| מכבי חיפה Maccabi Haifa |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leagues | Ligat HaAl, State Cup |
|||
| Founded | 1953 | |||
| History | 1953–present | |||
| Arena | Romema Arena (capacity: 3,000) |
|||
| Location | Haifa, Israel | |||
| Team colors | Green and White | |||
| President | Yochanan Vollach | |||
| Head coach | Micky Gorka | |||
| Championships | {{{championships}}} | |||
| Website | [1] | |||
| Uniforms | ||||
|
||||
Maccabi Haifa Basketball Club (Hebrew: מכבי חיפה) is a professional Israeli basketball club that belongs to the Maccabi Haifa association. After a 10-year absence, the team returned to the top division in 2008–09.
Contents |
The club is one of the oldest in the country and it is one of the original eight teams that formed the top division in 1953.[1] In 1971 and 1985, the club qualified for the State Cup finals losing to Maccabi Tel Aviv.
The club was relegated to the second division in 1993, and dropped into the third tier in 1995. Although they returned to Ligat HaAl in 1999, the following year Haifa mayor Amram Mitzna merged the club with Hapoel Haifa to form BC Haifa.[1]
Although the club qualified for the playoffs twice, they began to experience financial difficulties. Upon relegation the club folded and sold its rights to Bnei HaSharon.
In 2004 Maccabi Haifa officials changed the name of the second team under its control, Maccabi Bat Galim, to Maccabi Haifa in an effort to restore the club's glory days.[2]
The following season, the club was promoted to the northern division. In 2007 they were promoted to Liga Leumit under the leadership of the coach Tobi Slilat. After the club was promoted, Avi Ashkenazi (who had coached the team in 1995) was reappointed.
The team was purchased by Jeffrey Rosen (who had previously tried to buy Hapoel Tel Aviv)[3] in July 2007. Rosen pledged that the club would be promoted to Ligat HaAl in his first year of ownership. Deon Thomas, a former player at Maccabi Tel Aviv, was signed to play for the club, which team changed its name to "Maccabi Haifa Heat".
In the 2007–08 season they finished in fourth place in Liga Leumit, and earned promotion after winning the best-of-five semi-finals 3–1 against first seed Maccabi Elitzur Netanya.
| Season | Competitions | Results |
|---|---|---|
| 1971/72 | FIBA Saporta Cup | First qualifying round |
| 1985/86 | FIBA Saporta Cup | First round |
| 1987/88 | FIBA Korać Cup | Second qualifying round |
| 1992/93 | FIBA Korać Cup | First round |
| 1999/00 | FIBA Korać Cup | Second round |
| 2010/11 | FIBA EuroChallenge | Top 16 |
The 2008–09 season marked the first year in which the Maccabi Haifa Heat played in the Israeli Premier League's top division under American owner Jeff Rosen. Prior to entering their 2008–09 season Maccabi Haifa had not played in the league's top division (also known as "The Super League") since 1999. Before the season began the team signed a multitude of talent to its roster which immediately took notice from around the league.
Notable pre-season signings include:
• Davon Jefferson, who played at University of Southern California with current NBA player O.J. Mayo.
• Tamir Goodman, dubbed the "Jewish Jordan" by Sports Illustrated.
• Todd Golden, a star guard out of St. Mary's College of California, who was named to the 2008 All-America First Team by Jewish Sports Review.
•Ben Strong, the 6-foot, 11-inch center and former Division III Player of the Year out of Guilford College. Strong was the first Native American basketball player to play professionally in Israel.
• BJ McKie (All-Time leading scorer at University of South Carolina), Brooks Sales (Villanova), and Doron Perkins (Santa Clara University).
•Ido Kozikaro (center) also plays for the Israeli National Team.
On October 26, 2008, Maccabi Haifa started its season winning its first 3 games by an average margin score of 21 points per game and won 7 of its first 9 games before running into its rival Maccabi Tel Aviv in an 80–68 loss. With Haifa Heats early success, they earned a trip to the Israeli Cup Tournament. February 19, 2009 became the first time in the new era of the Maccabi Haifa franchise in which they competed in the Cup finals. In the Cup Finals they faced opponent Hapoel Holon in which they lost in a dramatic fashion as Holon walked away with a 69–68 Israeli Cup Championship victory. Led by team captain Doron Perkins the team finished the season with a 14–8 record (3rd place), reaching the Israeli League playoffs in the team's first year back in the Premier League.
On August 5, 2009, the club announced that it was dropping the "Heat" from its name due to possible confusion with NBA franchise Miami Heat.[4]
On August 7 the club signed the young high school phenom Jeremy Tyler from San Diego High School.
The club finished the regular season at 4th, but were eliminated by Elitzur Barak Netanya in the first round of the playoffs.
The team won a place in the Eurochallenge by beating the French team Paris. The club played an historic game against the NBA New Jersey Nets in front of 5,174 fans at the Prudential Center. Haifa trailed 56–43 at the break, but lost 108–70. In the Israel League Maccabi Haifa finished 9th after a season in which two coaches were fired (Elad Hasin and Ami Nawi).
Mickey Gorka who finished the last season with 6 home wins in a row signed with the team as head coach for a second season along side his assistant Offer Rachimi. Sylven Landesberg, Tyler Wilkerson, Avi Ben Chimol and Jermaine Jackson also returned from last season and the team signed ex N.B.A players Sean Williams and Qyntel Woods. The team is the tallest team on average in the league - 6-foot-5 (1.98 Meters) and one of the youngest - 24.5 years-old. In November 2011, the team acquired a new main sponsor, the Oil Refineries LTD.(BAZAN) and is now called Maccabi Bazan Haifa.
| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Roster |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||