I'm a big fan of Yoav Borowitz's work.

HAVA NAGILA!! ("Let us rejoice", apparently)

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/711793.html


Pistons want Burstein at NBA summer league

By Yoav Borowitz

NBA champion Detroit Pistons is planning to invite Maccabi Tel Aviv guard Tal Burstein to the summer league.

"I have known Tal for several years and I was very impressed by him at the European Championship in Serbia," Detroit's chief international scout, Tony Ronzone, said after Sunday's Euroleague Final Four championship game.

Ronzone also summoned Yaniv Green to Detroit's summer league two years ago, but said that Burstein's chances of landing a contract were much higher.

"The invitation to Green was more of a gesture of good will, but our interest in Burstein is much more serious," Ronzone said. "I really like his game. He is a versatile player and he makes the right decisions. I think he will be making the right move if he comes to show his talents in the summer league."

Ronzone believes Burstein, 26, can find his place in the NBA as a role player. "It's about time there was an Israeli in the league, and I would like to be the one to find him," Ronzone said after last summer's championship in Serbia.

Burstein has been with Maccabi for the past six years, but is reportedly the subject of interest among several European clubs, and is weighing the possibility of moving on when his contract expires at the end of the season.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tal_Burstein


Tal Burstein

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tal Burstein (born February 19, 1980 in Petah Tikva, Israel) is a professional basketball player. He currently plays for the Maccabi Tel-Aviv basketball club as a Point guard/Shooting guard. He is 198 cm tall.

[edit]
Career
Tal Burstein grew up with the Bnei-Herzliya junior team. In 1997-1998, he made his professional debut and was named rookie of the year. He became a team captain in 1999-2000.

Since 2000-2001, he plays for Maccabi Tel Aviv. While many basketball fans in Israel claim that Maccabi destroys domestic talent by giving young Israeli players too limited playing time and too limited roles, Burstein is the example of the opposite. He became a starter in his first season in Tel Aviv and was always considered an important piece of the team puzzle. With the club, Tal won five national championships, five national cups, and three European titles (2001 Suproleague, 2004 and 2005 Euroleague). In 2001-2002 season led Israeli league in three-point field goal percentage with 49.4%.

Being one of the most talented Israeli players of his age, Burstein played for all junior NT's and then for a National Team. In August 2000, he was captain and probably the best player of under-20 National Team, which won a silver medal at European Championship in Ohrid, Macedonia. In August 2001 was a member of under-22 National Team in the World Championship in Saitama, Japan (finished seventh). Played with Israeli NT at 2003 European Championship in Sweden (seventh place). He currently is a captain of the National Team.

With good size for a guard, good athleticism, good playmaking skill, good defense, and improved shooting, Tal is probably the most complete Israeli basketball player right now.


Euroleauge profile: http://www.euroleague.net/plantillas/jugador.jsp?id=AOY

Cool?

198 ?? What is that 6'6"?


Can someone help a metric challenged blah out?

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000001DZ6.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

it feels good?

198 ?? What is that 6'6"?

Can someone help a metric challenged blah out?


LOL

I figured it out earlier, too.

6'5"

http://www.onlineconversion.com/length_common.htm

I shamelessly stole this from another forum.


Israel’s Best Kept Secret: Tal Burstein
http://www.draftexpress.com/viewarticle.php?a=1085


Frequently overlooked given the quality and flashiness of his teammates in Maccabi Tel Aviv these last couple of years, Burstein has been the perfect fit rounding out a starting five which is already written in golden letters in European basketball because of its incredible playing level and achievements. They are Sarunas Jasikevicius, Anthony Parker, Nikola Vujcic, Maceo Baston and our focal point Tal Burstein.

What in Maccabi seems like a perfect complementary player, flying solo with his National Team has been revealed as one of the most complete wing players in all of Europe. Burstein does everything, and everything well. He’s a 6-7 athletic and well built player. He is skilled and fluid athlete who can dribble, slash, shoot, pass, rebound and defend at a great level, being an extremely fundamentally sound player.

Contrary to his usual role in Maccabi, with Israel he’s assuming the lead as the go-to guy. He’s virtually playing point guard in many situations, being the primary distributor of his team (3.7 assist per game, fifth in the Eurobasket), the offensive catalyst, assuming responsibilities and never hiding. As you can guess, he’s a very smart and ductile player who easily adapts his game to the situation he’s placed in, and that would likely include the NBA, for which he has good enough tools.

Burstein is looking better day by day, gaining confidence as the tournament advances, but he will now face an extremely demanding test: Greece and its awesome perimeter defense. This is perhaps an excellent chance to make his definitive leap into European stardom.

It's blurry as hell, but here is a Maccabi highlight video (Maceo Baston is the star of the show, especially at the end).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSlVITAtX2g


EDIT: This one is pretty sweet too, set to a great Bonnie Tyler tune: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IeU9vXnRM8&search=maccabi%20tal

Our boy is #10. Jaskesevichnshdjdk is #13. Maceo #5.

BOOOOOOOO FOREIGNERS!

We already have one crappy foreigner(Delfino). :(

Dude, somebody needs to give Baston another chance.



*forever is gonna start tonight*


edit: How long do we have to wait for Diddy to see this?

This dude sounds like a soft version of Delfino.

And it's funny that his teammate (jasikevicious) was like king-shit MVP over there and he's absolutely scrubtastic here. Makes you wonder...

Stick with Delfino. I don't want to bring in another guy and find out he doesn't play shit for D, yet Flip still falls in love with him.

This tells you all you need to know:


Ronzone believes Burstein, 26, can find his place in the NBA as a role player. "It's about time there was an Israeli in the league, and I would like to be the one to find him," Ronzone said after last summer's championship in Serbia.

In other words, I don't scout talent in order to make my employer's team more competitive - I do it as a hobby, for shits and giggles, to see if I can find a diamond in the rough. I take gambles on crappy players so if it pays off, I seem like a genius.

The Euroleague followers at PacersDigest seem to agree. The common question is why the Pistons are interested in him at all. An average player that had a good final 4.

And it's funny that his teammate (jasikevicious) was like king-shit MVP over there and he's absolutely scrubtastic here. Makes you wonder...
My theory about Sarunas J. is that he couldn't deal with the rigors of a full NBA season. He started out strong and faded, apart from a mild upsurge after the All Star break. That's a problem for a lot of rookies, and I doubt that him being age 29 helps at all. I tend to think he'll do better next year with a season under his belt.

Jasikevicius simply can't handle the ball at an NBA level. That's his problem. He couldn't deal with atheltic defenders pressuring him full-court.