Maccabi Tel Aviv has always been driven by a ravenous hunger for success. That's why it has won 36 of the last 37 Premier League championships, and that's why it signed 12 senior players this summer, ignoring their desire for court time and the danger of creating frustration and tension throughout the roster. The club's hunger is also what has led it on a
globetrotting pre-season tour at a time when it should be training prior to its opening Euroleague game against Malaga next Thursday.

Given Maccabi's track record, it is somewhat difficult to cast doubts on the club's decisions. Maccabi's management believes that its pre-season encounters with NBA clubs help promote its international branding, and that players and professional staff should tow the line.

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But the tour has come under fire. Center Nikola Vujcic called the club's participation in the pre-season NBA Live tournament stupid, and the coaching staff has said at every opportunity that the circus tour against NBA teams is not helping the team gel.

Maccabi flew to the United States Sunday for the second leg of its tour, and tonight will face the Cleveland Cavaliers (Ch. 5, 00.50) before playing the Toronto Raptors Saturday.

The Cavaliers don't know much about their visitors. As Brian Windhorst of the Akron Beacon Journal says: "Everyone here has heard the name Maccabi, but nobody with the Cavs knows anything about this team."

Windhorst says that basketball fans in Ohio aren't exactly in a frenzy over the visit of the Euroleague runner-up. "American basketball fans don't care for international basketball, so there really isn't much interest in the game," he comments.

Not only that, but Cavaliers star Lebron James might not even play. "The chances are fifty-fifty," Windhorst says. "The Cavs try not to play him in two straight pre-season games, but since the game is in Cleveland, there's still a chance you'll get to see him."

The great hope

Seeing James in action is one of the ultimate basketball viewing pleasures. The 21-year-old is a terminator incorporating strength, speed, skill and determination. His shooting is outstanding, his passing is even better, and when he penetrates, he can't be stopped.

"He is the No. 1 citizen of northeast Ohio," Windhorst says. "A lot of people are convinced he will change the city's future."

Cleveland has been in a financial crisis over the past two decades, but its passion for its sports teams has not been dented. The city's NFL team, the Cleveland Browns, regularly sells 70,000 tickets a game, while the Indians baseball team recently recorded its 445th straight sellout. But until James made the 45-minute drive from his hometown of Akron to Cleveland, the Cavaliers were always the odd team out.

"When the Cavs drew Lebron, it was like winning the lottery," Windhorst says. Before the Lebron era, the Cavaliers were down at the bottom of the NBA crowd rankings, averaging 11,000 fans a game, but since then, it has moved up to fifth and averages 19,700. Before Lebron, the Cavaliers had not been broadcast coast to coast for eight seasons, but now the team is broadcast over 25 times a season and its local TV rating has jumped four fold. No less important, James helped double the team's win total, and in only his second season, led the franchise to its first winning record in six years. In his third season, the team recorded 50 wins for the first time since the 1991-92 campaign.

So is the Cavaliers next goal the NBA championship?

"No team from Cleveland has won the title since 1964," says Windhorst. "We are known as the 'long suffering town'."

Will that bad luck end in the Lebron era?

"That's what we believe," Windhorst says. "Lebron is signed here for another four years, so a championship is a possibility. On the other hand, if he sees that the team isn't strong enough, he will leave town."

Is James losing money by playing in a small market like Cleveland?

"Theoretically he could make more by playing in New York. But the Knicks are terrible, while the Cavs are improving, and the most important thing to James is the quality of his team. You can't forget that he has already made $130 million from promotions, which is the highest sum in the NBA."

As someone who covers James daily, how would you describe his character and relations with the press?

"Lebron can be moody, and he is easily angered. Apart from that, he is tired of the press, and in his case, that's completely understandable."

Are there criticisms of him?

"The only criticism is that he takes the other players into account too much. Sometimes he passes rather than shoots, and it looks as if he isn't trying to win at all costs. People would like him to be a lot more selfish."

Buford on hot seat

If Lebron needs help to become more selfish, he could talk to Maccabi's Rodney Buford. Anthony Parker's replacement at Maccabi is already being accused of selfishness on and off the court.

"He still hasn't connected with the team, and the only person he hangs around with is Will Bynum," Maccabi sources say.

Without a doubt, Buford's probation time has begun. Maccabi has the money to bring in another foreign player, and if the combo-guard doesn't change his ways, he will find himself heading home. Buford, just in case anyone forgot, was brought to Maccabi after the team failed to land a big-time player following the Lebanon war.

Maccabi's new coach, Neven Saphija, pushed for Buford to be signed in a gamble that could prove to be expensive for the Croat.

Buford needs to show dramatic improvement in his play, or at least hope for a little solidarity from Maccabi's latest signing Noel Felix  a weak showing by the former Seattle Supersonic will deflect criticism against Buford.