European Prospects

It is already well know that Omri Casspi’s family is really pushing hard his development and career. In a recent article from the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Shimon Casspi was reported to have once again passed the line.

In fact, in a recent interview with Walla!Sport, Shimon Casspi asks for his son to get released from Maccabi Tel Aviv.

I asked Zvi Sherf two weeks ago to help me release the boy. He can’t advance on Maccabi because there’s no path there. Oded Katash does whatever he feels like, like he did at Galil. Sherf responded that if he’ll intervene they’ll say such and such. I told him if he weren’t capable of holding both jobs he should quit one.

Zvi Sherf is actually Maccabi’s team assistant manager and Israeli national team coach. But the pressure made by Shimon Casspi was not only pressuring Zvi Sherf, he has also approached David Federman who is the chairman of Maccabi’s Main Sponsor Elite but also Vice Chairman of the Maccabi Tel Aviv board.

Your coach isn’t doing anything. He contributes nothing. He has no methodology. No decisions are being made, and he’s jealous of Omri, simply jealous.

And he also added in direction of Oded Katash that

You’re jealous and afraid a better player than you will arise, but it won’t help you. Omri will be better than you.

In fact, according to the newspaper, the situation between Casspi and Maccabi is difficult.

Immediately after Katash’s appointment as Maccabi coach, Omri’s parents wanted him to play at Bnei Hasharon, but Maccabi Tel Aviv chairman Shimon Mizrahi insisted on keeping the player another two years in line with his contract. The two sides agreed that if Casspi wouldn’t be among the top eight in the rotation, he would be released from his contract at season’s end. The small forward is currently 11th on the team in terms of minutes per game.

Maccabi didn’t feel a need to respond to Casspi’s father and rarely did. "Mr. Casspi is not a party to any agreement with Maccabi Tel Aviv, so management doesn’t believe it should respond to the many accusations he is making against the team," a team official said. Team management regrets the damage the father’s irresponsible behavior may cause his talented son."

The dream of the Casspi family is that their son gets drafted and will play in the NBA. The tools are there but there seems to be a real problem with expectations of the father and reality. This is also backed up by an other member of the Maccabi board and part owner Raanan Katz.

Will Casspi be picked in the NBA draft? It’s his father’s dream, and according to data on the Web site ‘Draft Express,’ it’s a bunch of malarkey.

What would Maccabi get if he’d make the NBA? We wouldn’t get any money because anyway his contract is about to expire. It’s time to stop driving Omri crazy. He has fantastic potential. I like him a lot, but we have a coach who knows what he’s doing, and he’ll decide whether or not to release him to get more playing time on another team.

So we will see what the new year brings to Omri. At least some playing time would be nice.