Basketball / Floating Netanya tries to keep feet on ground

Sitting pretty atop the league standings with two wins at this early stage of the season, Elitzur Maccabi Netanya is trying keep its head about it. Still, the team that just last year played in the second-tier Liga Leumit can barely hide its self-satisfaction.

"This is just the beginning," says Shlomo Spiegelman, the man who virtually brought basketball to Netanya 50 years ago and stayed with the club until this summer. The Netanya club of today is distinguished by its five quality foreigners, but the six Israelis filling out the roster are no pushovers either.

"Younger and Washam are already in their third term with the team," Spiegelman said of Netanya's two American forwards, both of whom share the first name Tony.

Netanya's roster also boasts J.R. Pinnock, drafted by the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and traded to the Los Angeles Lakers before playing in Germany and Greece. Pinnock, born in Texas, also plays for the national of Panama, where his parents hail from.

"I always believed that whoever grows up with a team gives it more, and this also brings the audience closer. You can see how at Maccabi Tel Aviv they feel a bit uneasy because of the many foreigners," Spiegelman said, hinting at the revolving door of foreign talent that has characterized the reigning Israeli champion in recent years.

Given Netanya's own figures, however, Spiegelman's remarks seem a bit suspect. The team scored an average of 87.5 points last season, 62.5 of which were scored by foreigners. Netanya lost only one game last year in the Liga Leumit, winning its other 33 contests, a league record.

"At a club with a small budget it's important to hit a bull's-eye with the foreigners. The selection was very cautious, we had a lot of patience and the choices have proved themselves," said assistant coach Arik Alfasi.