advantage of the hype and momentum, signed up for the 2014 draft and was selected 18th overall by the Phoenix Suns.
After a mediocre season in the Phoenix uniform, Ennis began to travel around the best league in the world when in 2015 he moved to Milwaukee, from there he continued to Houston and then came to the Lakers. Bottom line, he couldn’t really settle in the NBA and with averages of 4.2 points and 1.9 assists he left the league after 186 games. The one who jumped at the bargain was Fenerbahce, who saw him as a player who could become one of the leading guards in the Euroleague, but the reality showed otherwise.
After only one minute on the floor in his fifth game in the team, Enis suffered a horrific injury. It happened when he drove into the basket in a league game and broke his ankle in a particularly shocking way. The guard was taken to the hospital, and no longer wore the uniform of Fenerbahçe, from which he was released at the end of that season. “I was on the field and I didn’t see it happening in real time,” he said Niccolò Melli who played with Anis Befner, “I turned to the bench, and everyone was shocked. I didn’t see anything, but it was enough for me to see the friends’ faces. It’s very sad that he experienced such an injury.”
After being released from the Turkish team and at the end of ten months of rehabilitation, Enis saw himself getting another chance in the Euroleague, when he received the call from Maccabi Tel Aviv. The Yellows planned to sign the guard who had already landed in Israel and was photographed with the blue shirt, but the announcement of his signing never came up after he failed the medical tests.
Finally, he spent 2019/2020 in the uniform of the G League team of the Toronto Raptors, and already thought that he had managed to free himself from the health difficulties. Enis became one of the most significant players in the development league with wonderful averages of 17.1 points, 7.4 assists and 5.4 rebounds, before he chose to return to Turkey, this time in the uniform of Turk Telecom.
Ennis looked good in his return to Europe with averages of 11.7 points and 5.0 assists, but then, then again he crashed to the floor with a particularly bad and painful injury. This time it happened in a league game against Galatasaray, when he tore his Achilles and ended the season. Anis was filmed breaking down in tears as he got off the floor in a wheelchair as he realized – what was supposed to be his comeback season into the European consciousness turned into another nightmare.
The Canadian still had time to return to play for Turk Telecom in the 2021/2022 season, but during the season he moved to Topash Bursa. In his year and a half at the new club, Anis managed to record beautiful numbers of 14.1 points, 4.7 assists and 4.4 rebounds in the Turkish League in 2022/2023, which put him back on track. He started the current season in Napoli and also in the media he looks good with record averages in Europe of 14.1 points, 6.7 assists and 4.2 rebounds, when the midfielder also managed to lead the team to a historic win in the Italian Cup.
It’s no secret – Hapoel Tel Aviv has been looking for a foreign coordinator for a long time, and the 29-year-old Anis may be able to bring them exactly what they were missing. The team needs a ball carrier to help their backline, and Ennis has already done that quite a bit in his previous stops. Anis feels very comfortable in the pick and roll – a move he performed in 43.2% of his total offensive moves in Europe when, on average, he provided 0.95 points for such a possession, according to InStat. By the way, he finished the current season in Italy as the king of assists in the entire league (6.7), thereby reaching a personal career record in this figure, when in four of his five seasons in Europe he recorded 4.4 assists per game or more. In any case, as far as shooting is concerned, it is better for Hapoel Tel Aviv not to rely on its new coordinator, when throughout his career he suffered from insufficiently stable shooting and shows fairly low percentages from this range at least in most seasons.
One thing is certain – considering the particularly limited situation in the European market, and the very advanced stage of the season, it seems that Hapoel Tel Aviv added the best piece it could find. Anis is a game manager who has already experienced quite a bit in European basketball, so despite the difficulty of joining the team he wanted in the last stages of the season – you can believe that he has a chance to fit in quickly and give the Reds what they lacked. “Many talented guards passed through me, Tyler is at least equal to all the greatest who passed through me in terms of talent,” his coach in Syracuse previously boasted Jim Boeheim“He makes the important moves when necessary and you don’t have to talk to him too much. He just understands the game. He sees the game. Tyler is the kind of player who doesn’t need too much work with him, he understands everything and does everything.”
In any case, Anis also knows that although he does not have much time to impress in the team, this contract with Hapoel Tel Aviv opens up an extraordinary opportunity for him. If he looks good in red, he will be able to arrange a contract for himself in one of the top Eurocup teams, and when he is not yet 30 years old, this may be an especially important turning point for the rest of his path if he still wants to return to the main stage of Europe.
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