Amare Stoudemire in Israel (Hapoel Jerusalem)

[TalkBasket]

Amare Stoudemire was probably the biggest names in terms of fame to join European club this past summer. No surprise he chose Hapoel Jerusalem - the team he basically owns. It was a big deal in Israel where he was welcomed as a hero (http://www.talkbasket.net/22225-amare-st...salem.html) and to a lesser extent in Europe. Amare has already won pre-season cup with his new team but the main competition is yet to start for him on October 19 when Hapoel starts its EuroCup season at Valencia.

Please share all Amare-related stories here and keep us informed on how he's doing in Israeli league.

[TalkBasket]

Amare had 10 points and 10 rebounds in his EuroCup debut as Hapoel opened its European season with a rather unexpected away win against Valencia.

http://www.talkbasket.net/23215-hapoel-j...gover.html

[TalkBasket]

Amare's stats in EuroCup after 4 games:

G GS Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 4 23:01 8.3 66.7% 40% 87.5% 1 4.3 5.3 0.8 0.3 2.3 0.5 0 3.8 3 9.8

[kobimel]

So far Amare has relatively struggled. Part of it can be blamed on the offensive sets the team is playing, which usually don't give me enough touches. He has done a solid job defending the paint, but has been exposed many times on the pick and roll do to his slow footwork.

Through it all, he has had a very good attitude and has shown no sign of an ego. Hopefully his performance will improve as he gets used to the European game and the coach emphasizes him more on offense.

[TalkBasket]

Hey Kobi, good to see you posting again You might want to update your signature since the old one is no longer available.

How much shares of Hapoel does Amare have? I think it's 99% or something. But as I understand he's not using his powers and not telling the coach what to do (especially how much he should play and get passes etc.?

[kobimel]

Good to be back! Looking forward to posting again.

Amare currently doesn't have any shares in Hapoel - he sold them back to the owner as part of his contract, but the contract includes an agreement to resell them to him when he finishes playing at the club. It was all done exactly to avoid the conflict of interest that would have existed.

You are correct that he has let the coach make his own decisions without using his star power to influence the situation. However, he has lately come under some criticism from Hapoel's fans that he's been TOO passive, and should start demanding the ball more in order to affect the game more.