Normally, we’d write that Oded Katsh had turned up for a special interview after the most shaky week of his life, but as someone who’s had a huge miss like coming to the NBA, winning the European Championship against his youth team, and getting injured before the age of 26 – things probably couldn’t have gone any other way , Including a loss in the final seconds of the farewell game. In a recent interview before taking off for Athens, Katsch told for the first time about last week’s drama, the deliberations, the crying and the decision – not wholeheartedly.
- An article about Oded Katash will be broadcast tonight (23:00) in the “Sports News” edition
- Friday, 19:00, live on 5SPORT: Katsch’s debut game at Panathinaikos against Fenerbahce
Take me to the moment you get the phone call from Panathinaikos. What happens from that point?
“Excitement. I’m in business long enough to realize the opportunity, and I know I’m going to jump bungee now. When the phone rang I just referred them to Jerusalem, it did not really feel like a real option. For a team like Hapoel Jerusalem, which sets a budget, with expectations, with goals, It was not that easy to release me, and they really did not want to, and I totally accepted it. For the first 24 hours for me it was acceptable, I realized it was not the right timing and I accepted it humbly. Developments began in the 24 hours after, when things started to seep Because my career, as a player and as a coach, has experienced many tragedies. For me, commitment to the club and the players is above all. As a player, when I pledged to stay at Maccabi, and four days later the strike in the NBA was canceled, I stayed because I pledged to stay, even though I know 95% Some of the players in that situation would go. “
“I feel much more prepared compared to the opportunity I had at Maccabi.”
So basically what happened now is kind of a fix. You said to yourself, I was already on the giving side, it remains with me to this day, I do not repeat the same mistake.
“There was precipitation left for that decision. It’s not just the NBA, it’s also my injury, before the age of 26, that created a terrible sense of failure. And I’m not talking to you about missing out on money or titles, I’m talking about basketball, about what could have come out of me. I played the last game before the age of 26, I was a lite bloomer in terms of physical development of the body, I had no doubt that at the age of 30 something else would come out. To live all these years with this feeling of missing out – it probably sat there. Go for it – I decided I was staying, that I could not leave. Then I said to myself, ‘Just be whole with yourself, and know that such an opportunity may not come back.’ And as soon as I said that to myself I probably touched myself with some deep wound, of years, and then began “24 hours I just cried myself to know. Probably regardless of the situation, I cried everything I ever cried about other things, and that’s what made me.”
You actually cried for that 26-year-old boy who failed to develop the career he wanted.
“Yes. I did not agree for years to cry about this thing. Obviously I would have preferred things to happen differently. For example I would finish the season and a Euroleague team is looking for a coach, and then everything was different. You have to understand, the Euroleague coaching circle is a very small circle. It’s hard to break into this thing. What happened was an extreme situation and if I had given it up it might not have come back. I also know I’m going into a dangerous situation, and it’s clear to me that it could go to an extreme. I’m not building on my connection to the club and the people who run the club, but much more on the capabilities. I feel much more prepared compared to the opportunity I had at Maccabi, that I went to Maccabi as a young coach and everything happened too soon and incorrectly. “
You described the emotional roller coaster, it feels like every time you get into this tormented situation, from winning the European Championship against Maccabi, to your last game in Jerusalem, that it ended the complete opposite of what was needed.
“I just talked about it with Motti Daniel, he knows how to simplify things, and he told me ‘you can’t choose the movies you go into.’ At a lot of points things really happen to me in extreme situations – the NBA, the injury, and it all brings me back to Panathinaikos. Look at it a little with a smile. I was always asked the clichés, like what is your dream, or where do you see yourself for so many years. And I always said, to be a Euroleague coach, or even the real dream was to coach colleges. But in the last two years in Jerusalem, When I was asked where you see yourself in another 10 years – I said, “Here. In Jerusalem. Like this.”
“It’s not that there are no dreams, but the dream was my present in Jerusalem. I lived the dream with Hapoel Jerusalem. To train these players here, with this management, with this audience – it was a dream for me, I lived the dream in those 3 years. There were difficulties and quarrels and there was everything, but in the end it was a big family that hugged me, I knew people, experiences, trophies, disappointments, I just lived the dream. That’s why my initial instinct was to accept the waiver of PA humbly. Because before the offer everything was good, I was happy “Happy. It’s not a natural thing to leave a place where you’re so good. But in the end what happened was when it was only when I really released those dreams – it suddenly happened.”
“All over the world, there are 3 teams that have been hit the most by the Corona: Anadolu, Liverpool and Hapoel Jerusalem”
A few months ago, when you filed the lawsuit against the basketball association, you made it clear that it was not because of money, but for the benefit of the coaching status. Leaving a team after 3 years, which you have built, players you have brought in, including one who just a few weeks ago received an offer from the Euroleague team, and you told him he was not released. Leaving in this way – does it contribute to the status of the coach?
“I do not think there is harm to the status of the coach, the opposite is true. When such an opportunity comes, it is difficult to leave people in such a situation, and it is true for the same player. There is respect for the coach, even though Hapoel Jerusalem did not push for it or agree to it. “My personal experience is that it is very emotional and difficult, and to receive such an embrace from your team – it is an honor for the status of the coach.”
If there is no Corona, and you have to make that decision when you know that in the last game there will be 8,000 fans behind you, and their reactions may be unsympathetic to say the least, would that change the decision?
“You’re talking about if there is no corona… if there is no corona, this team last season is a historic team. If there is no corona, to remind you what team we were? This also joins my extreme cases. All over the world, there are 3 teams most affected by the corona: Anadolu, Liverpool and Hapoel Jerusalem. Liverpool had another chance to get their moment and win the championship, but we and Anadolu, it’s the two biggest sporting tragedies of the Corona. We were in some crazy pick and since then everything has gone awry. With your head above water. “
“As for the audience, I feel from the fans a very big hug and I think they understand. The audience cannot be as one piece. There are some and there are, there is a range of emotions that can be felt about my departure, and whoever is angry I understand it. At the end of the day, fans are emotions. I’m very proud of what I did with Jerusalem in these 3, I know how much I gave, and invested and was committed, I gave my all, and the audience has a beating heart, he feels and he knows what I gave to this place. I do not leave wholeheartedly, and I wish the situation was different “It really does not make sense to leave such a place, but I want to believe that the audience understands me and knows that I gave my all.”
Let’s talk about what awaits you in Greece. You’re in a difficult situation, what are your expectations for the current season?
“Their situation in the Euroleague, to make it a playoff it would be sensational and I do not think they expect that to happen. They want to see a process, that the team will start to play better. I do not think the previous coach did a bad job, I’m sure he did his best. In the championship and the cup. “
Will they understandably not qualify for the Euroleague playoffs?
“I remind you who the people who run this thing are there, Diamantidis, Alvertis, Claitsis. They understand the situation, they know it will be a huge surprise if we qualify for the playoffs. You have to be realistic, there are understandable problems, the main reason is that the owner has not invested money this season They’re the youngest team in the Euroleague. There are players who came to upgrade their careers. So expectations are in line but I have to meet the goals I mentioned to get to next season. It’s quite similar to my arrival in Jerusalem, I had to cross the first half of the season to get confidence for next season. And that is my goal in Panathinaikos as well. “
“I really like the signing of Adomitis”
The media in Greece is known to be particularly unforgiving. Here, you have an image of “etrog”, of those who are treated differently and over the years the criticism of you has been very refined compared to other coaches. You were the prince who was not touched, perhaps really because of the tragic end of the game’s career. So from a place like this you move to a place where you will be judged only by the results, are you ready for that?
“I do not really feel like an etrog. It’s sometimes to your detriment too, I did not feel guarded and I try not to be involved. The only thing that bothers me is if the criticism is not relevant. I come to a place where I had good experiences and love me, but I do not build on it “The fact that I won the European Championship with them will not change my job by an inch and I know how this etrog can also be turned on you, I have already experienced it.”
When?
“With Maccabi. I see my situation as an opportunity to give what I have at the Euroleague level. The fact that Lior Lubin comes with me gives me real strength, and always needs a drop of luck and if that happens we can do something beautiful and exciting.”
What do you think of your replacement in Jerusalem, Dainius Adumatis? Have you consulted about it?
“Yes, consult with me, I really like this signing. He’s in my yearbook, I played against him. I do not know him on a personal level, but in general conduct he’s a mess. ‘Chris Kramer played for him and said good things to the team of players here, the fact that “Manash is very important to this locker room. I wish him the most success, in my intuition he is the right man. And I’m a little jealous of him now, the truth.”
You said you always end up with you In interviews Where will you be in a few more years. So let’s define how long you have, and tell where you see yourself at that time.
“I ask for one thing: that in 10 years I will be in a place where they will hug me and love me as they loved me at Hapoel Jerusalem.”
